ALBANY — Hell hath no fury like the teachers unions scorned.
The labor groups — still steaming over the Senate’s surprise vote last month to boost the cap on charter schools — are promising candidates as much as $200,000 in campaign cash to take on leading charter proponent Sen. Craig Johnson (D-LI), The Post has learned.
The unions’ anti-charter “bounty” — as Johnson dubbed it — came to light in a bumbling recruitment call to an Elmont attorney who labor leaders hoped would challenge the two-term senator in a primary.
The attorney, Carrié Solages, received the unsolicited phone call Monday morning from Jeffrey Rozran — a New York State United Teachers board member and president of the Syosset Teachers Association — offering him financial support and backing from the left-wing Working Families Party.
“He said, ‘We are very displeased with Craig Johnson and specifically, the Working Families Party is abandoning him because he has let go of fighting for labor issues,’ ” Solages recounted to The Post.
The union rep went on to offer $200,000 in campaign cash from the labor unions, Solages said.
NYSUT — an umbrella union that includes the city United Federation of Teachers — has made no secret of its disdain for Johnson.
“We’re trying to recruit someone who would do more for public education than we’re seeing the senator currently doing,” NYSUT Executive Vice President Andy Pallotta said.
NYSUT, however, disputed the amount of campaign cash promised. State law limits campaign contributions to $6,000 in Senate primaries.
There was one problem with the union pitch to Solages: He’s a staunch Johnson ally. “I guess their intelligence should have been more informed,” Solages said.