Statewide VOTE/COPE coordinator has ideas to entice donations

Tom Tucker, master carpenter at SUNY Buffalo’s Center for the Arts, knows that, no matter how good the production, you still need to fill the seats.

Tucker is using that entertainment model in his approach to his position as UUP’s statewide VOTE/COPE coordinator. “You need to get them in before you make the pitch,” he said.

VOTE/COPE is NYSUT’s nonpartisan political action fund fueled solely by voluntary contributions from members of the statewide union’s locals, such as UUP. It supports pro-education candidates, lobbying and advertising efforts. In 2001, VOTE/COPE contributions topped $4 million for the first time — a 15 percent increase from 2000. Of that amount, $126,073.38 came from UUP members, an increase of 4 percent from the year before.

“Every year, our members break their own record,” said UUP President William Scheuerman. “It shows that they know the important role political action plays in UUP’s advocacy for SUNY.”

Tucker, beginning his first full year as VOTE/COPE coordinator, said he wants to build on the momentum that’s been established with the fund-raising campaign. He’s working on several initiatives, including an event in Buffalo — UUP has three chapters there — that would bring an entertainment celebrity or major political figure to town as the main attraction.

“And, once we fill the auditorium, we make our VOTE/COPE pitch,” Tucker said.

He’s also working with UUP officers to establish achievable “giving levels” and awards for reaching those levels as a way to entice members to make contributions.

In addition, Tucker is attempting to expand his reach by joining forces with UUP’s statewide Political Action Committee and enlisting committee members to be VOTE/COPE ambassadors on their campuses.

That work will be done in conjunction with Tucker’s regional coordinators, who he described as the unionists most responsible for UUP’s recent VOTE/COPE successes. For the 2002 campaign, they are: Edison Bond of Brooklyn HSC; William Canning, Oswego; Kelly Brennan, Brockport; Frank Maraviglia, ESF; Glenn McNitt, New Paltz; Candace Merbler, Albany; Edward Quinn, Stony Brook; Fayez Samuel, Farmingdale; Kathleen Southerton and Doris Weisman, Stony Brook HSC; and Darryl Wood, Binghamton.

“They’re the ones out there working the crowd,” said Tucker.

Meanwhile, Tucker said he’ll try to integrate the union’s VOTE/COPE efforts into its membership-building activities.

“It’s a natural,” Tucker said. “We have to work with membership — you get new members to sign up and, right away, you explain to them how VOTE/COPE fits into what their union is doing.

“You build your union, you build membership and you build political awareness.”

— Frank Maurizio