Behind the scenes drama in PBA contract negotiation

Daily Point

A complex negotiation for new PBA contract

Last month, when Nassau County PBA members voted down a new deal by 143 votes in a move that shocked seemingly every involved faction, it became clear that the politics surrounding a new PBA deal are as complex as the contract itself.

The old contract expired on the final day of 2017, along with all the county’s labor deals.

The new contract was negotiated by the 1,594-member PBA, the county and NIFA as a continuation of the "pattern" established by recently ratified deals for the detectives and for the superior officers. The membership of the detectives’ and superior officers’ unions approved their deals by broad margins. So what’s going on with the PBA?

Although hardly anyone is willing to be quoted, former and current PBA officials, county officials and NIFA officials describe a union too besieged and divided by internal and external politics to act in its own self-interest.

To read the full article, click here.

—Lane Filler @lanefiller

Talking Point

In Buttigieg we "Trust"?

The Point picked up a copy of Pete Buttigieg’s new book, "Trust," to see whether there might be details about the nominated cabinet secretary’s transportation philosophy — if not the outlines of a 2024 run.

The book, published in October before Joe Biden’s presidential win, doesn’t talk much about planes, trains and automobiles despite early mentions of Indiana State Road 933, flyover country, and the fact that the military vet served as his unit’s go-to driver in Kabul.

But there are glimpses of how the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor might serve in the Biden administration if confirmed by the U.S. Senate. There is the general center-left philosophy about the role of government in tackling big challenges: Buttigieg, for example, writes about the need for infrastructure improvements to combat climate change.

More broadly, he pitches himself as smart, honest, and ready to get to work to rebuild trust in government, repeating his oft-used line about the need for a presidency "that could lower rather than raise Americans’ blood pressure when they watched the news."

Perhaps that suggests uncontroversial photo-ops for shovel-ready projects and a bureaucrat rolling up his sleeves to fulfill Biden’s infrastructure vision.

But there are also plenty of indications that Buttigieg, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2020, is around for the long haul. The new book offers near-apologies or explanations for some of the aspects that cratered his presidential bid, including his weakness with Black voters. He writes stirringly of the need for Americans to trust each other and their institutions again, and he fixates on his frustrations about Iowa being called late for him, which he speculates may have cost momentum.

Passages about his sober interactions with President Jimmy Carter and the late Rep. John Lewis might remind the reader that by 2024 or 2028, he’ll be practically an elder on the Democratic stage in his own right.

Trust he’s running again.

—Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Pencil Point

New year, same problems

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/cartoons

Quick Points

• The 11 Republican senators who plan to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump cite the many GOP voters who believe that fraud handed Biden the victory. And many kids believe Santa Claus is real.
• Vandals upset at Congress for not approving $2,000 stimulus checks defaced the homes of Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. At last, bipartisanship.
• Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and 10 colleagues who announced they will vote to reject the Electoral College results said in a statement, "We do not take this action lightly." But they do take it cravenly.
• Regarding the vote this week to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win, Senate No.2 Republican John Thune said that leadership is allowing senators who plan to object to "vote their conscience." OK, John, but you know that’s not what they’re doing.
• When President Donald Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "recalculate" that state’s votes to "find" enough for the president to win, did it sound like the president was interested in a legitimate recalculation or one that used, you know, fuzzy math?
• With virtually everyone agreeing on the importance of keeping schools open as COVID-19 cases spike, wouldn’t it make sense to prioritize teachers for vaccines to, you know, help keep schools open?
• Moncef Slaoui, chief science adviser to Operation Warp Speed, speaking about the administration’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, said, "We need to improve," showing he has mastered the art of understatement.
• President Donald Trump tweeted that the number of COVID-19-related cases and deaths in the United States are "far exaggerated" because of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s "ridiculous method" of counting. The nerve of the CDC, to count those who have died as dead.

—Michael Dobie @mwdobie