----- Original Message ----- From: "Max Sawicky" <sawicky at epinet.org>
>Are these guys next-having now lost what Finch called their "get out of
>jail free" card?
-By chance, I just talked to Fitch an hour ago, and he used exactly
-that phrase, predicting that there's a good chance that Trumka's
-next. He says the main reason the unions gave the Dems $45m in this
-election cycle was to assure the validity of their GOOJF card. Doug
+I agree that Trumka's in trouble, but the idea +that the AFL's effort was predicated on his legal +situation is silly. Labor was committed to the +Dems, pure and simple. +mbs
There are times when I cannot tell the difference between union posts made on LBO and the rightwingers at freerepublic.com. This whole focus on the indictments and even the implication that Trumka is some kind of bad guy is sort of nauseating.
Yes, Carey and crew panicked in the election against Hoffa Junior and cut some ethical and legal corners which are disgusting, but frankly are par for the course in most election systems for government - ie. steering resources to those who help out the reelection of incumbents. And it's worth remembering that Hoffa Junior did the exact same thing, just in a technically legal way. The incumbent, overpaid corrupt status quo local leaders used assessments from their salaries (paid out of Teamster funds, with those assessments often demanded in pretty coercive ways from superiors) to fund Hoffa's campaign, a campaign that had twice the funding of Carey.
It's a tragedy that Carey lost and bad the way folks tried to save him, if only because it was stupid, but to even place this act anywhere in the same category as the usual corruption and illegal activity associated with some unions is ridiculous. Yes, incumbent protection is a slippery slope for progressives to ever support, but the goals here were pretty damn pure, even if the methods weren't.
So it will be a tragedy if Trumka, one of the more progressive AFL leaders, is indicted.
-- Nathan Newman