First off, are there really any moderate Democrats left? Secondly, there was a time 80 – 100 years ago when unions were a necessity for workers in this country – before they became the storm troopers for the current version of the Democratic Party. Now they are just another strong arm constituency group seeking aggrandizement at the expense of the private sector.
by Sean Higgins
The 2010 election was already shaping up to be a bloody battle for Democratic incumbents but some now have to worry about friendly fire as well: Big Labor is trying to purge Democrats they don’t like.
Some unions are backing primary challenges in Colorado and Arkansas. In North Carolina, a union actually is trying to create its own third party. In all cases, unions brush off charges that this would just split the vote. They’re fed up with these moderate Democrats.
“We, as workers, had high hopes once there was this (Democratic) supermajority in the Senate. And yet all too often, we’re told its ‘your senator’ who is holding things up,” said Ricky Belk, secretary-treasurer for the Arkansas AFL-CIO.
Democrats gained their congressional majority in large part due to inroads they made with moderates in right-leading southern and Mountain West states. Now some of those same moderates have to watch their left flank.
“There is an opportunity for primary challenges that bruise the incumbents enough to create a party switch in the fall,” said John Hood, president of the conservative John Locke Foundation.
Big Labor says those candidates are fair game. They have tilted too far right on trade, opposed pro-labor bills and didn’t stick up for unions in the health care debate. If that means Democrats like Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln lose their seats to Republicans, then so be it.
“What’s the difference (between) 59 votes with Blanche Lincoln or 58 voters without her? If we lose the seat, we’re losing it to someone who’ll vote just like her,” United Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review last week.
But the question isn’t whether or not Democrats have 58 or 59 seats after November. Republicans will likely pick up at least a half-dozen seats, with a slim chance of winning the 10 needed to retake the Senate. Democrats are in even greater danger of losing the House.
Democrats downplay the rift. A Democratic National Committee source told IBD “these challenges happen every cycle” and “at the end of the day, we’ll be at the same table.”
But most Democrats refused to even talk about these challenges, fearful that they would only further tick Big Labor off.
Tags: unions
