Wasn't Gep supposed to be labor's go-to guy? Well, a key longtime Missouri staffer for Gephardt threatened leaders of AFSCME and SEIU -- unions that have endorsed Dean -- in his home state. I guess he supports collective action only on
his terms:Prominent labor leaders on Wednesday accused a St. Louis-based aide to Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt of threatening retaliation against state employees if two prominent unions assist rival Howard Dean in the 2004 Missouri primary.
In a letter to Gephardt, D-Mo., Andrew Stern and Gerald McEntee accused Joyce Aboussie of vowing to seek the reversal of an executive order that granted Missouri state employees collective bargaining rights. The two called on Gephardt to fire Aboussie from the campaign and issue a written retraction of her threats.
Gephardt has yet to fire the staffer or directly retract her threats -- in fact, his campaign has stated that she
will not be fired -- rather, he has merely made a broad statement of support for collective bargaining while trying to distance himself from her statements by saying that he knew nothing about the meeting -- yeah, right. Go-to guy? Yeah, more like: Not with me? Go-to hell.