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Anthony Lackhan, a longtime eligibility specialist and head of the Members in Charge slate, has won the runoff election for president of District Council 37's Local 1549. Three other races — for secretary-treasurer, three officer-at-large and two sergeant-at-arms positions — are expected to be rerun at a yet-unknown date.
Anthony Lackhan of the Members In Charge slate narrowly won the race for president at District Council 37’s Local 1549 in the union’s recent runoff.
After none of the four candidates for president earned a majority of votes in the local’s November election, the two top candidates, Lackhan and Team Forward’s Debbie-Ann Gutierrez, faced each other in a runoff mail ballot election.
In a tight contest, Lackhan secured 569 votes to Gutierrez’s 542 votes, according to certified results from the American Arbitration Association posted on the local’s website. The votes were counted on Dec. 20.
“I’m excited to have won,” Lackhan said during a phone interview. But he lamented the poor turnout: although 10,841 mail ballots were sent to members, just 1,136 were turned in.
“I thought the turnout was still low, but we will emphasize the need for participation in the local — that’s our first order of business,” he said.
Lackhan said he thinks disillusionment is the prime reason for the poor turnout. “I believe members have lost faith in the union,” he said.
Lackhan will serve as the first president of Local 1549 since the union was placed under administratorship by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in September 2022 after a draft audit found “serious” financial deficiencies. The local’s officers, including Eddie Rodriguez, who had been president of Local 1549 since 2001, were immediately removed from their positions, and Rodriguez was expelled months after the administratorship was imposed.
Lackhan, an eligibility specialist who has been a Local 1549 member since 2010 and is a longtime shop steward, said his other goals are to make sure members’ needs are taken care of during contract negotiations and to strengthen the cohort of shop stewards.
“A lot of the facilities I’ve visited don’t have a full complement of shop stewards. We’re going to run special elections to have those spots filled,” he said.
The 11,000-member local represents clerical aides and associates, secretaries, eligibility specialists, police administrative aides, clerks and others in dozens of city departments.
Other races will be rerun
A mix of candidates from both slates won their races: from the Team Forward slate, Vanessa Reed won the executive vice-president position, while Hope Lawrence won the election for recording secretary. Two of the three trustee positions went to Team Forward’s Gladys Little and Andrea Andrades.
Lisa Rhymer won the second vice-president position running on the Members of Charge slate. Other winners from that slate included Joseph Rodriguez, who won one of the sergeant-at-arms positions, Sonia Rodriguez, who was chosen for one of officer-at-large roles, and Ana Deluca Mayne, who won the last of the three trustee positions.
Lackhan said he has already had conversations with some of the members of the opposing slate. “We’re ready to go to work. We’re already functioning as a team,” he said.
But some of the races haven’t finished yet: although runoff elections were held for the remaining three officer-at-large and two sergeant-at-arms positions, an error on the runoff ballots means that the races must be rerun. A date for the rerun elections has not yet been set, according to Lackhan.
And although the secretary-treasurer race was declared — in which Team Forward’s Yolanda Holliday won with 500 votes to Honda Wang’s 492 votes — Wang successfully contested the election.
“The election committee met and heard [from] everybody involved in the secretary-treasurer race on Dec. 16. The election committee recommended the rerun,” Wang said during a recent phone interview. “The vote was held shortly thereafter during the special membership meeting.”
More than three-quarters of the members at the meeting who voted support a rerun of the secretary-treasurer race, according to poll results obtained by The Chief.
Wang expressed satisfaction that the race will be rerun. “I feel good because it feels like we have the wind behind our backs with Tony’s win,” he said. “Ultimately, this team is built around democratizing our union and fighting for what our members care about.”
Lackhan added that once the final rerun elections are completed, “We’re ready to rock 'n' roll.”
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