Hillary’s backers reportedly are planning to fund a Swift Boat-style 527 assault on the favorite for the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama. If we act now in a concerted way, perhaps we can head off Hillary’s Swift Boats before they slime the "change" candidate and tear down his winning coalition. I don’t think Hillary can win this anymore, but she could damage Obama’s chances in the general and hurt a wide mandate for progressive action.
Three groups conducting independent expenditure campaigns in behalf of Clinton - Emily's List, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) - have explored the possibility of trying to put together a multi-million dollar effort privately dubbed the Anybody-But-Obama 527 Committee...
I am going to write or call the leadership of these organizations and tell them them not to Swift Boat Democratic candidates for president. I thought I’d share my letter.
Flip it...
Dear -----,
I just read a report that said your organization was plotting with the campaign of Hillary Clinton to fund a "Swift Boat style" media attack on Illinois Senator Barack Obama via an "Anybody-but-Obama" 527 committee.
Why slime Barack Obama and made conservative Republican retention of the White House more likely? How could you assault the one progressive candidate in a generation who has shown the ability to bring together a vast coalition with enough power to change the country for the common good — to get out of Iraq, to extend Heath Care, to fight Global Warming and world poverty — and to remake the nation’s tattered image?
Lines of hopeful Americans, many voting for the first time, have turned out in early primaries and caucuses to support Barack Obama. Please don't sink to Rovian dirty tricks to destroy hope for these people. Instead, Consider Plato’s words: "The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
Before you choose to bankroll Hillary Clinton’s smear tactics, please think over the legacy of your group and the health of our nation.
Thank you,
If you can think of a better letter to shame these organizations out of their plans, please share it in the comments.
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Contacts:
(These are the best I could find. I still need emails for Malcom and McElroy. If you have these, please add them to comments or send to me). If you are a member of one of these unions, please contact the leadership and ask them not to Swift Boat democrats. Thanks.
Ellen R. Malcom
EMILY's List
1120 Connecticut Avenue NW
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 326-1400
Fax: (202) 326-1415
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gmcentee@afscme.org
Gerald W. McEntee
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO
1625 L Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036-5687
Tel: 202-429-1000
FAX: 202-429-1293
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Edward J. McElroy
American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
555 New Jersey Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC 20001
Phone:
202/879-4400
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UPDATE: As pointed out by Gregorgy Wonderwheel in the comments below, AFSCME members and VPs have already sent their leadership a plea to refrain from Swift Boat tactics against a Democrat. For skeptics of the likelihood, please read this letter...
January 4, 2008
Gerald McEntee
International President
AFSCME
1625 L St. NW
Washington, DC 20036
Dear President McEntee:
We are writing to protest in the strongest terms the negative campaign that AFSCME is conducting against Barack Obama. We do not believe that such a wholesale assault on one of the great friends of our union was ever contemplated when the International Executive Board (IEB) made its decision to endorse Hillary Clinton.
In fact, when the vote to make a primary endorsement was taken by the IEB, there appeared to be widespread agreement that we had a strong field of Democratic candidates all of whom had made a very positive impression on the IEB Screening Committee. The argument for endorsing Hillary Clinton was not that her positions were better than those of the other candidates or that she would be the better president for working families, but rather that she was the clear frontrunner, the most likely primary victor, and the strongest general election candidate.
While some of us did not agree with the decision to endorse Sen. Clinton, we all recognized that once the endorsement was made, AFSCME would have to expend a certain amount of resources on her behalf in order to give weight to its action. While the Board was informed at that time that procedures for independent expenditures had been
established, there was never any discussion of how those expenditures would be made.
None of the information presented to the International Executive Board suggested in any way that AFSCME intended to utilize its resources to attack the other Democratic candidates. In fact, a number of IEB members stressed–either privately or in their comments at the meeting-how much
they respected and admired Sen. Obama. And at least one Board member spoke passionately against the Democratic candidates attacking each other, arguing that such negativity would damage Democratic prospects in the General Election.
We were therefore shocked and appalled to learn that our union-through "independent expenditures"–is squandering precious resources to wage a costly and deceptive campaign to oppose Barack Obama. As Barack’s standing in the polls has soared, according to numerous press reports AFSCME has spent untold dollars in Iowa and New Hampshire to send out
mailings and run radio ads whose sole purpose is to undercut his candidacy. And now AFSCME has even registered a website with the explicit purpose of "opposing Barack Obama."
While we would not approve of attacks on any of the Democratic candidates in this race, all of whom have good relationships with our union, it is worth noting that AFSCME has chosen to attack only one of those candidates, Barack Obama.
It is also worth noting that the campaign that AFSCME is waging against Sen. Obama is fundamentally dishonest and inconsistent with past positions of our union, i.e. attacking him for not forcing individuals to purchase health care even when they can’t afford it. The ads are misleading in attempting to give the impression that they are associated
with John Edwards rather than Hillary Clinton and in their claims that Sen. Obama’s health care plan will exclude 15 million people when in fact every person will have the opportunity to participate. This dishonesty is giving our union a "black eye" among many in the media and the progressive community.
But even if the ads were not deceptive, we would object to the use of our union’s funds to attack a long-time friend of AFSCME members, a candidate who has stood up strongly in support of workers’ rights from his earliest days as an elected official, a candidate who included the importance of the right to form unions in his announcement speech, a
candidate who has been a forceful advocate for working families.
Supposedly, we are involved in this primary because we’re concerned about "access" to the next Democratic president. So why would we want to develop a hostile relationship with the man who could be that next president?
And supposedly, our union’s fundamental commitment is to electing a Democratic president in November. So why would AFSCME’s national political director threaten to dilute AFSCME’s efforts in the General Election if Senator Obama is the nominee? We were stunned to see these kind of threats being made in the national media by one of our union’s
primary spokespersons.
It is our understanding that this attack on Sen. Obama is being carried out through independent expenditures which are not under your direction, but that of two members of the International staff. As we understand it, because of the legal "firewall" that exists, those two staff members
have essentially undertaken this assault on Sen. Obama entirely on their own initiative without direction from or even consultation with you. Certainly there has not been any direction from the International Executive Board regarding this course of action. And we do not believe that AFSCME members would expect or want their PEOPLE dollars spent in this manner.
We are calling on you to take whatever action that is within your legal purview to immediately end AFSCME’s attack campaign against Sen. Obama. In the event that you are not able to legally compel these staff members to cease these actions, we are calling on you to immediately take action
to discontinue such independent expenditures in order to ensure that no further attacks occur. And we also urge you to ensure that no funds are utilized to wage such "attack campaigns" among our own members.
The behavior of these two individuals-so clearly inimical to the interests and allegiances of AFSCME members, as well as to institutional democracy-arguably constitutes chargeable offenses under the International constitution. It also calls into question the role of such "independent expenditures" in our organization. We believe that the IEB needs to carefully review the role that such expenditures play in our activities in this election season and beyond.
At the last IEB meeting, when we all gathered for dinner, you raised your glass in a toast to organizational unity, assuring us that we would all come together to defeat the Republican candidate in November. Today the actions of a few unelected union staff are placing that unity in jeopardy and degrading the reputation of our great union. We urge you to take whatever actions are necessary to see that both are restored.
In solidarity,
Ken Allen, International Vice-President, Oregon Henry Bayer,
International Vice-President, Illinois Greg Devereux, International Vice-President, Washington Sal Luciano, International Vice-President, Connecticut Roberta Lynch, International Vice-President, Illinois George
Popyack, International Vice-President, California Eliot Seide, International Vice-President, Minnesota
cc: Paul Booth
Lee Saunders
Larry Scanlon
International Executive Board