Mayoral hopefuls split on taking donations from StudentsFirstNY

Hours after the union-backed New Yorkers for Great Public Schools launched a campaign to tie the education advocacy group StudentsFirstNY to the political ideologies of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, 2013 mayoral candidates began chiming in on whether they would accept StudentsFirstNY’s support.

Of the three campaigns that responded to requests for comment from GothamSchools, one said no StudentsFirstNY money would come into its coffers. The other two said they would have no problem accepting support from the group, which seeks to advance many of the Bloomberg administration’s education policies. A fourth candidate says he hasn’t made up his mind yet.

Comptroller John Liu said he would reject any support, although a spokesman acknowledged that funds from StudentsFirstNY were unlikely to be directed toward Liu’s campaign.

“I doubt the group would send us any contributions,” said the spokesman, Chung Seto. Liu, who hasn’t declared for mayor and whose campaign finances are the subject of a federal investigation, is considered a candidate likely to align with the teachers union.

Speaker Christine Quinn, an early favorite in the Democratic primary bid, would happily accept support from education groups, no matter their school reform ideologies, a campaign consultant said today. 

“Chris will accept contributions from [Students FirstNY] just as she has from the teachers union in the past,” the consultant, Mark Guma, emailed. “Chris will accept the support — and counsel — of people with differing opinions on how to improve our schools.”

Tom Allon, a former teacher at Stuyvesant High School who is running on an education platform, said he would be “honored if they donated to my campaign.”

Former Comptroller Bill Thompson, who came in second to Quinn in a poll this week, told Capital New York’s Azi Paybarah in a statement that he hasn’t made up his mind about StudentsFirstNY.

“The allegations in the report, if true, raise questions about StudentsFirstNY’s financial backing and reporting,” Thompson said. “The last thing we need is super-PAC-like organizations attempting to influence education policy with little transparency and accountability. I reserve judgment for the moment and look forward to learning more about the organization and its agenda.”

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Public Advocate Bill De Blasio, two other prospective candidates, did not respond to requests for comment.

New Yorkers for Great Public Schools is hoping to use ties between the Romney campaign and board members to discredit StudentsFirstNY as the group tries to buoy support for Mayor Bloomberg’s education policies. StudentsFirstNY has called the criticism groundless, noting that most of its board members, who include former mayor Ed Koch and Harlem Children’s Zone CEO Geoffrey Canada, are registered Democrats. But the union coalition has focused specifically on a number of board members that are actively working to unseat President Obama in November as a reason to oppose the group.

This afternoon, leaders from unions and community groups that make up New Yorkers for Great Public Schools gathered on the steps of the Department of Education’s headquarters to issue a preemptive condemnation of any elected officials who consider StudentFirstNY’s support.

Billy Easton, executive director of Alliance for Quality Education, which is funded by the United Federation of Teachers, said the coalition was not yet trying to tell people for whom to vote. But he warned politicians that “taking StudentsFirst money is bad for New York.”

StudentsFirstNY Executive Director Micah Lasher said the general response from the mayoral candidates so far was evidence that the union coalition’s campaign was baseless.

“New Yorkers don’t like being bullied and they don’t like politicians who are easily bullied,” Lasher said. “It’s sad that we can’t have a serious conversation on education without the union acting like they’re in a school yard.”