Richmond, Virginia -- April 13, 2006
Any doubts about whether or not Harris Miller is unelectable disappeared today with the publication of the following letter at several websites throughout Virginia:
February 6, 2006
Doris Crouse-Mays
Secretary-Treasurer
Virginia AFL-CIO
5400 Glenside Dr.
Suite E
Richmond VA, 23228
Dear Doris,
Sincerest congratulations on your elevation to the new leadership position at the Virginia State AFL-CIO. If ever the Department for Professional Employees DPE) can be of assistance, please don't hesitate to call on us.
As a follow-up to our recent conversation, we wanted to provide you with some more details about an announced Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Virginia--Harris Miller.
Over the last decade DPE has frequently encountered Mr. Miller--in his former capacity as President and CEO of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)-- leading the charge against us, the AFL-CIO and many of our affiliated unions on many, many legislative issues.
For your information, I have attached a brief outline of what we could find out from a cursory review of available information. I'm sure that there's probably a lot more out there, but the specifics we have uncovered thus far should be sufficient.
On the issue of the Bush Overtime regulations, we could not specifically find information relative to the ITAA's position. Documentation is made nearly impossible since the U.S. Department of Labor doesn't provide an index to the organizations that filed public comments during that phase of the rulemaking process. It is hard to imagine however, that--given the ITAA's proclivities regarding other worker-related matters--that the organization sat this fight out when in fact the final rules exempted an even greater number of IT professionals that had been excluded previously.
Finally, as to his views on unions, the appended article from the 6/4/01 edition of Network World says it all. Entitled "IT workers don't need to unionize", Miller launches into a typical anti-union screed replete with references to union bosses, attacks on seniority systems, and snide references to collective bargaining agreements and job security. He concludes his rant against unionization of tech workers with the following quote:
Unions have their place. But for today's high-tech workers, union membership would minimize job flexibility, reduce the ability to negotiate wages and stifle the creativity that has made the U.S. IT industry the world leader. High-tech workers have consistently rejected efforts to organize them and will continue to frown upon unions as a useful or desirable move.
Needless to say Miller is truly one of the bad guys. Over and over again on core issues like trade, immigration, overtime protections and privatization of federal jobs, he's not only been on the wrong side, he's been galvanizing corporate efforts against us.
As the state AFL-CIO and the labor councils throughout the state embark on their candidate assessment process, I hope they will take into consideration Miller's anti-labor, anti-worker activities and find him unfit for any kind of labor support.
Feel free to give this letter the widest possible circulation throughout the labor movement in the Commonwealth.
In closing, please also extend my best wishes to Brother Jim for a long and successful tenure as the new President of the Virginia AFL-CIO.
In solidarity,
Michael W. Gildea
Executive Director
1025 Vermont Avenue, N.W.
Suite 1030
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: (202) 638-0320
Fax: (202) 628-4379
Website: www.dpeaflcio.org
The Unions are Our Party's Shock Troops
Several points made in this letter leap off the page: Miller is described as "truly one of the bad guys" and "unfit for any kind of labor support." This letter is dated February 6, 2006, indicationg that the unions intended to oppose Harris Miller even before Jim Webb declared his candidacy. For those of us who worked or volunteered for the campaign the impact of this letter cannot be understated. The union members in the greater Richmond area provided the Kaine campaign with some of its most dedicated shock troops.
Who can forget the big cookout Tim threw to celebrate the opening of his Richmond campaign office? The pipefitters local brought their giant grilling trailer and fed several hundred people hot dogs while Tim and Creigh Deeds circulated throught the crowd meeting supporters and shaking hands. Something tells me that the pipefitters aren't going to be there for Harris Miller.
I saw the unions' commitment to our party firsthand because I volunteered quite a bit with the "visibility" portion of the Kaine campaign. Night after night union members and apprentices pulled up to our loading dock to take bundles of yard signs. Union members delivered these signs and also placed signs in key public locations around the area, helping to raise Tim's profile at crucial moments in the campaign. Many of the apprentices stayed up all night to guard Tim's signs and make certain that no one would tear these signs down or vandalize them. Something tells me that these union workers won't be there for Harris Miller.
Miller's Flawed Candidacy Threatens the Virginia Party
Tim Kaine and his campaign advisors built better than they knew. Not only did they build a strong team of top flight young staffers, they also trained a new generation of highly organized and highly motivated volunteers. Miller's early entry into Virginia's Senate race and his application of hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal funds has caused a strange phenomenon to occur: many of Kaine's younger staffers have joined Miller's self-funded campaign in order to pay rent and put food on their tables, but an overwhelming number of Kaine's volunteer workers have flocked to Miller's opponent, Jim Webb.
The risk to our party, as I see it, is that Miller might be able to finesse a victory in the Democratic primary due to his contacts and the contacts of the Kaine alumni in the local committees, but when it comes to the general election Miller could conceivably face George Allen without the support of Virginia's unions. If the text of this letter is any indication, many union members might actually defect to the Republican Party for this election. If that happened, some might even stay there. The powerful winning statewide coalition built by Mark Warner and Tim Kaine would be crippled by the loss of the unions.
The time has come to let the Democratic Party and all Democratic electeds in Virginia know that Harris Miller is unelectable and should not be promoted or endorsed as the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Virginia in 2006. Supporting Miller would be a shocking betrayal of our union brothers and sisters. Please use the e-mail function at the bottom of this post to let your party, your representatives, your friends and your neighbors know that Harris Miller is wrong for Virginia in 2006.