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Mazzei Gets Town Union Backing For Supervisor

Excerpts from Newsday Blog story
02/10/2009

The Civil Service Employees Association, which represents Brookhaven town workers, has endorsed Republican town board member Timothy Mazzei (left) in his bid for town supervisor describing him as a “passionate advocate” for labor.

The union represents the bulk of the town’s 1,000 workers and has 10,000 members townwide, a signficant number in what is expected to be a low-turnout special election March 31, which could draw just 10 to 14 percent of town voters.

Lisa Wieber, spokeswoman for Mazzei’s Democratic foe Mark Lesko, a former federal prosecutor, downplayed the signficance of the endorsement, noting Republicans hold a 4-3 town board majority that would be unchanged even if Lesko win. “Mark looks forward to working witht he CSEA when he wins March 31,” she said.

In their endorsement, the union cited Mazzei’s opposition to former Democratic Supervisor Brian Foley’s successful bid to install a $1-million global positioning system in all town cars as well as Foley’s unsuccessful effort to put cuts to the employee benefit fund on the bargaining table.

The CSEA has backed Republican candidates in the last four supervisor races, but they balked at backing Mazzei for town board in 2005, though they supported him in 2007.