Understandably, the New York State United Teachers did not endorse a candidate for governor in the upcoming elections.

Candidate Rob Astorino is a Republican, so he was ruled out. But incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has not won over the union’s support for a second time.

One of the biggest concerns from the powerful union is the governor has not allowed funding to flow to the state’s public schools like previous leaders. In other words, there should be no limit to the amount of money distributed to schools to help educate our children.

“Those who earn endorsements are friends of public education and labor,” NYSUT President Karen E. Magee said. “Over the last two years, they earned our support by advocating effectively for our public schools, colleges and health care institutions; listening intently to the concerns and aspirations of our members, and voting consistently the right way.”

Those who vote “consistently the right way” have been endorsed even though they have never held office. One of those individuals include Jamestown’s Barrie Yochim, a Democrat, who is challenging incumbent state Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, a Republican.

Another who votes “consistently the right way” and earned an endorsement was U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York City Democrat in his 80s who has numerous ethics violations and was censured in 2010 by his colleagues due to tax issues, misleading financial disclosure reports and that he used Congressional letterheads to solicit donations.

Nobody’s perfect. But that gets forgiven, especially if you vote “the right way.”