By Tom deignan

The Irish in New York City have had a rocky relationship with Mayor Mike Bloomberg. But when it comes to the mayor’s reelection campaign the Irish influence could not be stronger.

Bill Cunningham, whose parents were Irish immigrants, recently moved over to the reelection operation, after several years working for Bloomberg at City Hall.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, Patrick Brennan was named political director of Bloomberg’s reelection campaign. As he explained in a recent interview with the Irish Voice, Brennan’s mother was born in Mohill, Co. Leitrim. His father is from Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo.

“Or as he would like to say,” Brennan added, in the voice of his dad, “‘I was born in the toughest country in the world: Ireland. In the toughest county: Mayo. In the toughest town: Kiltimagh. And in that town, in the last house on the toughest street, there were the Brennans.”

Brennan’s father Patrick Dermott Brennan retired as chief and commanding officer of Brooklyn South, NYPD, in 1998, and passed away a year later.

Brennan himself was raised in the strongly Irish Brooklyn neighborhood of Bay Ridge.

“Growing up in Bay Ridge was a tremendous experience, “ said Brennan, who attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help grammar school before moving onto Xavier High School in Manhattan.

“When my father, like so many other Irish, was forced to leave the only community he had ever known in Mayo, I believe he looked for a place where he could recreate the sense of community and family he left behind,” he says.

“My mother and father, along with many other families, helped to create a loving community with deep ties to our Irish heritage. Through the creation of a soccer league to the numerous Irish dances, they made sure we had a real sense of community.”

Before moving into politics, Brennan worked in the New York City public school system as a speech pathologist in Red Hook, Brooklyn. 

“In 1998, I joined the Chuck Schumer for Senate campaign and was bitten by the political bug,” he explains of his entry into politics.

Since then Brennan, like so many New York Irish Americans, has worked with organized labor. 

“On the union side, I’ve held senior staff positions at District Council 37, the city’s District Council of Carpenters and Local 1199, New York’s Health and Hospitals Union,” Brennan says.

Of course, unions are usually largely Democratic working class organizations. So why would this longtime union guy sign on to help reelect Mayor Bloomberg, a billionaire Republican?

“Unions have a responsibility to their members to choose candidates that will stand up for the working class. That is why you see the New York City Building and Construction Trades Council, a union representing 60 local unions and over 100,000 workingmen and women, endorsing the mayor for reelection,” he says.

“And I think that will be the first in a long line of union endorsements for the mayor this year. Mike Bloomberg has consistently fought to protect working New Yorkers and the communities they live in.”

Brennan adds, “I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood and I have spent the large majority of my professional career working to improve the lives of working New Yorkers. In both my personal and professional opinion, Mike Bloomberg is the best choice for New York’s working families.”

Of course, there is still that smoking issue that irked so many Irish business owners. New statistics released this week suggest that businesses have rebounded in the wake of Bloomberg’s push to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. But many people are still bothered by the move.

Asked about this, Brennan says, “The mayor has had to make tough choices, but those choices have been the right choices. I have been known to frequent the local pub from time to time and I believe that a large majority of New Yorkers believe that instituting a clean air environment was definitely the right choice.”

Does the mayor have something specifically to offer Irish Americans?

“When speaking about New York, Robert Kennedy once said, ‘We have always believed it possible for men and women who start at the bottom to rise as far as their talent and energy allow, neither race nor place of birth should affect their chances.’ 

“Mayor Bloomberg is working to create a city of opportunity, a city that lives up to Bobby Kennedy’s vision. A city where the next generation of Irish-Americans have the chance to succeed in a city full of opportunity.”

In November, voters will decide if they agree with Brennan.

(Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net.)