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 In the weeks that followed, Lynch was the face of an extraordinary
revolt by many officers against Mayor Bill de Blasio. It led to
officers turning their backs on de Blasio at police funerals and a
sharp slowdown in arrests and court summonses. The mayor has
struggled to combat the perception he has lost control over his
police force, the largest in the United States.
But now it’s Lynch who is under siege – from within his own ranks.
Lynch’s union, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA), is in
turmoil, beset by infighting, according to interviews with more than
40 police officers and union insiders. His support among the
rank-and-file is slipping, they said.
On Tuesday, a group of union insiders is set to announce a campaign
to unseat him in the upcoming June election, several PBA trustees
said. Since being elected in 1999, Lynch, who rose to power on a
promise of term limits and reforming a union riven by corruption,
has faced scant opposition.
"Pat Lynch has lost the membership,” said police veteran and union
delegate Sean Guzerian. "The bosses don’t respect him, and the cops
are tired of him. They look at him as a politician, not a police
officer."
FIERY TEMPER
Lynch denies rank and file members are deserting him. "I’ve turned
the old, corrupt, ineffective PBA into a member service organization
where the members' needs are always first and foremost," he told
Reuters in an email interview.
In fact, for most of his four consecutive four-year terms he had
strong support as he brawled with mayors and police commissioners
alike.
With his gelled-back hair, fiery temper, and biting Queens wit,
Lynch was credited with cleaning up the union and securing the NYPD
a 56 percent cumulative pay rise since 1999.
But union concessions, coupled with Lynch’s failure to negotiate a
new labor contract with the department for the past five years, has
stoked resentment, critics say.
Lynch blamed the lack of a contract on the "insistence on a period
of zero raises" by De Blasio's administration and that of the
previous mayor, Michael Bloomberg. He said the PBA was now pursuing
binding arbitration. That settlement is expected to unfold in July.
SEEDS OF REVOLT
The current tensions within the PBA intensified about three years
ago, when the NYPD became embroiled in a ticket-fixing scandal in
which hundreds of officers were accused of destroying tickets for
friends and family. Lynch and other NYPD defenders called ticket
fixing a longtime department norm indulged in by practically
everyone.
Eventually the inquiry centered on indictments of just 10 Bronx
officers. As soon as the media attention disappeared, two of the
officers said, Lynch did, too.
"These officers are sacrificial lambs," Lynch said. "We have
supplied them with the very best legal counsel in the country to win
their acquittal, and we will continue to do that."
In a meeting in late 2011, more than 50 angry union delegates asked
for Lynch to resign for not sufficiently supporting the officers
swept up in the scandal. After Lynch rebuffed them, they stormed
out.
From there, the unrest grew. Board meetings became more acrimonious,
several PBA Trustees said.
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“Paddy’s become like a dictator,” said union delegate Robert
Andersen. “It’s his way or the highway. And that’s the end of it.”
Disputing this characterization, Lynch said he had cultivated a
culture of openness.
SHOUTING MATCH
Recently, Lynch further angered some board members when, without
seeking board counsel or a vote, he circulated a petition for police
officers to sign asking that De Blasio not attend their funerals if
they were killed while on duty. So far, an estimated 800 PBA
members, out of 23,000, have signed the petition.
De Blasio attended the funerals of the two policemen, who were shot
dead by an assailant who said he was seeking revenge for the police
killing of an unarmed black man, Eric Garner. A grand jury decision
not to indict the policeman involved in Garner's death sparked
protests and sharp criticism of the department’s practices.
At a catering hall in the borough of Queens on Tuesday, a meeting of
roughly 400 PBA delegates devolved into an expletive-filled shouting
match as delegates shoved and pushed one another.
On one side were Lynch’s supporters, who gave him two standing
ovations during the 2-1/2 hour meeting. On the other were more than
100 delegates who were standing with the anti-Lynch insurgents, who
questioned Lynch at the microphone during the question-and-answer
portion of the meeting.
Lynch dismissed the altercation and said many of those opposing him
at the meeting were not actually PBA members. "It actually did our
members an incredible disservice, because now those who have been
seeking to undermine our union and police officers in general
believe that they have succeeded in dividing us against ourselves.”
Normally after such a meeting, Lynch is mobbed by members, sources
said. But at Tuesday’s meeting he was a much more isolated figure,
with only a handful of members approaching him, shaking his hand and
then walking away.
Dissidents organizing the run against Lynch gathered at a midtown
sports bar on Wednesday to talk about recent fundraising efforts and
campaign strategy.
They painted a picture of a leader they used to be friends with,
someone they genuinely liked and often socialized with. But they
said Lynch had lost touch with his union roots and was now in denial
about the scale of the revolt they say he will soon face.
Lynch said he was unruffled about the prospect of a challenge.
"Elections are good things," he said.
(Editing by Ross Colvin)
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