The New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council is beefing up its political operation and preparing to dump several million dollars into the battle for the state Senate and next year's city races. And it will all be spent on Democrats.
The council has hired two political operatives - Neil Kwatra and Michael Rabinowitz - from its international, UNITE HERE, and will invest "significant" resources in this fall's races, according to a union source. The 30,000-member union has traditionally backed Republicans. Itsnew approach is bad news for Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau), who needs the labor support created by his predecessor, Joe Bruno, to hold his party's two-seat majority.
The trades council has endorsed three of the Democrats' top candidates: Queens City Councilmen Hiram Monserrate and Joe Addabbo and Brookhaven, L.I., Town Supervisor Brian Foley. It also made one early 2009 endorsement: Councilman Bill de Blasio for Brooklyn borough president.
The union took the risk of backing Brooklyn state Sen. Martin Connor's primary challenger, Dan Squadron, even though Connor is supported by his Democratic colleagues.
Even if Connor wins, the union will still have a powerful friend in the Assembly: It endorsed Silver, who is facing his first primary challengers in two decades, and sent staffers to work on his campaign.
