Yesterday afternoon, District Council 37, the largest public employees union in New York City, unveiled its political endorsements for the September 13 legislative primaries. One endorsement that stood out in particular was that of Assemblyman William Boyland Jr.
Mr. Boyland, of course, is currently facing charges that he accepted bribes to pay for legal bills in another corruption trial. Furthermore, Mr. Boyland had the worst attendance record in Albany and was the only lawmaker in the Senate or Assembly to not introduce a single bill. This year he missed 280 votes.
So we reached out to DC 37 to inquire if they had interviewed Mr. Boyland, and if these issues came up or were of concern to them. In response, they confirmed that Mr. Boyland did come in for an interview and provided this statement from Lillian Roberts, the union’s executive director:
“DC 37 utilizes a transparent process for review and endorsement of political candidates. Candidates are interviewed and rated, with the highest-ranking being recommended to the Executive Board and/or Delegate body for approval. Candidates are not rated on any single issue, but on the entire record of issues relating to labor.”
Despite his ongoing woes, Mr. Boyland stands a very real chance of being re-elected to his Brownsville Assembly seat on September 13th. This is because he faces what may be a record number of challengers who might split the anti-Boyland vote: Nathan Bradley, Anthony Jones, Christopher Durosinmi, Bilal Malik, Dion Turner, Roy Antoine, Tony Herbert and David Miller.
Mr. Boyland has largely kept his head down in the campaign, doing the bare minimum in his re-election efforts. He filed petitions to be on the ballot but has not filed any campaign finance reports in years. Considering his quiet legal situation and the fact that federal prosecutors claim to have him on tape accepting bribes, it’s theoretically possible that a plea bargain could emerge at any given moment. He has maintained his innocence, however.
