January 03, 2011 1:26 PM

Union hotshot to run new AG’s office

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman taps the Hotel Trade Council’s political cloutmeister, Neal Kwatra, as his chief of staff.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110103/FREE/110109985

Buck Ennis
Neal Kwatra helped build the Hotel Trades Council into a political force in New York.

The up-and-comer who helped build the Hotel Trades Council into a political force in New York is leaving the union to become chief of staff to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
In less than three years as political director at the hotel union, Neal Kwatra, 37, helped turn its 30,000 members into some of the most sought-after ground troops in any campaign in the state. The hotel union played a key role in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s re-election last year, helped numerous candidates win City Council races and poured resources into Mr. Schneiderman’s effort to replace Andrew Cuomo as attorney general.
Under Mr. Kwatra and HTC President Peter Ward, the union used its newfound political clout to expand its membership base to some of the most high-profile development projects in the city—including the Aqueduct racino, Willets Point and Coney Island—and score key policy victories such as a state law cracking down on illegal hotels.
Mr. Kwatra was offered a job in the Bloomberg administration last year, but decided to stay with the union. Joining Mr. Schneiderman’s team gives Mr. Kwatra a chance to work alongside an elected official who ran to the left of four rivals to win a Democratic primary, someone closer to his roots in the political world[SOCIALIST?].
He got hooked on the labor movement while campaigning with janitors and riverboat casino workers in St. Louis after college. He came to New York from HTC’s parent union, Unite Here, where he orchestrated card-check deals that more easily paved the way for unionization drives at dozens of hotels across the country.
A replacement for Mr. Kwatra at HTC has yet to be named.
In addition to appointing Mr. Kwatra, Mr. Schneiderman made five other staff appointments Monday:

. Martin Mack, a former aide to David Paterson and Eliot Spitzer, will be executive deputy attorney general for regional affairs.
Shanti Nayak, chief of staff of the Roosevelt Institute, who will be chief operating officer.
Kent Stauffer, an executive vice president at Chartis Inc., will be state counsel.
Blake Zeff, a one-time top aide to Sen. Charles Schumer, will be senior adviser.

The new attorney general also appointed four people to his communications team. He had previously announced appointments to a half dozen top legal positions