Hispanic cop groups split vote on Bloomy
BY MAGGIE HABERMAN and DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005
A decision by some Hispanic NYPD cops to endorse Mayor Bloomberg touched off a
new battle of the badges yesterday - with warring factions of Latino cops
claiming to be the community's real representatives
Pablo DeJesus of the NYPD Hispanic Society said his group was backing Bloomberg because of the mayor's success in driving down crime since 9/11.
For Bloomberg, the endorsement seemed to offer a foothold in two key camps - among cops, whose unions have battled for two years for a new contract, and Hispanics, viewed as the natural base of Democratic front-runner Fernando Ferrer.
But moments after the photo op was over, Anthony Miranda of the NYPD's National Latino Officers Association arrived at City Hall Park to discount the endorsers as a withering faction.
"The Hispanic community is not going to be fooled by a dying Hispanic organization," said Miranda, adding his association has 10,000 dues-paying members.
By comparison, the NYPD Hispanic Society claimed 12,000 members but - as the oldest Hispanic group in the NYPD, with roots dating to 1957 - many are thought to be retired.
In 2001, Miranda's group endorsed Ferrer in the primary - and later backed Bloomberg.
The mayor later added another group to his tally when the city's Log Cabin Republicans, a group of gay Republicans, endorsed his candidacy.
Meanwhile, Democratic mayoral challenger Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn, Queens) began the first prerecorded phone calls of the campaign, in conjunction with a mailing showing him with his old boss, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).