Working Life

This was rumored for some time–yesterday, Assemblyman Roger Green tossed his hat into the ring, declaring that he would challenge Rep. Ed Towns, one of the two CAFTA 15 members who hail from New York City (yes, this is quite sad that 2 of the 15 come from one of the more progressive cities in […]

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Earlier in the week, I reported that a number of unions, including SEIU, were helping an independent candidate, Bill Scheurer, who is running against Melissa Bean, one of the CAFTA 15. The Government Affairs folks at SEIU say the union isn’t doing anything to assist Scheurer but because of my post, the union was getting […]

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People have short memories. Last September, there was a strong rumor floating around that House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi was miffed at Rep. Ed Towns (NY) for his vote in favor of CAFTA. Well, maybe that was all for show because Pelosi is one of the headliners for Towns at a fundraiser for his re-election. […]

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The Democratic Party machine is going into overdrive to save Melissa Bean, one of the CAFTA 15. I wrote about this a bit last week but the intensity of the Save Melissa effort picked up: Last week, there was a flurry of calls from Sen. Dick Durbin, the senior senator from Illinois, to key labor […]

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Melissa Bean is feeling fairly anxious, from what I hear. Apparently, she is begging unions to support her, knowing that without labor’s strong support she will probably lose re-election in the 8th District in Illinois. But, because of her vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), she’s gotten the cold shoulder. A well-informed […]

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Here I hadn’t really mentioned Greg Meeks for some time and, bingo, he pops up twice in a row. After yesterday’s posting about the protest at his fundraiser, I received a notice that Meeks–one of our CAFTA 15–was feted yesterday. Now, it wasn’t a hug from labor or a consumer group or someone looking out […]

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Rep. Gregory Meeks is one of the CAFTA 15 (yes, it is a hard thing for us New Yorkers to admit that 2 of the 15 come from our fair city–an unbelievable thought given that labor unions are still relatively large here). And, just as bad, Meeks is one of the so-called Democrats who voted […]

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Melissa Bean’s people are getting nervous out there in Illinois. Bean is one of the CAFTA 15. I hear today that the Teamsters Joint Council in the district has endorsed a Republican in the primary, Robert Churchill. Six Republicans have lined up for the right to take on Bean. The Teamsters are one of the […]

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Back in September, I wrote about Two-Faced Towns: Rep. Ed Towns of New York (Brooklyn) who became one of the 15 so-called Democrats who voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement. We honored him by inducting him into the CAFTA 15 project. And now Towns has one declared primary opponent: City Councilman Charles Barron. […]

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Henry Cuellar was one of the CAFTA 15–the so-called Democrats who abandoned working people when he voted for CAFTA. Now, he’s getting a big kiss from the Club For Growth, the conservative political action committee that runs hard-right Republicans against its own (the club’s president, former Rep. Pat Toomey, found Arlen Specter to be so […]

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