SEIU Local 1199 has endorsed City Council candidate Elizabeth Crowley, one of the Democrats running in the special election to fill Dennis Gallagher's seat.

The union is hugely powerful politically, particularly in special elections. So this is fairly big, if not all that surprising.  read more »

Tomorrow, Al Sharpton and others will meet at SEIU local 1199’s headquarters to plan citywide protests in light of the Sean Bell verdict, which seems to put the city’s most powerful union right at his corner.  read more »

A reader passed along this email they say is from an SEIU Local 1199 operative asking if anyone wants to travel to Wisconsin to campaign for Barack Obama, starting tomorrow and going through Wednesday.

In the subject line it says “air, car, accomodations [sic] included”. The email goes on to say, “SEIU just officially endorsed and this request just came at us.”  read more »

Andrew Cuomo announced he’s conducting a major investigation of the healthcare industry that could explain why healthcare costs are so expensive.

According to Cuomo’s office, insurers have low-balled the cost of medical treatment, pushing off a majority of the expenses to customers. The companies being investigated include UnitedHealth Group, Ingenix and others.

Here’s an example of how the scheme worked, according to a public statement from Cuomo’s office:

United insurers knew most simple doctor visits cost $200, but claimed to  read more »

]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/cuomo-and-healthcare#comments Politics Andrew Cuomo Eliot Spitzer SEIU 1199 Tom Suozzi Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:03:23 -0500 Azi Paybarah 65069 at http://www.observer.com