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Jim Owles Club Endorses Maya Wiley for Mayor
Club rescinds endorsement of Dianne Morales following union-busting allegations
BY MATT TRACY
While the Dianne Morales
campaign for
mayor faces allegations
of union-busting
and other labor issues, at least
one queer political club is going in
a new direction.
The Jim Owles Liberal Democratic
Club has ditched Morales
in favor of Maya Wiley, who previously
served as counsel to Mayor
Bill de Blasio and was chair of the
Civilian Complaint Review Board.
The club settled on the Wiley endorsement
during an emergency
meeting, according to a June 1 announcement.
“Workers’ rights are an essential
tenet of our progressive club
and our champions must not only
profess our values, but live them in
their own public and private lives,”
club president Allen Roskoff said.
“And so with a heavy heart, we rescind
our endorsement of Dianne
Morales.”
He added, “However, the club is
proud to throw its support behind
another highly qualifi ed and historic
candidate with impeccable
progressive credentials and an
abiding dedication to systemic progressive
change.”
The club is planning on campaigning
for Wiley and will distribute
more than 32,000 mailers
for her across 11 City Council districts,
according to Roskoff.
“We call upon the progressive
community to unite and make history
by electing her as the city’s
fi rst Black and fi rst woman Mayor,”
Roskoff said.
Shortly after the announcement,
Wiley welcomed the club’s
support.
“I will set our city forward on a
path to better days for everyone,”
Wiley said in a tweet. “I’m honored
The Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club is supporting Maya Wiley in the race for mayor.
to have the endorsement of
@JimOwles, which has been at
the forefront of advocating for the
needs of LGBTQIA New Yorkers, as
we work to create a New York City
that is truly a city for all!”
During the club’s mayoral forum
last October, Wiley recalled her experience
as an attorney working
on cases at the intersection of homophobia
and the HIV/AIDS crisis.
One of her fi rst cases as a civil
rights lawyer, she said, included
an client living with HIV who was
getting evicted from his home and
fi red from his job.
In Jim Owles’ mayoral questionnaire,
Wiley committed to abolishing
the NYPD’s vice squad — which
has a reputation for targeting sex
workers and entrapping gay men
in adult establishments. However,
Wiley does not support the full decriminalization
of sex work. She
said in that questionnaire that
she supports removing criminal
penalties for sex workers, but not
for buyers, and she distanced herself
from the issue by saying she
does “not intend to engage in this
fi ght in Albany, as this is a state
legislative issue.” (A bill has been
proposed in the State Legislature
to comprehensively decriminalize
sex work).
“As mayor I commit to listening
and partnering to ensure that we
are making real and meaningful
change for trans sex workers,” Wiley
wrote in the questionnaire.
The abrupt endorsement shift
came less than a month after the
club endorsed Morales, who also
landed the endorsement of the
Lambda Independent Democrats
of Brooklyn (LID).
The mayoral race has had its
share of twists and turns for LGBTQ
political clubs. The Stonewall
Democratic Club of New York City
REUTERS/EDUARDO MUNOZ
and LID initially endorsed the campaign
of Comptroller Scott Stringer,
but after he was shrouded in
allegations of sexual misconduct,
LID pulled the endorsement and
backed Morales. Stonewall, meanwhile,
failed to attain the two-thirds
majority required to overturn the
endorsement of Stringer in a controversial
vote that prompted multiple
members to leave the club.
LID, at least for now, is not planning
to rescind the Morales endorsement
— but the club is directing
its efforts to City Council races
during an election cycle featuring
a large slate of queer candidates.
“LID is fi rst and foremost a club
for queer people, run by queer people,
and dedicated to getting queer
people elected, and that’s what we
will continue to focus on doing:
getting our slate of queer candidates
elected,” LID said in a tweet
on May 28.
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