AFSCME Local 189 Endorses Jefferson Smith and Mary Nolan
Evan Manvel
Big news tonight in Portland city races: AFSCME Local 189, the largest city employee union with 940 members, has endorsed Jefferson Smith for mayor and Mary Nolan for city commissioner.
From the press release (with paragraphs re-ordered):
"Jefferson has been working with us in the legislature to move a progressive agenda protecting voting rights and creating transparency in government. Additionally, he carried the bill that directed state agencies to cut middle management and direct the budget to go to front line services. With potential cuts on the horizon at the City, this resonates with our members," said Local Vice President, Mark Gipson
"As a State Representative Jefferson Smith has a proven track record of consensus building, without compromising on important issues such as protecting voting rights, and creating transparency in government. He has shown through his work to limit middle management and focus budgets on front line services that he is willing to challenge the status quo."
"Eileen is an interesting candidate... many of our members liked her. In the end we felt she was untested ..."
Members also appreciated that Charlie Hales was willing to reach out and participate in the endorsement process have conversations with them. However, many of the members were seeking a change in leadership...
On the city commissioner race:
Mary Nolan was chosen over the incumbent, Amanda Fritz, for her experience working at the city, her work on Ways and Means at the State Legislature and her consistent record of standing up for all working families. Although many of the members working at the Bureau of Emergency Communications and Office of Neighborhood Involvement were supportive of Amanda, the call for change at City Hall combined with Mary's record of support for working people was ultimately persuasive.
AFSCME Local 189 also endorsed Steve Novick.
A final important note from the press release: "Local 189's endorsement paves the way for AFSCME Council 75 to endorse."
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10:19 p.m.
Jan 24, '12
Disclaimer: I haven't made an endorsement in this race. I speak only for myself.
10:55 p.m.
Jan 24, '12
Correction/Clarification: I haven't made an endorsement in the mayor's race.
I have endorsed Mary Nolan and Steve Novick.
10:42 p.m.
Jan 24, '12
I think they picked the three winners (Novick was easy, I guess). Jefferson's legislative experience will wear well in people's minds, and the members seem to have picked up on that. As a member of an AFSCME-affiliated City union, I'm very pleased to see that they've made this choice. (I'm sure it helped that there wouldn't be many CRC jobs on the line for them one way or the other).
Thanks for posting, Evan!
11:26 p.m.
Jan 24, '12
I'm so pleased to see Jefferson Smith get this endorsement. I think he's the best choice by far, and clearly AFSCME is unmoved by Brady's PBA connections and Hales' real estate developers.
11:43 p.m.
Jan 24, '12
Steph, you appear to know almost nothing about Eileen if that's your summation of her. PBA but one of her connections, and we have the campaign to prove it.
11:32 p.m.
Jan 24, '12
Yeah, Mark, I do think it is interesting that they picked the two legislators in the two races where that was possible.
All in all, not that surprising a slate of selections.
It does mean, of course, that the AFL-CIO endorsement in the mayor's race won't be a unanimous pick. Should be fun to watch.
Full disclosure: My firm built Eileen Brady's campaign website, and we're assisting Oregon AFSCME Council 75 with their email outreach. I speak only for myself.
11:41 p.m.
Jan 24, '12
note: Joe Baessler, AFSCME Political Director, is a good friend & ally of Jefferson's. and of course that had nothing to do with this decision.
(disclaimer: i work part-time for the Brady campaign)
7:58 a.m.
Jan 25, '12
Implying an endorsement is based on a single relationship seems really insulting to the endorsing organization.
I hope this doesn't start the tactic of attempting to discredit every endorsement based on relationships. (And doesn't every candidate claim to have these relationships anyway, so we are left with insulting groups that support a different candidate from our own - hardly a tactic to bring the city together.)
11:10 a.m.
Jan 25, '12
James, i was only speaking for myself.
4:11 p.m.
Jan 25, '12
Thanks for that, James.
9:28 a.m.
Jan 25, '12
You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who is serving, has served and is running for office that doesn't have friends/allys in various organizations and businesses. Some of those are bound to become personal friends. But to try and link an endorsement to someone's personal relationship to a candidate is disserving to everyone involved....the candidate and the friend. Or you, for that matter. Being passionate for your candidate is one thing, to imply what it appears you are applying only tosses mud on your own reputation and judgment and I'd like to think you're better than that.
10:28 a.m.
Jan 25, '12
It did have nothing to do with the decision, and to imply that it did is insulting to the members who spent hours drafting the questionnaire, interviewing the candidates, and ultimately voted on who to endorse. Yes, Joe has connections to Jefferson, and Joe's wife has close ties to Eileen. For the sake of avoiding the appearance of impropriety, (and likely for domestic peace at Joe's house) Joe did not work with our members on this endorsement.
(disclaimer: I work for AFSCME Local 189)
11:02 a.m.
Jan 25, '12
Is this what the Brady campaign meant was coming when it unilaterally declared the "gentleperson's conduct agreement" to be critically violated in a previous BO thread? I hope not.
2:54 p.m.
Jan 25, '12
That's a snide little aside, T.A. I haven't decided who I'm voting for yet - just that it won't be Mr. Hales, but posts like that one aren't especially helpful to Ms. Brady's cause.
3:36 p.m.
Jan 25, '12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem
9:33 a.m.
Jan 25, '12
Hardworking, Integrity, Equity....these are the same characteristics that the union and its members themselves have. No wonder they made the right choice!
12:28 p.m.
Jan 25, '12
Thank you AFSCME. And thank you to the local members. It honors me, and I will do my best to run hard, run clean, and lead well.
Kari, if I wanted to leverage serving in the legislature to the maximum, I would be spending much of my fundraising time raising money from folks who have business before the legislature. I haven't been. (And I think that our C&E's probably bear that out). I think being a current elected official might have played a role in the endorsement, but I don't think it was largely about some power trade. (And the local who made this recommendation is different from the locals who I've interacted with at the State.)
And let me say something else. The candidates in this race are Democrats. There are differences, but this is not a war with Mitt Gingrich or Newt Cain.
Focusing on positive stuff -- limiting our disagreements to matters of policy and priorities, and not being personal -- is not merely some sop to weakness or softness. It is big-picture strategic.
Separating people from the problem -- being hard on the problem but less hard on the people -- is something that successful organizations and effective communicators and negotiators do.
Eileen and Charlie are both good people. Both have done valuable things and I hope will do more. We disagree on some things, and I think I'd be a better mayor; that's why I'm running. But my case is not that they're bad people. They aren't.
Moreover, a movement towards a better city, state and world is the key thing. It's more important than any job any of us gets. Tearing down elements and participants of that movement is contra the essential point and purpose.
Politics is rough and tumble, I get that. We will disagree, sometimes powerfully. But where we should focus is on what we can accomplish and what are our ideas and priorities. How we can be stronger together than we are apart. Because that is the essential point and purpose.
5:00 p.m.
Jan 25, '12
Thank you, Jefferson.
I agree with everything you've said above.
I did not mean to imply that there's anything nefarious or untoward in the endorsement of two legislators.
Merely that AFSCME clearly valued your 100% voting record on their scorecard. (And I think Rep. Nolan has 100% too.) Not at all surprising that a 100% record would win an endorsement. Otherwise, there would be no point to having a scorecard.
Congratulations. I can't wait until this is over, and we can go back to hanging out and watching basketball together. Hope you're well.
1:08 p.m.
Jan 25, '12
btw, anyone who knows me, knows i fully & whole-heartedly support Oregon unions. no group has done more to protect the work- middle-classes in Oregon than AFSCME. i've been proud to work with them on campaigns in the past, and look forward to doing so in the future. solidarity.
2:20 p.m.
Jan 25, '12
As the Campaign Director for Eileen Brady I want to make it very clear that TA was speaking for himself. His comments were not authorized by the Brady campaign and we completely disagree with his premise. Joe Baessler is a personal friend of the Brady/Rohter family and the entire Brady campaign team. To suggest that his friendship with Jefferson is what led to AFSCME endorsement is completely unacceptable and wrong.
Joe has fought for working people his entire career and represented the working men and women of AFSCME with integrity for years.
Congratulations to Jefferson for receiving the AFSCME endorosement.
We do take great issue with the idea that Eileen is "untested" and "without a history of standing up for working people" that was stated in the AFSCME press release. That is also way off base and wrong.
Eileen has a proven track record of standing up for workers in perhaps the most concrete way possible — directly in the workplace.
Specifically in regards to New Seasons Market:
The company has created over 2000 jobs over the last eleven years.
All of these jobs offer comprehensive health insurance to all employees who work at least one shift a week, including coverage for family members and domestic partners.
The company has a long standing policy of paying all entry level employees above the mandated state minimum wage. $10 instead of $8.80 at this point.
The company offers “lifestyle scheduling”, which generally means that employees can expect predictable schedules with two days off in a row. This is virtually unheard of in the retail industry.
The company has paid out over $6 million in profit sharing.
The company did not lay off employees or cut hours during the recession.
The company has an independent, third party binding arbitration program for employees who choose to file a grievance if their employment is being terminated.
Eileen's track record of standing up for workers - all when she wasn't looking for an endorsement or asking for votes - is unique in the Mayor's race.
6:04 p.m.
Jan 25, '12
Once again, I appreciate how Jefferson Smith is running a positive campaign based on the issues. He's developing a coalition of Portlanders whose endorsements we can all be proud off and that reflect our deepest values as a city.
7:43 p.m.
Jan 25, '12
Congratulations to Jefferson Smith on this important endorsement!