Alaska AFL-CIO endorses Barack Obama over Sarah Palin
Published Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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FAIRBANKS — No matter how much Alaska workers may want to support the Republican presidential ticket billing Gov. Sarah Palin’s name as second-in-command, they should cast their votes instead for Democrat Barack Obama, a state labor organization leader said Monday in Fairbanks.
A vote for John McCain in the 2008 presidential election is essentially a vote against the working man, said Vince Beltrami, executive president of the Alaska federation of the American Federation of Labor, Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
He added that any action placing Lieutenant Gov. Sean Parnell at the helm of Alaska government also goes against workers’ best interests.
“We can’t afford to have John McCain as our president or to have Sean Parnell as our governor,” Beltrami said after a short speech endorsing politicians in the state’s national races.
Organized labor has had a generally good relationship with Palin, but that doesn’t change the fact that labor has to support the candidate who best supports working families, Beltrami said.
“We are 100 percent on board for supporting Barack Obama,” he said in a brief speech Monday at a Labor Day picnic hosted by about 30 organized labor groups.
Beltrami also announced the Alaska AFL-CIO’s endorsement of candidates in state races for national offices.
The organization supports Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich in his campaign to unseat long-time U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. In the race for the U.S. House of Representatives seat held by incumbent Rep. Don Young, the organization has taken a different approach. As in the primary election cycle, a dual endorsement is being extended to Democrat Ethan Berkowitz and to Young — although Young has yet to formally win the primary against Alaska Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell, with some votes yet to be counted.
“Both of them (Berkowitz and Young) have done tremendous things on behalf of working people,” Beltrami said.
Begich and Berkowitz stood alongside Beltrami at Pioneer Park as the labor leader offered his organization’s endorsement. Begich said the support reflects the desire of Alaskan workers to “change things up” in Washington, D.C., something that isn’t going to happen from within the establishment.
“I come with a package of experiences that are really missing in Washington, D.C.,” Begich said, citing his roles as an assemblyman, mayor, parent and small business owner.
The annual Labor Day picnic was a day for politicking, as campaign workers doled out candidate stickers and collected support. A number of local Democrats running for state Legislature seats also were at the Pioneer Park event.
Families filled the grounds, many sporting T-shirts in eye-popping colors celebrating their unions and the Labor Day event, sponsored by organized labor and Local 942. Kids shed shoes in the weak sunlight, wriggling toes in sandboxes or plucked ice cubes from a tub. Families sprawled on the green grass, dining on smoky grilled hamburgers and all the expected fixings.
Don Shannon stood to the side of the smoky grill, ready to haul a large pan of baked beans to the food line. The retired laborer — he’s been a facilities painter and many other things — has lent a hand at the Labor Day event for 10 years.
“I found out I wasn’t a very good hunter, so instead of going camping during moose season, I decided to come here and cook for my fellow workers,” he joked.
Unions came through for him time and time again, especially during his years as a state worker at times of budget uncertainty.
“If we had to survive by the whim of the people, forget it,” he said, explaining that any time the state comes up short, people turn to work force or wage cuts for answers.
Mary McBride was a member of Local 71 through her job as an airport custodian — that is, until her retirement, which started on Labor Day.
After spending the first day of retirement at work by hot barbecues, McBride said the plan is to sleep in every day for a month.
She’s helped keep the food supplies flowing at the picnic for several years and likes to offer her time on a day that is important for workers everywhere — and for the public.
“It’s important to workers, for people who work hard all year,” she said, pausing from her duties with a mound of hamburger buns in hand. “They need to be recognized.”
Dennis Moen of Local 71 helped organize the annual event, which normally hosts a crowd of 3,000. He said counts by early afternoon seemed on track to surpass that figure and a semi truck backed up near the barbecue pavilion would keep the food flowing.
Community Discussion
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Just goes to show how out of touch the AFL-CIO leadership is with reality. Barack Hussein Obama and his party have done the most to eliminate jobs in Alaska and across the rest of the western states. No to oil and gas development. No to timber harvest in Alaska forests. No to all the support jobs that the Obama party eliminates with their lock up policy. Maybe the leadership should start wearing green hard hats so they can show their true colors. So sad. Union workers have always been solid, eight hours of work for eight hours of pay kind of folks. Their leadership mindlessly sells them down the river.
It's funny how thoughs who are against Obama love to call him names. lol. Can't you come up with something original? Probably not. I think it just comes down to the fact that people like you are frightened that your precious McCain will most likely lose in November. And with the addition of Palin to the ticket it's almost a done deal. Ha ha, keep joking. Pretty soon you'll be calling him President Husein Obama. lol.
Hey SteelersFlan, what am I missing here? That is his name, what would you have us call him?
Yeah; I don't see any namecalling, either. Aside from the silly idea that Obama's middle name somehow makes him a bad guy or that being green is bad, there's nothing wrong with darkhorse's post.
So how many votes did these union goons just cost Obama by their endorsement?
Thanks guys!
You guys find Jimmy Hoffa's body yet?
I always find it funny that the left continually bashes conservatives for following lock-step with Rush and Sean....and then blindly follow union recommendations...
I have many Union Members (UAW) in my family back home and they vote their head and heart - the union no longer makes the choices for them and many others....hopefully that is a trend that will reflect here in Alaska also
Why have so many American factories and businesses moved overseas, where they hire non-American workers and managers? Could it be because they can't afford to spend the billions on the environmental regulations and can't afford to give high pay and even higher benefits to union 'workers'? Most manufactures can't absorb these costs and still make a profit, so they move overseas where the regulations are minimal and they are welcomed by the people and governments. Left wing, idealists and their blind followers in America have seen to it that these American jobs are sent packing.
Left wing, New World Order!( Who to vote for )
" Despite rampant racketeering & ripoffs, labor bigs seek $10 billion bailout from Congress via EFCA
Remember the air-traffic controllers union strike of 1981? Odds are you don't -- 60 percent of Americans were 16 or younger at the time of Big Labor's last nationwide power grab.
But unions haven't made that kind of nasty headline for a while. So it should be no surprise that this Labor Day many of these underinformed Americans approve of labor unions as an institution.
But new research indicates that unions' popularity would be in the tank if Americans were aware of the current leadership's record of fat expense accounts, corruption, embezzlement and discrimination.
You might be surprised to learn that in the last reported five years, inspectors from the Department of Labor obtained 1,100 labor racketeering indictments, with court judgments exceeding $400 million in fines and other forms of punishment and repayment to union members who were ripped off.
In addition, the federal Office of Labor-Management Standards has successfully prosecuted 850 corrupt union officials and obtained $103 million in restitution orders since 2001.
And since 2000, labor unions have faced more than 14,000 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints -- charging leaders with discrimination by race, sex, age, disability and religion.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, "Schemes involving bribery, extortion, deprivation of union rights by violence and embezzlement used by early racketeers are still employed to abuse the power of unions."
But union leaders have kept their activities out of the public eye -- relying on deft political maneuvering, multimillion-dollar public relations campaigns and the residual goodwill of the American people.
This has worked for a long time. But now organized labor has a new scheme that should be prompting more and more concerned citizens to speak up and oppose disturbing new legislation that amounts to a brazen power grab.
It's congressional legislation deceptively named the Employee Free Choice Act, or EFCA. It eliminates workers' right to a private vote when considering the forming of a union in the workplace and makes it vastly easier for outside organizers to enter a workplace and form a union, without time for debate and deliberation.
How would this "free choice" proposal do all this?
Instead of giving everyone the right to make a decision in the privacy of the voting booth, signatures would be collected in public, making individuals vulnerable to pressure and harassment from union organizers.
If organizers collect cards from more than 50 percent of a workplace's employees, the result is a binding contract for representation.
The U.S. Supreme Court has called this signature-collection method "admittedly inferior to the (private ballot) election process."
I'm old enough to remember Harry S. Truman, Dwight David Eisenhower, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard Milhous Nixon, Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr., Jimmy Earl Carter Jr., Ronald Wilson Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, William Jefferson Blythe Jr Clinton, and George Walker Bush.
I'll bet, steelersfan, even you have a middle name. If you aren't proud of your candidate's middle name, perhaps you should pick a different candidate. What is it you are trying to hide? Are you embarrassed by it?
I still can't believe that the AFL-CIO really believes that Barack Hussein Obama, an anti oil and gas development, anti timber harvest, anti mining candidate is the best choice for the "working man" (he forgot the working woman) in Alaska. There's more to this endorsement (perhaps "sellout") than the green leadership of the AFL-CIO wants us to know.
Is this supposed to be a real story? Is anyone surprised by this?
The Union backs Obama? Just another reason not to vote for Obama as far as I am concerned.
I'm shocked!!! A union blindly backing the democrats??? When the union members vote for those that their union told them to vote for, they have in essense given up their rights to vote. They've turned that right over to their union.
Obama for the "Working Man"? Is this why he is for amnesty for illegal aliens who take jobs from AMERICANS and lower wages for many occupations? Please no comments like "They do jobs Americans won't do." It makes you look really STUPID and out of touch with reality. I come from a town where 25 to 35 percent of the population is illegal. No not undocumented, ILLEGAL. They also feed off of the government heavily, which the middle class worker ends up with that tab. Screwed again! It's amazing most working stiffs can't afford children in America but they are seen everywhere with 5 or 6. I always said "Can the Republicans steal my money away before the Democrats give it away."
With Obama in power I know the answer!
OK, so vote for Obama, a pro-union candidate who supports living wages in order to work towards reducing poverty rates, or vote for McCain, who claims to support a living wage, but is anti-union, consistently votes against minimum wage increases while his own salary has increased almost %200 while in office (over $100,000). McCain also votes against "buy American" regulations and in favor of outsourcing. Vote for McCain if you want the good life in New Delhi.
History repeats itself, what else could we expect from organized labor? Union members can't think for themselves, their leaders think they are too stupid!
Darkhorse-Don't forget anti military. Won't be much goin' on at the bases with Obama in Office.
lol, talk while you can repub's, we'll see what happens in November ; )
Woodman, I'd say the same can be said for evangelicals.
Just a question here - have unions ever *not* endorsed the democratic party within the last few decades? Their support for the democratic ticket isn't a surprise, then.
No worries folks, people will vote for who they want, union endorsement or no.
I'm voting Obama. But I hope a lot of disaffected democrats and republicans will write in a candidate they honestly feel comfortable with. I get the feeling we're going to see a lot of that this November, and hopefully this election will be historic in yet another way - that third party politics will finally get off the ground in this country. Time to break the two-party monopoly.
Labor unions know that their life cycle is coming to an end. Less than 8% of American workers are now in unions. They are no longer a political force in the lower 48. If you notice the major media hardly makes reference to them. They are no longer the power house fund raises for parties, how could they when most of their workers jobs have left the country. Thank you Bill Clinton.
If people voted their financial interests, Obama would win in a landslide: cutting taxes for 95% of America (even Bill O'Reilly liked it), endorsed by the laborers (who also endorse Don Young...are you all less likely to vote for him as well?), cheaper college education. Under Bush, the average American family's income has gone down $2,000 a year. The Republican vision of economics is good for big money, not for average Americans. McCain voted for tax incentives to move jobs overseas, Obama against. Obama is also for tapping natural gas reserves, using coal in a clean way and building nuclear power responsibly. He wants to invest $150B in renewable energy, for those who talk about the Susitna dam.
We can sit here and argue about what Obama wants to do, or what to call him, or what religion he is, simply because he has laid out a plan. Unions exist to represent the interests of working men and women against big corporations (which is why WalMart is anti-union). They're not the boogie man out to get you. Unions represent a way for anyone to achieve the American dream. I vote Obama because he's good for my family and for my wallet, unlike McCain.
Hate to point out something obvious here, but shouldn't the headline read that the AFL-CIO endorses Obama over McCain? Where'd McCain go? Is he still running? What's he up to these days? I am looking forward to his speech on Thursday, and I hope it's from Minnesota, not Mississippi. Regardless, all this stuff with Palin is overshadowing what the man has to say about moving this country forward, and that's really what this election is about, isn't it? Or was that the idea all along?
I'm happy that "change" and "fresh faces" are apparently the theme of this election campaign. I'm confident that voters will vote for proven changers and really fresh faces, not empty rhetoric as practiced by BHO and his union leader cohorts.
I find it interesting that "woodman" would call these union members "stupid" for endorsing their conscience.
That's just lovely.
What also strikes me is that he and many others are the same one's who jump on the "that's why we live in America so we can voice our opinion" bandwagon.
I guess that works only when that opinion coincides with their way of thinking.
Just understand though, the so-called "stupid gene" has more than just one side.
Because anyone who feels that FOUR MORE YEARS of the "same old same old" is the "right" direction this country needs to go in....is just as "stupid."
I feel so "American" right now (LMAO)
Said it before...I'll say it again.
Candidate Obama CAN'T do any worse than the "silver spoon-fed cat" that's played the lead role in running this country into the ground for the last EIGHT YEARS.
An individual that's now nothing more than political "dead weight" around McCain's neck.
Well put OldSKool,
If you like the last 8 years then vote for John McSame, he'll keep the race to the bottom right on track.
To the hypocrites who pretend there's nothing unusual about throwing Obama's middle name in the mix: show me when, in the history of News-Miner comments, you or anyone else has referred to John McCain as John Sidney McCain, Joe Biden as Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr, or Sarah Palin as Sarah Louise Heath Palin.
What, you've never done that? What, nobody else has, either? I didn't think so. Your excuses for using Obama's middle name are disingenuous to say the least. Let's move beyond the petty bigotry, please.
It is interesting that people seem to forget that Congress not the President has more direct effect on our economy and our jobs than the sitting president. We never seem to blame Congress for the problems, just which ever president happens to be stuck with them.
How hypocrital is when Obama's supporters claim that Gov. Palin lacks experience necessary to hold a national office when their own endorsed candidate, Mark Begich, has the SAME experience as Palin? Quoting the above article: “I come with a package of experiences that are really missing in Washington, D.C.,” Begich said, citing his roles as an assemblyman, mayor, parent and small business owner.
I also have to take issue with Lief Fenno's comment. My family is your rare typical middle class family (mom & dad married to each other, modest Alaskan home, both parents working two jobs with two kids in private school and a purebred mutt dog). If "under Bush, the average American family's income has gone down $2,000 a year," why has our income continued to rise each year under Bush? Looking back at our tax records, our income actually declined in the Clinton years. Same variables, just a different administration. The Republican vision of economics is GOOD for average, non-union Americans and BAD for unionized, liberal socialists.
Sara Louise Heath Palin is running for president? Does John Sidney McCain know about this?
Aric, I did notice one poster slyly referring to the two candidates as J. Sidney McCain and B. Hussein Obama. All it shows is that they are afraid and want you to be afraid too so that you'll conclude that Obama must be Muslim and therefore the blustery, knee-jerk judgment of McCain will keep us safer than the rational, self-reflective judgment of Obama. That is the main goal, plain and simple.
You know it sure would be nice if some of you folks posting irrational, unqualified praise for your candidates (note: JoeBtfspk, allhaleiris, akguy, etc.), would change your screen names every once in awhile. Then we might form the impression that the there are more than just 5 of you who refuse to engage in any rational debate whatsoever.
All the talk on the DNM would have you to think that people as a whole in Alaska will vote Obama. You guys are soooo wrong. McCain will win this state. Whether your like it or not the majority of the people that live here are more conservative. Also the large number of people that want to vote for Obama won't even show up at the poles in November.
h2os, here are numbers detailing both income and poverty levels since 2001: http://www.cbpp.org/8-29-06pov.htm. While McCain offers an income of $5 million as a cap for the middle class in America, most honest wage earners don't make that much. Since you asked me a question, my answer, based on the information you gave, is that your typical Alaskan family, with two kids in private school and detailed tax records near at hand, makes more than most middle class American families and falls into a higher tax bracket. This would lead me to think that the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy have done well for you. Unfortunately, most union hands and the majority of Americans don't make enough money to benefit from the Bush model, but WILL from Obama's tax cuts for 95% of America.
I agree that the union's endorsement for Obama is best thing that could happen to the McCain/Palin ticket. Long ago unions stopped being all about the best for the working men and women and is all about how much the organization can siphon off for the benefit of the union heirarchy.
h2os, how is your family both 'rare and typical'? Also, it's called the 'average' for a reason. That means a lot of other families' incomes went down in order to balance out the increase you've experienced.
Something to think about:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/busine...
Maybe Obama's first and middle names are thrown in to point out that, in fact, they are Muslim names. No one is ever going to convince me that when push comes to shove he will side with Muslims. By theology and phiolosophy the basis of Muslim belief is that you are not Muslim you are to be converted or killed. Not by just the terrorist but all Muslims. Read his books. Read his wife's works from Princton. If you still think he has America's best interest at heart than you need to go back to school and learn to read. Until Obama came along I thought that the most dangerous person in US politics today was Hillary. Now if I had only a choice between Obama and Hillary I would certainly vote for her. I may disagree with her on just about every issue but I am not terrified of her being President and I am of Obama. And this from one who spent most of my 60 some years as a democrat.
CPW
CPW:
lol wut
Near Fredericksburg, Texas, where there is a large German-speaking population. A farmer walking down a country road notices a man drinking from his pond with his hand.
The farmer shouted: 'Trink das wasser nicht. Die kuhen haben dahin gesheissen.'
(Which means: 'Don't drink the water, the cows have sh*t in it.' )
The man shouted back: 'I'm from New York and just down here campaigning for Obama, I can't understand you. Please speak in English.'
The farmer replied: "Use two hands, you'll get more."
I can't pass up a response.
First, am I being called dishonest when Leif Fenno states "most honest wage earners don't make that much"?
Second, am I considered "wealthy" just because we choose to send our kids to private school where they will learn real academics rather than the dumbed-down, liberal feel-goodism crapola that is taught in public schools?
Third, if the wages I earn working two jobs and the wages my spouse earns working two jobs (that's a total of four jobs for the public school educated) makes us "wealthy," I really want to know how much a "rich" person makes. It can't possibly be the less than 6 figures we earn with four jobs.
Fourth, our family is "typical" in that it consist of two working parents and two children. Our family is "rare" in that I am still married to my kids' other parent, my kids were not raised by a daycare and we do not live beyond our means.
Finally, I know of many union workers who make twice as much with one job as we do with four jobs. Wouldn't that make a union worker "rich"?
There is a disconnect somewhere and I'm pretty sure it's not me.
Nope, it's you.
CPW151, I fail to see how the origin of Obama's names are relevant. First of all, I dispute your characterization of his names as "Muslim"--Islam is a religion, not a language. Second, I wonder why it matters? Obama is Christian. Obama's first and middle names are Semitic, but so what? My name is Germanic; does that make me a Nazi sympathizer? Yours looks robotic; does this mean you are secretly in league with the Borg?
Please tell us what it is about Obama that you are afraid of. I read just fine and am looking forward to casting my vote for him.
By the way, I think most scholars of Islam, whether they are Muslim or not, would take issue with your characterization of the basis of Islamic belief.
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