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Is labor relevant?
The Labor movement has split and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney continues
down the political path that cost him part of labor leaving the union he
leads. Without a doubt, labor’s demonstration of impotence was shown in
their failure to provide support in Iowa’s last Presidential caucus for Rep.
Dick Gephardt.
ABC’s "The Note" reports:
House of Labor:
The AFL-CIO's "Who's on Our Side" campaign will include press conferences,
ed board meetings, and conference calls with in-state opinion makers before
the end of the month to announce the campaign locally and to release
mid-term report cards.
The report cards will score the performance of the state congressional
delegation in five categories: jobs and wages, retirement security, health
care, tax fairness, and education.
The AFL-CIO will examine votes cast by members of Congress on trade, the
minimum wage, community wage standards, child labor standards, union
protections, pension protections, Medicaid, health care, consumer
protections, "tax cuts for the wealthy," the estate tax, student loans, and
funding for public education.
The second element of the campaign will be a major speech by John Sweeney in
early 2006 challenging President Bush to address issues vital to working
families in his State of the Union.
The third phase of the campaign will include local events, like worker
roundtables, designed to inflame grassroots activism and put a face on
larger policy issues.
The AFL-CIO has hired ten political operatives to assist with its campaign
in Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado, Iowa,
Missouri, Maryland, and Montana.
Iowa Democrats' broken promises
Iowa and New Hampshire have for 20 years worked cooperatively to support the
current presidential selection calendar. Iowa has been the first caucus and
New Hampshire the first primary. Breaking alliance – and their word -- Iowa
Democrats failed to support New Hampshire during a meeting last Saturday.
The Union Leader reports:
Last Thursday, Iowa commission member Gerald Crawford told the New Hampshire
Union Leader that he and fellow Iowan Roxanne Conlin would support New
Hampshire's plan to have several more diverse state caucuses be held after
New Hampshire's primary, but not before.
In the end, however, Crawford and Conlin voted with the majority in the 23-2
vote to place one or two caucuses between Iowa and New Hampshire. Crawford
later called it "a great victory for Iowa," which retained its first-caucus
status.
Former Congressman David Nagle, who helped broker the agreement of
understanding between Iowa and New Hampshire when he was Iowa’s Democrat
Party Chairman, apologized in a phone interview with the Manchester Union
Leader:
"I'm extremely distressed with Iowa's performance at Saturday's meeting," he
said. "The historic alliance between the two states should have been
maintained."
John Edwards in Iowa February
Edwards’ One America Committee confirmed that he will visit on Feb. 25 for a
Democrat county fund-raiser in Scott County, and he will be speaking about
poverty. He is expected to do other events in eastern Iowa during his visit.
Gay marriage:
Would-be presidential candidates visiting Iowa will be asked about gay and
lesbian marriages more frequently with the filing of a lawsuit today.
Six gay or lesbian couples from Iowa have filed a lawsuit seeking the right
to legally marry in the state.
The couples announced their lawsuit, filed in Polk County District Court, at
a news conference this morning.
Their attorney from Lambda Legal, Camilla Taylor, said it is among six such
legal actions the gay rights group has filed around the country. She stated,
"This lawsuit is about love, commitment, family and what is fair."
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