Teamsters boss calls for including
Nader, Buchanan in presidential
debates
June 22, 2000
Web posted at: 1:41 PM EDT (1741 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After emerging from his
highly publicized meeting with Green Party
hopeful Ralph Nader, Teamsters Union President
James P. Hoffa on Thursday called for "all four of
the major presidential candidates" to be included
in televised debates this fall. "Over the past year,
the Teamsters union has met with most of the
presidential candidates," said Hoffa, calling for the
inclusion of both Nader and Reform Party hopeful
Pat Buchanan in the debates. "We have had an
open and honest exchange of views. The American
people should have the same opportunity as we
have had."
Under new
guidelines issued
by the bipartisan
Commission on
Presidential
Debates,
candidates must
garner an average
of at least 15
percent support
across five
national polls in
order to
participate in the
official presidential debates.
"The two major parties have shut Ralph Nader and
Pat Buchanan out of the process, refusing to give
them a voice before the American public," Hoffa
said.
Both Nader and Buchanan have consistently polled
in the single-digits, well below the requirement.
The Teamsters' 24-member General Executive
Board, which is holding a quarterly meeting this
week, invited Nader to address the gathering
Thursday morning.
Nader, a well-known consumer-rights advocate, is
expected to win the Green Party's presidential
nomination at the party's convention in Denver this
weekend. He also ran for president in 1996, but
mainly as a protest candidate.
This time around, Nader is hoping to raise $5
million and get the Green Party on the ballot in all
50 states. Nader draws about 4 percent of voters'
support, according to recent polls, although he
enjoys particularly strong support in California,
where one survey put him as high as 9 percent.
Nader could benefit from labor anger at Gore
Republican presidential hopeful George W. Bush is
scheduled to address the board by telephone later
on Thursday. Hoffa met privately with the Texas
governor, as well as Gore, in April, and the vice
president also met with the union's board last
November.
The Teamsters and the United Auto Workers
remained silent during the presidential primary
season, while the 13-million-member AFL-CIO
labor federation endorsed Gore for president.
Relations between the Gore camp and organized
labor have soured in the aftermath of the unions'
unsuccessful lobbying effort to defeat House
passage of permanent normalized trade relations
(PNTR) with China, which labor leaders say will
lead to a loss of U.S. jobs.
Both Gore and Bush voiced support for the China
trade bill, while Nader and Buchanan, who bolted
the GOP last year, ardently opposed it.
Gore further miffed labor earlier this month when
he appointed Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, the
Clinton administration's point man on PNTR, to
head his campaign. Hoffa described the move as a
"slap in the face" to labor.
Nader told CNN this week he didn't know whether
the Teamsters would endorse him instead of Gore.
"But I know they are very upset with the
Clinton-Gore administration," he said.
Teamsters not tipping hand on endorsement
The organization has been less than forthcoming
about when, and if, it will make a presidential
endorsement.
"Maybe we won't make an endorsement at all,
that's a possibility. And there's a possibility we'll
endorse somebody, but we're just not in a position
to make that announcement now," Hoffa told
reporters earlier this month.
Teamsters spokesman Bret Caldwell said Thursday
that the board plans to survey its members'
preference among the presidential hopefuls in the
July issue of the union's monthly magazine.
Although labor unions have traditionally backed
Democratic candidates, Bush has made little secret
of his desire to secure the Teamsters backing.
Hoffa's predecessor, former Teamsters president
Ron Carey, backed President Clinton in both of his
presidential campaigns. But the Teamsters union
also consistently backed Republican candidates
Ronald Reagan and George Bush in the 1980s --
and was the only major union to do so.