Thursday, January 12, 2012

Milwaukee Area Labor Council's Endorsements

For the purpose of full disclosure, let me start of by saying that I am a duly elected delegate representing my Local at the Milwaukee Area Labor Council.

Last night, we voted on the list of candidates that are being endorsed. The list is as follows:
Marina Dimitrijevic, County Board #4
Theo Lipscomb, County Board #1
Peggy Romo West, County Board #12
John Weishan, County Board #16
David Bowen, County Board #10
Tracey Corder, County Board #18
Nikiya Harris, County Board #2
Jason Haas, County Board #14
Scott Manske, County Comptroller
Mark Sanders, Circuit Court Branch 28
Hannah Dugan, Circuit Court Branch 23
Ray Harmon, Common Council #9
Eyon Biddle, Common Council #15
Tony Zielinski, Common Council #14
Jennifer Morales, Common Council #8
Jose Perez, Common Council #12
Michael Murphy, Common Council #10
Milele Coggs, Common Council #6
People that know Milwaukee politics might be rather shocked by the list, not so much by who's on it, but by who's not.  Some people might also be surprised at some of the picks, such as Eyon Biddle over the incumbent, City Council President Willie Hines, Jr.

These endorsements are reflective of a new approach that the unions are taking.  They will no longer tolerate the status quo and will not endorse politicians and candidates that do not support the people that live in their districts or work for their communities.

Take the Biddle - Hines race for example.  As MALC Secretary and Treasurer Sheila Cochran stated, if you want to know why we didn't endorse Hines, all you have to do is walk through his district.  It has some of the highest crime and highest unemployment rates in the city and Hines has been absent to his constituents.  In comparison, in his short stint as County Supervisor, Biddle has been very active in his community, decrying the violence and helping to create programs to help the people in the community be able to gain the training they need and help them find the jobs they want.

Also discussed last night was that how it is an embarrassment for every person in Milwaukee County that we allowed Scott Walker to get as far as he has done and that we would not send another person like him to Madison.

In my opinion, this new attitude is long overdue.  In fact, I think they have a ways to go yet, as there are some names on their list that I personally don't think make the grade, but it's at least a start.

The unions may be smaller than they have been, but they are in no way weak or out of the fight, no matter how much Walker or his supporters might wish it to be so.  And like the rest of the good people in this great state, we are willing and ready to dig in our heels, roll up our sleeves, and help fix the wrongs we allowed to happen.

And that moment starts now.

7 comments:

  1. hmmm.. can't understand some of these picks at all... yikes

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  2. Thank God I don't pick my candidates based on Labor's agenda. Talk about status quo.

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  3. So you "sent a message" in one race but all the other picks were status quo. There are a number of campaigns you could have sent a message on, but you and labor council chose to sit on the sidelines.

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  4. John,

    Last time I checked, there were a lot more races with people we used to endorse. But don't let the truth bother your sense of reality.

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  5. You bucked the trend in one race and rewarded two long time politicians who have thrown labor under the bus repeatedly in two other races by staying neutral. Way to step out on a limb.

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  6. Curious that Tony Zielinski is on the list. His campaign and Alderman website feature him posing with Paul Butera of Piggly Wiggly. Butera is the biggest Union-buster in WI right now--decimated hundreds of Union jobs in Appleton and Sheboygan, spanked by NLRB (http://www.ufcw1473.org/Administrative_Law_Judges_Decision[1].pdf).

    And this anti-labor, anti-family, anti-Wisconsin goon is Zielinski's best friend? If so, Tony ain't OUR friend anymore.

    Looks like MKE Labor politics puts politics before workers. Too bad.

    BTW, the new Bay View Piggly Wiggly is also NON-UNION! Nice endorsement, guys.

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  7. True, it may be a non-union shop, and the corporate PW transit section got slapped, but Zielinski doesn't own or control PW. And who ever said that they were best friends?

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