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New York Post
13-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
The UFT's Mamdani support: Letters to the Editor — July 14, 2025
The Issue: The United Federation of Teachers endorsing Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani. The fact that the New York City United Federation of Teachers endorsed Zohran Mamdani sends a message to citizens about what we can expect from our schools, which are bad enough already ('Selling Out NYC's Kids,' Editorial, July 10). We are teetering on the brink. This man will put us directly down the drain. Electing him will push an even bigger flight of the hard-working middle class right out of the city. Who will then pay for all the entitlements he wants to push? The choice is not good, and another candidate needs to drop out to avoid splitting the anti-Mamdani vote. Who it will be depends on how much they love this city. We need to vote, and sometimes the devil you know is better than the real devil. Maureen Sharkey Brooklyn With the teachers union now backing Mamdani, it will be interesting to see where he stands on school vouchers, since they're routine in Scandinavian countries, which serve as his democratic socialist paradigm. The middle class pays the bulk of taxes in countries like Sweden to support generous welfare benefits. Yet there's no minimum wage, a 25% sales tax and many of the welfare benefits are managed by private companies. The UFT has fiercely opposed similar positions here. Will Mamdani actually govern with this model, or will he modify his positions in return for support from the affluent unions? If so, he's just another sleazy politician for sale. Charles Compton The Bronx Public union members who are paid by taxpayers should not be allowed to donate to political parties because of the cycle it creates. The taxpayer pays taxes that go to the public school, the teacher gets paid from those taxes, the teacher pays union dues, then the union donates to a political party, and that political party gives the union whatever it wants. Oh, and it's mostly one party getting that money. John Ianni Wappingers Falls The teachers union supporting Zohran for mayor is the perfect example of how public schools are failing students. Schools don't teach students the truth about socialism. They put the word 'democratic' in front of 'socialist' to make it sound better. Voters better wake up and vote out anyone who supports this twisted ideology, or you'll learn the hard way by experiencing it. Rob Mele New Haven, Conn. The Issue: The Department of Justice claiming Jeffrey Epstein did not keep a client list and did commit suicide. We were promised the truth ('No Epstein 'client list,' & no murder: feds,' July 7). We were told the Epstein files would be released, the swamp would be drained and the elites who preyed on children would face the music. Instead, we got a memo from President Trump's Justice Department and FBI saying there is no Epstein client list, blackmail or further charges — just a suicide and a shrug. This isn't just a betrayal — it's spit in the face of every MAGA voter who believed Trump was different. William Bailey Kingsport, Tenn. What an insult: The Post's two-page spread 'The Conspiracy Weary' (Brendan O'Neill, July 10) ridicules the skeptical masses for applying logical inquiry to the Epstein affair. The Epstein affair and its coverup are governmental 'frame rot' undermining our constitutional republic. Michael Klewin Lawrence Township, NJ Trump was approached about Epstein's files and sort of implied it was old news. But he keeps bringing up the 2020 election, which is 4 ¹/₂ years old. Raymond Mangano Brooklyn Want to weigh in on today's stories? Send your thoughts (along with your full name and city of residence) to letters@ Letters are subject to editing for clarity, length, accuracy, and style.
New York Post
12-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
UFT backing Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor has members crying foul
Furious city teachers are threatening to pull their cash from the United Federation of Teachers' political activities fund after union leaders blindsided them and endorsed socialist Zohran Mamdani, The Post has learned. UFT President Mike Mulgrew and his top allies infuriated rank-and-file members Tuesday by pushing through a resolution to back Mamdani for mayor — approved by 63% of more than 1,000 delegates — with the vast majority of teachers on summer recess and caught off guard. A day after the endorsement, 90 educators vented their anger during a Zoom meeting held by the United Jewish Teachers and NYC Public Schools Alliance, groups battling antisemitism in city schools. 3 Mulgrew dismissed other candidates for mayor during a delegate meeting Tuesday at which the UFT endorsed Zohran Mamdani. Getty Images 'Mamdani's record includes deeply troubling associations with antisemitic and anti-American views,' said Karen Feldman, a middle-school teacher and co-founder of NYCPS Alliance. 'This goes beyond politics — it's about the safety of Jewish staff, the increasing ideological tensions in schools, and the breakdown of faith in a union meant to support, not divide.' Ramming through the Mamdani endorsement, Mulgrew never gave other candidates a real chance, sources at the meeting said. He dismissed incumbent Mayor Adams and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats running as independents, as 'beholden to very rich powerful people,' and ripped Republican Curtis Sliwa for proposing to extend the school year. UFT members can donate as much as they want to union's political action arm, the Committee on Political Education or COPE, but the more than 100,000 who contribute typically give $5 per biweekly paycheck. Some union delegates and school chapter leaders told The Post they're getting peppered with questions from co-workers on how to drop payments to the COPE, and whether it's worth pulling $1,700 a year in union dues, too. 'Why should I pay dues to a union endorsing a guy who is a socialist and whose beliefs I vehemently oppose?' said a Bronx-based school chapter leader and delegate. 3 Teacher Karen Feldman said Mamdani's views have 'deeply troubling associations with antisemitic and anti-American views.' Gregory P. Mango The Jewish teacher group's Power Point presentation at the Zoom meeting cited Mamdani's 'anti-Zionist stance' and criticisms of Israel, which they said could influence curriculum choices and classroom discussions, 'potentially leading to a one-sided or politicized view of complex global conflicts.' The slides also warned of Mamdani's interest in making ex-'Squad' Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a fellow socialist and former Bronx middle school principal, the city's next schools chancellor. 'Stop all COPE payments today!' the group urged, spelling out how to do so. 'We urge all members to pull out of COPE to send a clear message to UFT leadership that our hard-earned money will not be used to support divisive candidates,' said Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers, a group of more than 250 educators. The group leaders said they didn't recommend members leave the union 'right now,' but Spern predicted an exodus in coming weeks. 'I get why so many are pulling their COPE contributions,' said teacher Daniel Alicea, a member of a rival UFT caucus that tried to boot Mulgrew from his $321,482-a-year post in the union's May election. 3 At a meeting, teachers angry at the UFT's endorsement of Mamdani were urged to stope their donations to the union's political arm. Obtained by the New York Post 'Political contributions are protected free speech, so you are free to express it with your wallet. So many see that their union is acting as an entrenched political patronage partisan machine that doesn't bother to give members a voice in the process.' The UFT — with nearly 200,000 members, including retirees — reports collecting 'dues and agency fees' totaling nearly $174.5 million for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2023, according to its most recent federal financial filings. It spent $4.5 million on 'political activities and lobbying' and another $4.3 million on 'contributions, gifts and grants.' The union's decision to back Mamdani comes after it declined to endorse a mayoral candidate in the June 24 Democratic primary, saying members were torn among Mamdani, Cuomo and former Comptroller Scott Stringer. The UFT would not address the potential loss of COPE payments or member dues, and brushed off criticism that Mulgrew had orchestrated and railroaded the vote for Mamdani. 'Endorsements are the result of a lengthy union review process with the final decision being made by the union's Delegate Assembly, which is made up of UFT members elected from every New York City public school,' spokesperson Alison Gendar said.
New York Post
10-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
The horrible reasons the teachers union just endorsed Zohran Mamdani
It's easy to see why the United Federation of Teachers just threw its support to Zohran Mamdani: He's already said he wants to end mayoral control of the public schools — which translates to putting the city's teachers' union in charge. Per his platform, Mamdani 'supports an end to mayoral control' as we know it in favor of something it calls 'co-governance'; he's elsewhere vowed 'to give more say to educators and parents.' Let's be clear here: Before mayoral control, no one could hold anyone in particular to account for the public schools, as ever-changing political alliances determined who controlled the city Board of Education. Advertisement That left the UFT as easily the system's most powerful player — with no effective voice for the kids. Remember: Unions exist solely to serve their members' interests, however much they pretend otherwise; that's why COVID fears kept US schools closed the longest in areas with the most powerful teacher unions. That Mamdani would give up power over the Department of Education's $40 billion-a-year budget makes sense only if he also wants to avoid responsibility for the system's 900,000 students. Advertisement Of course, the Democratic Socialist firebrand himself attended expensive private schools until he tested well enough to win entry to elite Bronx Science; he has no clue what non-privileged parents seek from the system. Under a similar dynamic, New York's governor has no control of the State Education Department; it's bossed by a Board of Regents chosen in another complex process that again leaves no one to hold accountable. So the state's teachers unions set the agenda — and SED routinely waters down educational standards where it can't eliminate them; the goal is always more spending on schools and fewer demands on teachers; nothing about improving outcomes for the kids. You get plenty of sweet talk about 'supporting all children' and so on, but zero real action. Advertisement That's the future for most city schools if the unholy alliance prospers. Heck, even Bronx Science and the other elite high schools (Brooklyn Tech, Stuvesant, plus the handful added after Mike Bloomberg gained mayoral control) will be at risk, though Mamdani has waffled on whether he'd seek to end race-blind admissions testing for those institutions. It's funny: The UFT's record on mayoral endorsements is a long string of misfires, but the union still manages to keep coming out on top. One more time: The city still employs a lot of first-rate teachers, who have no choice but to join the UFT — but those educators aren't the ones the union mostly serves. Advertisement The state of public education in city schools should be a central issue, since the frontrunner has embraced the worst possible prescription. Voters who care about the future of the city's children need to rally behind someone other than teachers' union pet Zohran Mamdani.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Zohran Mamdani, in dig at Mayor Adams, unveils his (700-plus) SAT II scores
Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani publicly released his 700-plus SAT II scores on Wednesday in a jab at critics who have seized on his college career, including his decision to identify himself as both African American and Asian on a Columbia University application. Speaking at the headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers union, Mamdani revealed he received 710 on his SAT II English exam and 740 on his world history test. 'I know now that's of great interest to Eric Adams and many others,' Mamdani said with a smirk, standing alongside UFT President Michael Mulgrew, whose powerful union endorsed the democratic socialist's mayoral bid Tuesday. Mamdani's comments about college test scores came after Adams and his supporters have made Mamdani's college career a major target for political attacks over the last several days. The controversy started when the New York Times reported last week that records hacked from Columbia University showed Mamdani had on an application to the college identified himself as both African American and Asian. Mamdani, who was born in Africa to Indian parents and later moved to the U.S., has said he checked both boxes because he felt neither option fully explained his identity. But the mayor, and an X account affiliated with his campaign called @AdamsWarRoom, assailed Mamdani for the application flap, saying he was trying to use Black identity as a trump card at a time when race was a factor in college admissions. Mamdani, who ended up attending Bowdoin College in Maine, did not get accepted at Columbia. On the heels of the application fracas, more information about Mamdani from the Columbia hack leaked out, including records showing he netted a 2,140 out of 2,400 score on his regular SAT, the lower end of the median for students admitted to the Ivy League school. 'We can tell,' the Adams war room account tweeted about his SAT score. Adams and others have also attacked Mamdani for social media posts he put out while in college, including messages espousing socialist views. 'This is horrifying,' the war room account recently wrote on X about a post Mamdani put out years ago saying industries should be 'worker owned.' As the Democratic Party's mayoral nominee, Mamdani is emerging as the favorite to win November's general election. The UFT endorsement marked another influential union backing Mamdani following his win over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primary. In a new poll of the November contest released Wednesday, Mamdani led with 35%, Cuomo trailed at 25%, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa at 14% and Adams placed fourth with 11%. Addressing the backlash over his tweets and college record during Wednesday's UFT press conference, Mamdani said he believes Adams is focusing on those issues to distract from 'the record at hand.' 'What I hear from New Yorkers is they can't afford their rent, they can't afford their ConEdison bill, they can't afford even a metrocard … If I was Eric Adams I would rather talk about SAT scores than the fact that he raised the rent by 9% over the first years in his mayoralty and increased it yet again this year,' he said, referring to the mayorally-controlled Rent Guidelines Board's increases on stabilized tenants. _____
New York Post
09-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
The UFT's Mamdani endorsement: Letters to the Editor — July 10, 2025
The Issue: The city's United Federation of Teachers endorses Zohran Mamdani for mayor. In choosing Zohran Mamdani, the UFT has shown it accepts the whole package of what he stands for — including Jew hatred and government seizure of private property ('Lefty UFT endorses radical Mamdani,' July 9). If anything, this action calls for school choice: To give parents the option of placing their children in schools that actually teach the basics, rather than political indoctrination. Bill Isler Floral Park In the past, any communist or fascist would have to seize power by force of arms. In today's New York City, it turns out all a communist has to do is offer the United Federation of Teachers a raise. Christopher O'Keefe Manhattan I am ashamed of my union for doing this. This endorsement came from a meeting of the union's Delegate Assembly, apparently made up of leftist, antisemitic communists. How could the UFT endorse a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions advocate who refuses to acknowledge Holocaust Remembrance and is rumored to make Jamaal Bowman, an anti-Israel poor imitation of a human being, the next chancellor of New York City schools? To protest this outrage, I am asking my fellow UFT colleagues to withdraw from giving to COPE, a financial political action group of the UFT. Ed Greenspan Brooklyn Mass insanity at New York City's teachers union overcomes intelligence. The UFT is blind to Mamdani's threat to our fragile democracy. Thomas Birnbaum Manhattan I was taken aback when I read in The Post that the United Federation of Teachers voted to endorse antisemite Mamdani for New York City mayor. How support of Mamdani helps the city's public schools is lost on me, or any thinking person for that matter. However, on reflection, I remembered that this was the teachers union that denounced the attempts by parents to control what was taught to their children. This rabble organization of teachers cares not for the betterment of students, but only for paychecks and pensions. Frank Olivieri Ft. Myers, Fla. So, the UFT has endorsed Zohran Mamdani for mayor. As teachers, how stupid can they possibly be for backing a snake-oil salesman? I'll bet a boatload of chalk that these teachers will tell their students to tell their parents to vote for Mamdani. The election is less than four months away; there's still time to pack up and leave New York for good. Harve Kaye Brooklyn The Issue: Elon Musk's threat to launch a third national party amid his disapproval of President Trump. In theory, the new political party proposed by Elon Musk as a third alternative could be a great divider with just a few wins in the House and Senate ('Get Real, Elon,' Glenn Harlan Reynolds, July 8). The problem, however, is that the basis of this party seems to be both spite and an attempt to gain power over President Trump. A rival party is not a positive idea, and thus it might be better for Musk to step away and spend his time and money on solving one of the world's many problems. Dennis Fitzgerald Melbourne, Australia It appears Elon Musk wants to create a new national political party as revenge due to President Trump and the Republican Party no longer being his puppets and passing the One Big Beautiful Bill. Musk should go back to the country where he was born — which is not the United States — to create his new political party. Cecelia Clark St. Petersburg, Fla. Want to weigh in on today's stories? Send your thoughts (along with your full name and city of residence) to letters@ Letters are subject to editing for clarity, length, accuracy, and style.
