FOR THE RECORD

Rumors abounded last week that UFT President Randi Weingarten would officially announce that she was resigning her position to concentrate on her leadership of the American Federation of Teachers in Washington, and it appears likely she may make it official at a June 24 UFT delegates meeting.

Ms. Weingarten has juggled the two positions since last July, although Vice President Michael Mulgrew has since then been the union's chief operating officer while she was away on AFT business. According to reports by Newsday and the Daily News, Mr. Mulgrew would lead the UFT until its next leadership election in 2010.

If she does step down, a replacement president would need to be nominated and approved by the executive board.

"What a surprise that there are rumors about me leaving the UFT! It's been no secret that the two jobs I hold have been weighing on me," Ms. Weingarten said in a June 17 statement. "It is no secret that the UFT has been fighting tooth and nail for budget restorations for schools, even in this bad economy, because we're very concerned about how these deep cuts will affect students. Everything else is speculation."

 

Apparently City Comptroller Bill Thompson's Weiner troubles didn't end when his most-serious potential Democratic opponent dropped out of the primary campaign last month.

A Quinnipiac University poll last week found that while Mayor Bloomberg was 22 points ahead of Mr. Thompson in a voter survey —an eight-point increase since March—the disparity expanded to 34 points when those interviewed were asked whom they would rather share a hot dog and a beer with on the Fourth of July. Even among black voters, who are Mr. Thompson's strongest potential base, by a count of 52 to 37 percent those surveyed would prefer to be having their dog and brew alongside Mayor Mike.

Quinnipiac polling director Mickey Carroll joked that maybe the reason was that voters were pretty certain that if they dined with the incumbent, "It won't be a cash bar." But he also noted that the contrast was "pretty dramatic" from a survey Quinnipiac did in the fall of 2003—a few months after Mr. Bloomberg pushed through an 18-percent property tax hike—when fewer than 1 in 4 voters said they would be willing to have Thanksgiving dinner with him.

One finding of the poll didn't quite make sense: 56 percent of those surveyed said they believed Mr. Bloomberg's campaign spending had already reached the point of "overkill." Since that spending could be seen primarily in the form of TV ads and leaflets that have been produced over the past couple of months, it didn't compute that so many disapproved and yet his popularity was rising.

Mr. Carroll acknowledged it was "absolutely" possible that, much as voters say they dislike negative advertising even as polls show it is often effective in tight political campaigns, those who professed to be turned off by the Mayor's barrage were also being subtly influenced in his favor by its content.

But he also said there was a chance that many people who were inclined to vote for the Mayor were tired of being constantly reminded of his virtues on both their TV screens and in their mailboxes.

 

A team of three Fire Department Emergency Medical Service responders took third place in an international EMS competition in Prague, Czech Republic May 30 and 31, an event that had teams from 90 countries compete in 13 different exercises.

The responders were Lieut. James Fallar, Paramedic Joe Hudak, and Emergency Medical Technician Joe Fortis.

The events included performing CPR and saving a suicidal man.

 

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta was honored June 18 at the FDNY Columbia Association's Man of the Year during a ceremony at Russo's On the Bay in Queens.

The Columbia Association was founded in 1934 by Italian- American firefighters to educate their community members about fire safety in Italian. Now the group is focused on promoting education through granting scholarships.

Vincenzo Marra, president and founder of the Italian Language Inter-Cultural Alliance, was honored with the group's Humanitarian Award.