Make other plans for Thursday night because the fundraiser for Rep. Tim Murphy to “celebrate” his vote for CAFTA has been called off. Here’s how it went down.

My friend Chuck Harple, the political director for the Teamsters, called up Murphy’s chief of staff to express dismay at the fundraiser, as well as the way it was promoted as a “celebration.” The Teamsters and Murphy have had a decent relationship, says Chuck, who also reports that a number of Republicans, who were not keen on voting for CAFTA, were bludgeoned by the Republican leadership–which threatened to drop millions of dollars that were headed to particular districts if the Members did not vote right on CAFTA; Murphy was threatened with the loss of transportation projects dollars, Harple says.

Harple says that Murphy’s chief of staff listened and promised to call back. When she did, he says, she said that they had cancelled the fundraiser because “anything that they would make off the event would not outweigh the relationship with the Teamsters.”

Says Harple: “It almost made me tear up.”

So, who said Teamsters don’t have a soft side?

But, what this does show is that there is leverage to be applied on those who voted wrong on CAFTA.