Howard C. Edelman, the $2,500-a-day state arbitrator who stiffed the cops with a 1 percent raise, donated $1,000 to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s mayoral campaign, according to the city’s campaign finance board. Two contributions of $500 each were made on Dec. 13, 2012, and Sept. 12, 2013.
“We were aware of that,” said Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association spokesman Al O’Leary, “but he [Edelman] was the least objectionable to both parties.”
Edelman was selected as arbitrator by the state’s Public Employment Relations Board.
O’Leary said Edelman’s “history of decisions seemed to follow the guidelines of the Taylor Law,” which O’Leary said developed a process fair to unions. Instead, said O’Leary, Edelman “parroted the city line” in comparing the cops’ contract with other uniformed unions, as de Blasio had done — not to those in surrounding municipalities, most of which pay more than the NYPD.
The PBA last spring decided against negotiating a new contract with de Blasio, thinking it would do better with an arbitrator.
Tumin found
Unlike the wife of Edward Rochester in the “Jane Eyre” novel, whom he kept hidden in his attic, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Services Zack Tumin has been located.
“Any time you want to find me, I’m in 1412, or in one of a dozen precincts, night and day,” Tumin wrote in an email. “Anytime you want to talk, happy to. Sorry you felt lost and confused. Happy to help you get unlost. Oh — by the way. My mission is crystal clear. My projects are too.”
Tumin’s email followed last week’s column suggesting he had been kept hidden on the 14th floor of 1 Police Plaza with his support staff removed and phone service discontinued amid concerns nobody could explain what he’d been doing for the past 18 months.
Tumin, as the column pointed out, is one of Commissioner Bill Bratton’s backroom guys who exert a powerful influence at the NYPD.
An email from Clare Cranston, Tumin’s executive assistant, set up a meeting this week. “Commissioner Tumin is available for a meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 17 or Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 10:00 on both days,” she wrote. “Please be advised my office is under construction and I am without phone usage at this time.”
