AFL-CIO endorses Tester, Lindeen

By the Standard State Bureau - 06/27/2006

HELENA — Delegates to the Montana AFL-CIO last weekend endorsed Democrats Jon Tester and Monica Lindeen for the U.S. Senate and House respectively, along with a host of other candidates, mostly Democrats.

Meeting in Great Falls for the AFL-CIO’s 50th annual convention, delegates also backed four candidates who are unopposed for re-election: Supreme Court justices Jim Rice and John Warner, Supreme Court Clerk Ed Smith and Public Service Commissioner Greg Jergeson.

“These candidates are serious about working to protect Montana’s working families,” said Jim McGarvey, executive secretary of the Montana AFL-CIO. “The congressional and legislative candidates we’ve endorsed want to promote a healthy, growing economy based on good wages, decent health insurance for all families and careful, sustained development of the state’s natural resources.” The AFL-CIO took no stand on the contested PSC District 5 race between Democrat Ken Toole and Republican Mike Taylor.

In legislative races, the AFL-CIO endorsed 90 candidates, 87 of whom were Democrats. The lone Republicans backed were Reps. Wayne Stahl of Saco, Alan Olson of Roundup and Sen. Dave Lewis of Helena.

The AFL-CIO made no recommendations in some races, refused to endorse in a few others and referred the remainder to its executive board to decide.

McGarvey said the labor federation will actively support the endorsed candidates with targeted efforts to reach its members.

“We’re going to let our members know which candidates in their area are true friends of organized labor,” he said.

The AFL-CIO intends to post the list of endorsed candidates on its Web site, www.mtaflcio.org, by July 1.

As expected, the AFL-CIO backed Initiative 151, which would raise Montana’s hourly minimum wage to $6.15 from the current $5.15 and put in place a cost-of-living adjustment in the future.

“Our members played a huge role in gathering signatures, and we are going to continue our efforts so that the 31,000 Montanans making $5.15 an hour get a $1-an-hour raise on Jan. 1, 2007,” McGarvey said.

Delegates also endorsed several resolutions opposing Constitutional Initiative 97, which would limit increases in certain state spending to the state’s growth rate of inflation and the state’s population.

“Bottom line, it’s an attack on representative government,” McGarvey said. He predicted passage of CI-97 would “severely restrict the state’s ability to invest in vital public services, particularly education, public safety, health and infrastructure.” Convention delegates passed a resolution encouraging construction of coal-fired power plants in Montana and adoption of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s clean-air mercury rules.

“We believe that hundreds of businesses and local governments benefit from the employment opportunities and the tax revenues generated by coal-fired power plants,” McGarvey said.

— The Standard State Bureau