The American Spectator

Their failure to help John Kerry win, or to get additional Democrats elected to the House or Senate, has not diminished Stern’s standing.

Sweeney desperately does not want Stern to leave, if for no other reason than that Sweeney himself was once head of the SEIU. But Sweeney has an ally within the AFL-CIO executive board who wouldn’t mind seeing Stern jump ship: Gerald McEntee of AFSCME, a public employee union, and really the only union that has shown relative membership growth and stability.

McEntee, who saw his own star slightly diminished in the 2004 electoral cycle, would like nothing more than to see Stern take a few lumps in the coming months. The two have been rivals for years, as questions about who would take over for Sweeney began to be raised several years ago. McEntee and Stern refused to work together on 527 committees last summer, instead putting their union money into separate political operations.

“McEntee looks at the landscape and sees himself heading the AFL-CIO if Stern goes his own way and forms his own rival organization,” says an AFSCME regional organizer. “We look at the possibility of two large, national organizations and think that might not be a bad thing. There would be infighting, but it would also force both groups to focus on membership buildup, something the AFL-CIO hasn’t done in quite a while.”

Few AFL-CIO leaders buy into that theory. They see a Stern/Sweeney split as disastrous for organized labor in general and the AFL-CIO specifically. The only people who really seem to think it might not be a bad idea are Democrats. “Man, can you imagine playing one off the other?” says a DNC fundraiser. “That could be entertaining if not profitable for us.”

p> JUDICIARY PROFILES br> Recently Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona was back home for a fundraiser, headlining America’s Mayor, Rudy Giuliani . Kyl, who stood to take over the Senate Judiciary Committee on seniority grounds had current chairman Arlen Specter not been elected to the post by his fellow Republicans, was heartened by the level of support he received during the event from constituents and financial donors. /p>