Unions $eed pols’ fight vs. charters

ALBANY — Labor unions are flexing their financial muscle in the fight against charter schools by showering cash on three key state lawmakers who oppose Gov. Hochul’s plans for more of the publicly funded private schools, according to a Post analysis.

The unions have given roughly $175,000 to state Senate Education Chair Shelley Mayer, state Senate New York City Education Chair John Liu and Assembly Education Chair Michael Benedetto over the years — building powerful ties that could sink Hochul’s hopes of lifting the current cap on charters in the Empire State.

“Labor unions know where their bread is buttered, and they also know when to keep the knife out,” one Albany insider explained.

Campaign finance records show powerful groups like New York State United Teachers — whose biggest subsidiary is the city’s United Federation of Teachers — and the AFL-CIO have cultivated ties through regular giving to the longtime charter foes amid a state budget battle on the matter.

Mayer (D-Yonkers) has over the past nine years received at least 37 donations totaling $71,000 from groups, mostly unions, who signed a March 31 memo outlining their opposition to more charters.

At least $65,000 in campaign cash from 37 similar sources has gone to Liu (D-Queens), a former city comptroller, during his various runs for state office since 2014.

Benedetto (D-Bronx), a former teacher, has benefited from 47 such gifts exceeding $30,000 since 2005.

“We support lawmakers who support public education. We routinely work with other labor unions and education groups to advocate for policies and programs that support public schools and strong communities,” NYSUT spokesman Ben Amey said Friday.

Basil Smikle Jr., a pro-charter former legislative candidate who lectures on public policy at Columbia University, said the money to the committee chairs is about building bonds.

“It’s the longer term relationships that the unions have with elected officials . . . that make the dollars they donate important,” he said. “But not as critical to the fight as some of the relationships they have developed over time.”

Such gifts add up to one more reason why Mayer, Liu and Benedetto are adding pressure on Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) to block charter changes in budget talks with Hochul.

“There is no nexus. We do our job, and we will continue to do our job,” Stewart-Cousins said in February about donations from anti-charter sources to members of her Democratic supermajority.

Labor unions know where their bread is buttered, and they also know when to keep the knife out.

— Albany source on unions’ donations to anti-charter pols like Sen. Shelley Mayer (left)