Political Action Update 2000 Walker St., Suite A Des Moines, Iowa 50317 Telephone 515-262-9571 Fax 515-262-9573 www.iowaaflcio.org e-mail: [email protected] Vol 13 Issue 8 “The working people of America, are, of course, the backbone of the nation”. W. Wilson October 2013 Stop the Political Grandstanding We need to send a message to the Congress We have 2 members of the majority party in of the United States of America, and that message is the US Congress representing Iowa, one of whom is “Do not use the economy of our country as a bargain- alleged to have influence with the Speaker of the ing chip for political grandstanding.” House. It is time to see if the Congressman from Io- wa’s third Congressional District will place the con- At a time when we need leadership and solu- cerns of working Iowans and Americans ahead of party tions, we do not need economic brinksmanship. We politics, and urge the Speaker to not destroy the softly- need to fix our economy, not derail it. We do have a recovering economy. projected long-term budget imbalance but we need to address the true causes: There is a constitutional process for repealing a law -- such as Congress and President Clinton did 1. Wasteful tax breaks for Wall Street with the old Glass-Steagall Act. Both houses to enact and the richest Americans a new bill that repeals the old, which must then be 2. Rising health care costs signed by the President. If the President vetoes it, then the repeal can only go into effect if the veto is overrid- The deficit is falling and one solution is to put den by two-thirds of the House and the Senate. more Americans back to work rebuilding the crumbling 20th century infrastructure to say nothing of investing You can agree or disagree with a law but Con- in a 21st century infrastructure, the American dream gress swore an oath to protect and preserve the con- will be alive and well for millions more today and gen- stitution. The oath was to the American people, the erations into the future. people they were elected to represent. It is time to stand for the country and not the party. A second is to allow the Affordable Care Act to be implemented to address the spirialing costs of the By Ken Sagar, President, Iowa Federation of Labor US medical system. AFL-CIO Activist Women hold training in Dubuque By Tracy Leone (WIN and DAWN had done a previous training in Keokuk, which was also well attended). On Thursday, September 19, the Dubuque WIN Committee held a candidate training with DAWN (Democrat Activist As more women candidates run for public office, it is im- Women’s Network). State Senator Pam Jochum and Dubu- portant that they, along with the men who support them, que Federation of Labor President Bruce Clark co-hosted the get the training needed to run successful campaigns. As training, and former Lieutenant Governor JoAnn Zimmerman Dubuque Federation of Labor President Bruce Clark said, “It gave a slide show presentation with information to help re- cruit and guide women candidates interested in running for was a terrific turnout and shows increasing interest among public office. working people, and women in particular, in running for office to better represent workers in government.” Altogether 28 women and WIN Committee members attend- ed the training, which lasted two hours and covered such topics as, “Understanding Why You are Running,” “Identifying Community Power Structures,” and “The First Five Steps to running a campaign.” Attendees included recently-elected WIN candidate for Dubuque School Board Terra Siegert, as well as Kristi Keast, candidate for Iowa State House District 95 and her campaign staff. After the training ended, attendees participated in a lively conversation about the various twists and turns of run- ning for public office. They also networked with one another and discussed how to expand their networks of support. Currently, Iowa is among only two states which have never elected a woman to Congress or the Governor’s office (Mississippi is the other). As State Senator Pam Jochum pointed out, while she is proud to serve as the first woman President of the Iowa Senate since Sen. Mary Kramer was elected in 1997, it would be nice if this weren’t news any- more, but a normal transfer of power. Because of the great turnout, WIN and DAWN are looking at The Hawkeye Labor Council Banner hangs proudly in the ice potentially holding another training in Cedar Rapids Area arena for the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders Hockey team. Who said: "It is a glaring example of the bungling and waste that have characterized this administration's attempts to fulfill its benevolent purposes. In my own judgment — and I have examined it most carefully — this law is unjust, unworkable, stupidly drafted and wastefully financed." A. Senator Ted Cruz B. Governor Alf Landon C. Actor Ronald Reagan The quote comes from a speech given my Governor Alf Landon in September 1936 following the passage of the Social Security Act. Landon, the Republican nominee for President that year, who would go on to be defeated in a landslide to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was leading the charge of Republican politicians who were bound and determined to repeal Social Security — a pro- gram they thought was a misguided intrusion of the federal government into the lives of American citizens. It could have been any of them. Cruz has said similar things about Obamacare, and Reagan made negative comments in 1961 against Medicare. History shows that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are popular, beneficial and workable programs. 2 Elections: GO VOTE—Oct 22 and Nov 5 Elections: October 22 and November 5 There are a number of elections going on at the end of this month and early in November that are important to the South Central Iowa Federation of Labor - Skip Moore labor movement. and Cal Woods for Des Moines City Council; Kevin Trevillyan for West Des Moines City Council and Kyle Mertz for Altoona There is a special election in Des Moines, October 22, City Council. for House District 33. The Unions have endorsed Brian Meyer . Southern Iowa Labor Council - Frank Flanders for Iowa Central Labor Councils have made endorsements Ottumwa Mayor; Matt Dalby, Skip Stevens, Robert LaPoint and for the following candidates: Belinda Smith-Cicarella for Ottumwa City Council. Black Hawk Union Council - Buck Clark for Waterloo Quad City Federation of Labor - Carlton Wills, Shelia Mayor; Tavis Hall and Pat Morrissey for Waterloo City Council. Burrage, Mike Matson, Rick Dunn, Jamie Woods and Kevin Clinton Labor Congress - Jennifer Graf for Clinton City Perkins all for Davenport City Council. Council Contact your CLC or local union and help get out the Dubuque Federation of Labor— vote. Hawkeye Labor Council - Ron Corbett for Cedar Rap- ids Mayor; Justin Shields and Chuck Swore for Cedar Rapids City Council. They have also endorsed Hawkeye Labor Council President, Shelley Parbs for Benton County Supervisor. Save the State Historical Lee County Labor Council - Donna Amandus for Fort Madison Mayor. Thomas Marion for Keokuk Mayor, Richard Society of Iowa Moore and Dan Win for Keokuk City Council Are you aware that the State Historical Society of Iowa, housed in Iowa City, is in danger of going away? There is a move to reduce staffing, which will have a major impact on the Society and could lead to the closing or at least the restriction of access to documents it preserves. This reduced staffing could put the collections at risk by not having enough staffing to monitor reading rooms and answer reference questions. The reduction in funding would impact the protection and preservation of documents that need to be digitized, stored and access to server space. Researchers, students, teachers and others will have limited if any access if funding is restricted. The Iowa Labor Collection (and Oral Labor History) is a part of this collection of documents. Contact Mary Cownie, Director of Cultural Affairs 515- Lee County Labor Council held a Workman’s Compensation 281-7471 an let her know that the State Historical Society class the end of September in Keokuk. The University of Iowa needs more funding, not less, and the Iowa City facility need Labor Center presented the class. adequate staffing. 3 IOWA FEDERATION OF LABOR, AFL-CIO Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage 2000 Walker Street, Suite A P A I D Des Moines, Iowa 50317-5201 Des Moines, Iowa Permit No. 269 Upcoming ... RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED October 7—Clinton WIN October 9—Davenport WIN October 14—Burlington WIN October 16—Muscatine & Council Bluffs WIN October 17—Dubuque WIN Oct. 22—Lee County & Des Moines WIN Oct 23—Waterloo WIN Oct. 28—Cedar Rapids WIN November 4— Clinton WIN November 6—Iowa City WIN November 11—Burlington WIN November 12—Davenport WIN November 20—Council Bluffs WIN Marshalltown and Mason City Pending 4 .