A Good Year for Mayors

Part of the Local 98 campaign team shows off the T-shirts they
wore when working for the re-election of  Philadelphia Mayor
John Street.

Local 237 Business Manager Gerry Zell, left, greets Niagara Falls Mayor-elect Vince Anello, a 34-year IBEW member.

Labor's political strength has always been at the person-to-
person or "grass-roots" level and distinctive victories for mayor kept that tradition alive in the 2003 municipal elections.

IBEW Local 237 member Vince Anello was elected mayor of Niagara Falls, New York, and Local 488 played such a prominent role in Connecticut's biggest city that Bridgeport Mayor John Fabrizi came to the hall to bring his pledge on Project Labor Agreements.

IBEW members were active in multiple other cities, notably Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Local 98 members helped in the nationally publicized re-election of Mayor John Street.

Greeting the new Mayor are, left to right, Local 488 Assistant Business Manager Peter Carroll, Business Manager Patrick Donahue, Mayor's Chief of Staff and Local 488 member Charles Carroll, Bridgeport Mayor Fabrizi and Local 488 President Joseph Madar.

Both Niagara Falls and Bridgeport had tumultuous IBEW union hall celebrations of the new mayor. They were "screaming and applauding" in Local 237 in celebration when Brother Anello, a member for 34 years, was elected with a 3-1 victory over the Republican incumbent. And Local 488 reports a "rousing, standing ovation" when Mayor Fabrizi told them "you stood by me since the primary and I'm here to tell you that I will stand with you for the next four years."

In Niagara Falls, two labor-endorsed candidates were also elected overwhelmingly to the city council, where Brother Anello served previously. Local 237 Press Secretary Jeffrey Plache says the election was won by "a grass-roots effort with nothing but dedicated volunteers, honest public relations and a positive, straightforward campaign." Mayor-elect Anello told his brothers and sisters, "we are going to use the wealth of resources we already have to promote social and economic development that will put the city of Niagara Falls back on the map."

The Local 488 union meeting was held in the Edmonton Town Hall and the celebration was amplified by the fact Mayor Fabrizi was accompanied by his chief of staff, Charles Carroll, a Local 488 member. Mayor Fabrizi assured Business Manager Patrick Donahue that "the proposed PLA is being signed," ending what Local 488 calls a "stagnant redevelopment climate" under Republican leadership. The victory brought Mayor Fabrizi his first full four-year term after he was appointed interim mayor in April 2003. He was previously city council president.

Local 488 Press Secretary George F. Magdon reports that Mayor Fabrizi "has already made sweeping changes" to benefit the City of Bridgeport. "On election night," he reports, "our apprentices-50 strong-were out at the polls on a cold and rainy election night in support of Mayor Fabrizi. Fund-raising, voter registration and working together went a long way toward achieving the desired result."

IBEWCURRENTS

January/February 2004 IBEW Journal