BOSSES AT BALLY’S
It isn’t lost on some AFL-CIO union leaders that their president,
John Sweeney, has led them into the desert after
the union’s disastrous foray in the 2004 election cycle.
Granted, they are staying in the desert, at Bally’s Hotel and
Casino in Las Vegas. But all things considered, they’d rather be
meeting in Washington with a Democratic president inviting some of
them over to the White House and maybe a Lincoln Bedroom
sleepover.
The AFL-CIO winter national meeting out west comes at a critical
time for Sweeney and organized labor. Since their failed (and very
expensive) attempt to elect a Democrat to the White House last
November 2, Sweeney has been facing growing pressure to reform his
coalition union movement, to heal some rifts left over from the
bruising Democratic primary season that somewhat divided his
union’s leadership, and to solidify his leadership role.
As leader, Sweeney clearly would like see his organization once
again growing, instead of contracting, and to see his Democrats
retake Congress and the White House. Instead, his ten-year track
record reads, like, well, the Democrats’ success politically: the
loss of millions of union members, in part because the AFL-CIO
proved incapable of blocking passage of trade agreements with
foreign countries and regions and state right-to-work laws.
To that end, last week Sweeney announced he was willing to
support and implement a series of proposals that member unions have
been agitating for. For example, for the first time, Sweeney
indicated that he would be willing to support a rules change that
would allow member unions to request and receive a rebate of
AFL-CIO union dues if those funds were to be used to grow local
membership. Sweeney also announced his willingness to consider
rules changes that would encourage individual unions to organize
and merge into sector-specific organizations, instead of continuing
as smaller, independent entities within the AFL-CIO organization.
Such larger sector unions would create greater influence for their
membership. Sweeney, though, has not said he was willing to go as
far as giving the AFL-CIO power to forcibly merge such unions.
Sweeney in the past has blocked such policy shifts, but his
turnabout has little to do with evolving philosophy or a bolt from
above. It has everything to do with power and keeping his ranks in
line, and keeping rival Andrew Stern, president of
the nation’s largest single labor organization, the 1.8 million
member Service Employees International Union, within the
AFL-CIO.
Stern has been threatening for weeks to take the SEIU out of the
AFL-CIO if Sweeney and his minions did not focus on building up
organized labor’s membership. “It’s no secret that organized labor
is losing its standing and its relevance both within business and
in politics,” says an SEIU lobbyist in Washington. “Andy and others
within the AFL-CIO have been pushing for the union’s leadership to,
first, acknowledge the problem, and then to do something about it.
Sweeney’s recent public statements are a first step. But we have a
long way to go.”
Even before the November electoral debacle, which saw organized
labor pay out perhaps as much as $500 million for Democrats and the
Democratic Party with nothing to show for it, Stern was viewed as a
more serious political player within the Democratic Party than
Sweeney. The last few months have done nothing to change that.
Stern remains close to the man he formerly backed for president,
new DNC chairman Howie Dean, as well as both
Democratic leaders in Congress, Rep. Nancy Pelosi
and Sen. Harry Reid. And his SEIU has strong ties
with the Teamsters, another influential union that has been known
in the past to go its own way.
The SEIU made huge commitments to Democrats in 2004 both
financially ($60 million of its own money, not including whatever
it put into the AFL-CIO’s pot for political use) and with manpower
across the country. SEIU contingents were some of the largest
working in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
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.”
JUDICIARY PROFILES
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.
“People there knew that Specter was sick, and while no one
wishes the worst in that kind of situation, people clearly felt
this could be a sign that Kyl is in a position to really help the
White House and the President’s judicial nominees,” says a Kyl
donor who attended the event. “We want Jon’s profile to be raised a
bit now.”
Specter, who is battling non-lymphoma Hodgkin’s disease, is said
to be in a fighting spirit, but the treatment is taking a physical
toll on him. Judiciary Committee press staffers were attempting to
put him out for meetings and discussions with the press to allay
rumors that Specter is weak and perhaps more ill than they had let
on. Specter’s remarks certainly did nothing to help him. Instead of
showing some support for the President and his agenda, Specter
continued hammering away at how his party had failed to reach out
to Democrats, and he again lectured the White House on its
nominations philosophy.
“It’s getting to the point now, where Specter seems to be trying
to call the leadership’s bluff,” says a staffer for a Republican
Senator who does not serve on the committee, but who sought a seat
this term. “We’re entering a critical time. If this is what Specter
thinks is clarifying his position or building support among
conservatives, he’s getting some bad advice.”
The growing doubts about Specter’s leadership could not be
coming at a worse time for Republicans. According to a Judiciary
Committee staffer, many who are directly involved in the nomination
and confirmation process of judges have been told not to make plans
for the summer months as there is expected to be a major
confirmation battle.
“We’re expecting not only some fights over appeals court
nominees, we’re expecting a Supreme Court nomination as well. That
could take us into August,” says the committee staffer.
