Volume 06, Issue 6

October 2006

We Need to Vote...

This Election Day it’s crystal clear that too many Americans work too hard for too little.  Productivity is soaring but wages are stagnant.  Forty-six million Americans—246,500 Iowans—don’t have health insurance.  We’ve lost 3 million good manufacturing jobs in the past five years alone.  And we’ve lost 21,800 of those jobs right here in Iowa.  Our children may just be the first generation to be worse off than their parents.

Productivity is up, but people’s standard of living is dropping.  Median household income dropped $1451 from 2000 to 2004 in Iowa.  People who live and work in the richest country in the world often must hold several jobs and still can’t make ends meet.

How did we get here?  Big Business has abandoned the American value of fair reward for hard work and our elected leaders are letting it happen.  Government isn’t listening to working people.  But it doesn’t have to be this way.

We can make America work for working people by voting for candidates this November who represent our interests—not the interests of corporate America.  It’s our country, our state.  Let’s take it back.  On November 7 we can take it back if we vote for candidates who support workers’ interests.  Please read the comparisons of the candidates for Governor and for Congress that are included in this issue of the News.

For Our Jobs, Our Nation…

...and Our Children’s Future

An Important Message From Federation President Mark L. Smith  About Pensions

MEMO

You may have heard stories that Chet Culver will "risk" IPERS. I want to tell you, this is FALSE. Chet will protect IPERS and taxpayer dollars. My wife, like Chet Culver himself, is an IPERS member, so this issue is important to our family.  I want to assure you that, as Governor, Chet Culver will protect the pensions of Iowans by keeping IPERS safe, sound and strong.

The Republicans are trying to tell you that Chet supports "risky" investments. IPERS is in the top 20% of public pension funds in the nation. IPERS has done well because a portion of the fund is invested in start-up companies – as all good pension funds are. I agree with Chet, if all other things are equal, we should look to invest in Iowa companies, but only when they meet the strict criteria established for all investments. That’s not risky, it’s just smart.

I know the truth about Chet’s proposal and IPERS is safe. Chet is committed to protecting your hard-earned retirement savings. I would urge you to pay close attention to what the Republicans are doing, not saying. They have proposed ideas that would privatize Social Security, do away with private pension funds and in some states they have taken away benefits from state pension funds.

Don’t let anyone fool you. A vote for Chet is a vote for your personal financial future.

What Would Electing a Democratic Governor, Senate, and House of Representatives Change?

For the last eight years we’ve had a Democratic Governor in Iowa, but a legislature controlled by Republicans.  Lots of good legislation has been introduced by the Democrats, but little of it has become law.  Why not?  Republicans have simply refused to pass any legislation that would help workers and their families.

The only way to change this is to elect labor-endorsed candidates.  If we elect enough endorsed candidates to gain control of the Iowa Legislature and elect a worker-friendly governor, good legislation will finally have a chance to become law.  We could do things like:

• Increase the minimum wage

• Give injured workers the right to choose their own doctor

• Expand the scope of bargaining for public employees

• Stop further privatization of government services

• Allow more workers who have lost their job through no fault of their own to receive unemployment benefits

• Make higher education more affordable

• Allow prevailing wage standards on all public sector construction projects

• Fund education at levels adequate to bring teacher pay to at least the national average

• Hire an adequate number of OSHA inspectors to enforce workplace safety rules

• Enact tax policies that are fair to all Iowans

For union members and their families, this is literally the chance of a lifetime to help set the agenda in Iowa.  So—go to the polls and vote for endorsed candidates for the House and the Senate and for Governor.  It has never been more important!

Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

2006 Endorsements

On the most important issues facing working families, there is a big difference.

Chet Culver

Democratic Candidate for Governor

Jim Nussle

Republican Candidate for Governor

Chet Culver will make the creation of good jobs with good wages a top priority for Iowa.  He supports project labor agreements and prevailing wages for construction workers and is “very concerned good-quality, paying jobs are diminishing out there.”

Good Jobs.

Congressman Jim Nussle voted for NAFTA, Fast-Track and CAFTA—sending thousands of good manufacturing jobs overseas.  He voted against increasing the minimum wage and even refused to support reinstating Davis-Bacon community wage standards for workers cleaning up after Hurricane Katrina.

Chet Culver will fight for affordable health care: “Too many Iowa families are being squeezed by skyrocketing health care costs.”

Affordable

Health Care.

Congressman Jim Nussle voted to increase insurance premiums for working families and voted for health savings accounts that shift costs—and risks—onto workers.  He voted against the Patient’s Bill of Rights twice.  He voted for cuts in Medicare to fund tax cuts for the wealthy.

Chet Culver, a former teacher and coach, will make higher education more affordable, both by lowering tuition and by offering grants, scholarships, and programs that give students a leg-up.

Quality

Education.

Congressman Jim Nussle voted twice to cut $12.7 billion from student loans, the largest cut in the program in U.S. history.  Nussle has also repeatedly voted against increasing tuition assistance for low– and middle-income students.

1st District Congress

 üLabor’s Choice

Bruce Braley

Bruce Braley will vote to:

ü Raise the minimum wage; he supports workers’ right to join a union.

ü Protect Social Security and force corporations to honor pension promises to their employees.

ü Oppose NAFTA-like trade laws; he supports policies that treat U.S. workers fairly and keep jobs here.

1st District Legislative Endorsements 

House District 17 - Alek Wipperman

House District 18 - Andrew Wenthe

House District 19 - Bob Kressig*

House District 20 - Doris Kelley

House District 21 - Don Shoultz*

House District 22 - Deborah Berry*

House District 23 - Pete McRoberts

House District 25 - Tom Schueller*

House District 26 - Polly Bukta*

House District 27 - Pam Jochum*

House District 28 - Pat Murphy*

House District 31 - Ray Zirkelbach*

House District 32 - Tom Avenarius

House District 81 - Lauren Phelps

House District 83 - Reg Kauffman

House District 84 - Elesha Gayman

House District 85 - Jim Lykam*

House District 86 - Cindy Winckler* 

Senate District   9 - Bill Heckroth

Senate District 11 - Bill Dotzler*

Senate District 13 - Roger Stewart*

Senate District 41 - Phyllis Thede

Senate District 43 - Joe Seng*

*denotes incumbent

2nd District Congress

 üLabor’s Choice

Dave Loebsack

Dave Loebsack will vote to:

 ü Raise the minimum wage; he supports workers’ right to join a union.

ü Protect Social Security and force corporations to honor pension promises to their employees.

ü Oppose NAFTA-like trade laws; he supports policies that treat U.S. workers fairly and keep jobs here. 

2nd District Legislative Endorsements 

House District 29 - Ro Foege*

House District 30 - Dave Jacoby*

House District 33 - Dick Taylor*

House District 34 - Todd Taylor*

House District 35 - Jan Kvach

House District 36 - Swati Dandekar*

House District 37 - Art Staed

House District 38 - Tyler Olson

House District 77 - Mary Mascher*

House District 78 - Vicki Lensing*

House District 80 - Nathan Reichert*

House District 88 - Dennis Cohoon*

House District 89 - Mark Nolte

House District 90 - John Whitaker*

House District 92 - Phil Wise*

House District 93 - Mary Gaskill*

House District 94 - Kurt Swaim*  

Senate District 15 - Robert Dvorsky*

Senate District 17 - Wally Horn*

Senate District 19 - Rob Hogg

Senate District 39 - Joe Bolkcom*

Senate District 45 - Becky Schmitz

Senate District 47 - Keith Kreiman*

*denotes incumbent

3rd District Congress

 üLabor’s Choice

Leonard Boswell

Leonard Boswell has voted:

 ü To raise the minimum wage; he is a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act which would make it easier for workers to join a union.

ü To protect Social Security and force corporations to honor pension promises to their employees.

ü Against the CAFTA “free trade” treaty; he supports policies that treat U.S. workers fairly and keep jobs here.

On the other side of the ballot is millionaire Republican, Jeff Lamberti.  Lamberti, with a legislative record of voting with workers only 12% of the time, would be a rubber stamp for President Bush.  As a state legislator, he voted against protecting workers’ overtime pay and he voted to limit state workers’ bargaining rights.  He voted against increasing the minimum wage, but voted to increase legislators’ pay.  

3rd District Legislative Endorsements 

House District 39 - Dawn Pettengill*

House District 40 - Sharon Owens

House District 41 - Paul Bell*

House District 59 - Jim Sammler

House District 61 - Jo Oldson*

House District 62 - Bruce Hunter*

House District 66 - Ako Abdul-Samad

House District 67 - Kevin McCarthy*

House District 68 - Rick Olson*

House District 69 - John Calhoun

House District 71 - Catherine Haustein  

House District 72 - Buzz Malone

House District 75 - Eric Palmer

House District 76 - Chris Montross  

Senate District 21 - Dennis Black*

Senate District 31 - Matt McCoy*

Senate District 33 - Jack Hatch*

Senate District 35 - Merle Johnson

*denotes incumbent

4th District Congress

 üLabor’s Choice

Selden Spencer

Selden Spencer will vote to:

ü Raise the minimum wage; he supports workers’ right to join a union.

ü Protect Social Security and force corporations to honor pension promises to their employees.

ü Oppose NAFTA-like trade laws; he supports policies that treat U.S. workers fairly and keep jobs here.

On the other side of the ballot is incumbent Congressman Tom Latham.  Latham, who has a record of voting with the AFL-CIO only 9% of the time, has been a rubber stamp in Congress for President Bush.  He’s voted against increasing the minimum wage; he is an advocate of Social Security privatization.  He consistently voted for “free trade” deals, including CAFTA, that have devastated manufacturing jobs in Iowa .

4th District Legislative Endorsements 

House District   7 - Marcella Frevert*

House District   9 - McKinley Bailey

House District 10 - Susan Radke

House District 11 - Ann Fairchild

House District 13 - Alan Steckman

House District 14 - Mark Kuhn*

House District 15 - Brian Quirk*

House District 43 - Mark Smith*

House District 45 - Beth Wessel-Kroeschell*

House District 46 - Lisa Heddens*

House District 47 - Russ Wiesley

House District 48 - Donovan Olson*

House District 49 - Helen Miller*

House District 50 - Lynne Gentry

House District 73 - Maxine Bussanmas

House District 74 - Mark Davitt*  

Senate District   5 - Rich Olive

Senate District   7 - Amanda Ragan*

Senate District 23 - Herman Quirmbach*

Senate District 25 - Daryl Beall*

Senate District 37 - Staci Appel  

*denotes incumbent

Nussle

5th District Congress

 üLabor’s Choice

Joyce Schulte

Joyce Schulte will vote to:

ü Raise the minimum wage; she supports workers’ right to join a union.

ü Protect Social Security and force corporations to honor pension promises to their employees.

ü Oppose NAFTA-like trade laws; she supports policies that treat U.S. workers fairly and keep jobs here.

On the other side of the ballot is incumbent Congressman Steve King.  King, who has a record of voting with the AFL-CIO only 9% of the time, has been a rubber stamp for President Bush.  He’s voted against increasing the minimum wage; he is an advocate of Social Security privatization.  He voted for “free trade” deals, including CAFTA, that have devastated manufacturing jobs in Iowa .

5th District Legislative Endorsements 

House District     1 - Wes Whitead*

House District     2 - Roger Wendt*

House District   56 - Nancy Bleth

House District   95 - Mike Reasoner*

House District   98 - Sally Vitamvas

House District   99 - Will Reger

House District 100 - Paul Shomshor*  

Senate District   1 - Steve Warnstadt*  

*denotes incumbent

Scaring and Slime-ing in Politics

Having run both the executive and legislative branches for the past two years with nothing but failure to show for it, the Republicans can no longer campaign as the party that will balance the budget, reform entitlements, lower energy costs, fix the immigration problem, create a more secure world or find a suitable way out of the war of choice in Iraq.  What’s left is scaring and “slime-ing.”

...Harold Meyerson, The Washington Post, September 13, 2006

Iowa Is No Exception

In Iowa’s 94th House District, the Republican Party mass mailed a brochure accusing Kurt Swaim, an incumbent Democrat, of helping child molesters become eligible for early releases.

It turns out that Swaim, a lawyer, was assigned the case as a public defender.  The Republican candidate, Kevin Wiskus, was so incensed at what he called “a shocking and tasteless” brochure that he changed his registration from Republican to Independent and ran an ad in the Centerville Daily Iowegian apologizing to Swaim.

Black Hawk Labor Council President Steve Abbott reports that the Republicans are “push-polling” in Waterloo.  This technique is old-time sleaze, where the caller asks, “Would you vote for a candidate if you knew he or she was a communist or beats his spouse?”

When challenged, the Republicans say, ”Oh, we never said Candidate X beats their spouse or is a communist, we said, ‘what if?’”

In a combination of slime-ing and scaring, Republican Gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle’s ads accuse Chet Culver of trying to screw up state workers’ pensions (IPERS).  Culver suggested that a miniscule amount of IPERS money should be placed in venture capital investments in Iowa.  Nussle told the Des Moines Register that such investments were “prudent.” 

The bottom line is that the Republicans miserable record of failure leaves them no alternative other than Scare and sleaze.

Bush NLRB Strips Rights From Union Members

 The NLRB decided that if an employee spends as little as ten to fifteen percent of their time performing supervisory functions, they will be considered supervisors and thus likely be stripped of their right to be union members.  Those affected include “working foremen.”  An estimated 34 million workers could be impacted.

The board voted 3 to 2 with two Democrats casting “no” votes.

The October 3, 2006 decision is the latest in the Bush NLRB’s maneuvering to deny as many workers as possible their basic rights to union membership.

Social Security Privatization

Still a Republican Priority

That’s according to Republican Jim McCrery (R-LA) who declared that “Congress should make privatizing Social Security its top priority in 2007 if Republicans retain control of the Congress.”

Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) vowed to take up Social Security again after the 2006 election “if I’m around in a leadership role come January.”

President Bush himself has said he does not intend to take “Social Security off the table as long as he is President.”

Bush and Company don’t get it—the American people don’t want to replace Social Security’s guaranteed benefits with risky private accounts.

Michael Mauro

üLabor’s Choice

Secretary of State

Mike Mauro is the current Polk County Auditor, an office he has held since 1997.  As auditor, he has been the chief election officer in the state’s largest county.  Mauro’s goals as Secretary of State include implementing new technologies to simplify services, cut costs and eliminate red tape for citizens.  

Help Fill This Place With Labor’s Friends Or Pay the Consequences.

When you let your enemies make the laws, you lose every time.

 Vote for Labor-endorsed Candidates on November 7th.