FOR THE RECORD

The blog of the incumbent United Invincible slate in the Transport Workers Union Local 100 election goes to great lengths to paint supporters of the dissident Take Back Our Union slate as Fifth Columnists looking to break union solidarity. The on-line publication, however, isn't making the same effort to spell their names right.

Last week, the blog claimed that TBOU presidential candidate John "Samuelson" (correct spelling: Samuelsen) was fighting to give members in bad standing the right to vote in local elections. It also alleged that retired Track Equipment Maintainer Joel "Frederickson" (correct spelling: Fredericson) and former union pension advisor Norman "Rosenfield" (correct spelling: Rosenfeld) were supporting TBOU in hopes of getting union work if the slate wins.

The unidentified blogger also had some nasty words for union consultant Alan "Saley" (correct spelling: Saly).

The blog also mangled a few facts. It blasted Mr. Samuelsen for inviting British transport workers union leader Bob Crow to a St. Patrick's Day fund-raiser, calling the socialist labor leader "a Queens representative," marking a betrayal of Local 100's Irish-American roots. (Presumably it meant "Queen's representative," as opposed to someone from the city's easternmost borough.) A quick news search would have shown that Mr. Crow is a fierce enemy of the British government and by no means a "representative" of the head of state; the BBC's Web site describes him as a "former card-carrying communist who delights in bringing the London Underground to a standstill for the most spurious of reasons." Mr. Samuelsen added that Mr. Crow is also of Irish extraction.

The blogger's post showed particularly vitriolic disgust for Mr. Crow because of his British citizenship, equating his endorsement to the support of the Ku Klux Klan.

The United Federation of Teachers' lobbying tactics came under fire—and union President Randi Weingarten apologized for them—after tabloid articles (the Post made it a front-page story) about UFT officials handing out cue cards to City Council Members with tough questions for DOE officials at a hearing on charter schools.

A Daily News editorial called the hearing a "show trial" designed to "stage a hit" on charter schools by the supposedly reformaverse union. The Post mused that if "council members feel obligated to do precisely as the union demands, in broad daylight, it simply underscores the extent of the corruption."

Ms. Weingarten, who was in Washington the day of the hearing, issued a statement saying, "I am proud of the testimony we gave today, but I regret the manner in which our other concerns were shared."

The story was initially posted on the education blog GothamSchools. Its reporters, Philissa Cramer and Elizabeth Green, were sitting at the front press desk in the Council Chambers near Councilman Simcha Felder.

Mr. Felder, whose constituents have benefited from extra spending by the Bloomberg administration, passed on the card he received and gathered others and presented them to Ms. Green. When she started snapping photos of them, members of the UFT delegation began shifting uneasily.

For his part, Mr. Felder's spokesman said that the Councilman didn't see anything wrong with the union suggesting questions. But, he added, "during the last hearing, it was more aggressive than before."

It is not unusual for advocates to brief Council Members about problems they are having with city agencies, but their efforts are rarely that obvious.

Veteran labor attorney Basil A. Paterson will receive the 2009 American Bar Association "Lawyer as Problem Solver Award."

Mr. Paterson played an integral role in the founding of the Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, which explored whether practices like negotiation, mediation and arbitration that were used to settle labormanagement disputes could be applied to resolving community conflict and interpersonal disputes. Mr. Paterson, who is the father of Governor Paterson, was one of the strongest proponents of the use of negotiation and mediation as alternatives to violence in resolving what appeared to be intractable problems in the city.

He has served as New York's Secretary of State, as the city Deputy Mayor for Labor Relations and Personnel and as a State Senator. He will receive the award on April 16 at an ABA conference in the city.