A credible N.Y. dissident, Paul Pamias, filed a complaint Oct. 12 with Manhattan Dist. Atty. Robert M. Morgenthau requesting an investigation in his local, Serv. Employees Int’l Union Local 32B-32J, for alleged violations of local election laws in connection with N.Y.C.’s Sept. 25 Democratic primary.
Pamias alleged that on Sept. 11, the original primary day, many of the local’s staff were forced to volunteer to campaign for mayoral candidate Mark Green. Staffers were allegedly forced to sign vouchers stating they were taking a vacation day so they can go campaign. Again, on Sept. 24, Staffers were allegedly told at a meeting that they would be campaigning all day Sept. 25. Allegedly, this time they were not ordered to fill out vacation vouchers. After the primary, however, outraged staffers reportedly confronted various bosses, and the bosses avoided a “possible mutiny” by allegedly giving the staff a day off with pay.
On Oct. 11, the staff was allegedly out campaigning again, against their will. That same day, an article appeared in El Diario, a Spanish newspaper, detailing the alleged election corruption. Then after questioning from Pamias, local bosses allegedly gave staffers who were already in the field vacation vouchers and told to fill them out. Staffers approached Pamias because he is recognized dissident leader with a track record of success — he was part of the successful effort that brought down ex-32B-32J boss Gus Benova in 1999 via a series of federal anti-corruption suits. [Pamias Letter to Morgenthau 10/12/01]