MyDD :: Latest on the AFSCME Flier

Latest on the AFSCME Flier

by Satya, Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 05:44:40 PM EST

(crossposted at onemillionstrong.us)

I'm not at all surprised to see AFSCME leaders from Illinois and Iowa call the national AFSCME flier for what it is: hypocritical.

In the latest news they point out that national AFSCME has been strongly against mandated health plans. From MSNBC First Read:

Beyer said he was "dismayed" to see the direct mail piece. "We've always opposed individual mandates. We were very concerned about the Massachusetts plan," he said referencing the health-care plan passed under Gov. Romney in Massachusetts, which required state residents to purchase health insurance.

Woodruff had harsh words for his international union, calling the mailer a "desperate attempt to attack" Obama and "hypocritical" considering the union's previous stances on mandates.

It's interesting that AFSCME national president (and close Clinton friend) Gerald McEntee even testified before congress against problems with mandatory coverage.

However, we are concerned with the direction reform efforts have taken in some states. For example, the Massachusetts reform model attempts to achieve near-universal coverage through the use of individual mandates that require those without access to coverage through their jobs to buy coverage in the individual market. Although there are subsidies to help low-income families, many working families will be forced to pay much higher prices for coverage.

AFSCME can be a really great union. A few years ago my wife was given a pink slip by the Gov. George Ryan (R, Illinois) administration but thanks to Council 31 director Henry Bayer and his great team they obtained an injunction that held up the mass firings. It was a nervous time for us but AFSCME won in the end. We were in limbo for more than a year but the union always knew who they represented and we knew they would work for us.

National AFSCME, by all means endorse and support your candidate Sen. Clinton. But you do your members, our union and labor an injustice when you misrepresent the position of a solid pro-labor candidate who has worked with us for over 20 years. You have forgotten what you stand for.

A copy of the flier can be found here as a PDF .

Tags: Obama, AFSCME, Clinton (all tags)

Permalink :: 26 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: Latest on the (none / 0)

The Obama propaganda machine is performing damage control.

I do not buy it.

by truthteller2007 on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 06:00:44 PM EST

Why am I not surprised? (none / 0)

One Million Strong --- Join up

by psericks on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 10:22:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I wonder if the flier will backfire (none / 0)

At a precinct captain training I met someone who is involved with AFSCME. Even before this flier went out, a lot of people in the union were not happy about the endorsement of HRC

John McCain: 100 years in Iraq "would be fine with me."

by desmoinesdem on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 06:28:16 PM EST

Re: I wonder if the flier will backfire (2.00 / 1)

THE ENDORSEMENT WAS VOTED ON BY THE NATL MEMBERSHIP

HILLARY WON HUGE!

YOU PEOPLE ARE REALLY GETTING DISGUSTING WITH YOUR INSULTS OF LABOR

ITS A DISGRACE!

Offend the Media - Vote for Hillary!

by Seymour Glass on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 07:07:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: I wonder if the flier will backfire (none / 0)

>>YOU PEOPLE ARE REALLY GETTING DISGUSTING WITH
>>YOUR INSULTS OF LABOR
>>ITS A DISGRACE!

Not sure what this comment is directed against but my diary is mostly about a conflict in AFSCME in which the recent flier reverses a long standing position that was presented as recently as April of this year to congress by the president of national AFSCME. Furthermore that flier does what Illinois AFSCME leadership explicitly asked national not to do: go negative. It also attacks a candidate who has a solid 20+ year relationship working with AFSCME.

I repeat: National AFSCME has forgotten what they stand for. This is not an insult but a valid observation.

by Satya on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 08:00:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: I wonder if the flier will backfire (none / 0)

Well, Obama has certainly kissed his relationship with AFSCME good-bye after spending two days shoveling oppo research and attacks on Gerry McEntee to the media.

Obama is no friend of organized labor or pro-life groups like Emily's List. In fact, it's hard to find any examples of core Democratic constituent groups he is a friend of.

by hwc on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 08:08:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Yeah, because (none / 0)

UAW and SEIU locals just hate him... Oh wait... They endorsed him.

It's not hard to see that this flier is hardly one of AFSCME's brighter days. It's misleading to say the least.

Gerry McEntee has always fancied himself the kingmaker and values putting his money on a winner. I have a lot more respect for Andy Stern.

One Million Strong --- Join up

by psericks on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 10:25:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Yeah, because (none / 0)

Amen. Anyone who knows anything about the unions have a lot more respect for Andy Stern.

by Satya on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 10:33:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Yeah, because (none / 0)

also, AFSCME is not the complete monolith that hwc assumes. Illlinois AFSCME endorsed Obama and will be actively supporting him. And there are plenty of Obama supporters in AFSCME nationwide that will still volunteer for him and not Sen. Clinton.

by Satya on Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 10:31:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: I wonder if the flier will backfire (none / 0)

Sorry, Seymour I didn't hear you just then. Can you speak up a little please?

Maybe put your message in boldface 18-point font to really give us the sense you are shouting at us.

Because that always help other people see your point when you shout at them.

by desmoulins on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 08:04:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: I wonder if the flier will backfire (none / 0)

Sorry. You are wrong. There was no membership vote. The members wish there were a vote.

by brianboru on Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 07:31:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: I wonder if the flier will backfire (none / 0)

With many members split between Edwards, Obama and Clinton someone is bound to get disappointed. Sen. Clinton has been in politics with Pres. Clinton long enough to have high level support everywhere, including unions.

I was very happy when our Illinois AFSCME endorsed Obama. We know him well in Illinois.

by Satya on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 07:51:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

interesting diary on this was posted at Daily Kos (none / 0)

Edwards prevails--Iowa AFSCME Disavows HRC

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/21 /143041/58/833/425284

John McCain: 100 years in Iraq "would be fine with me."

by desmoinesdem on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 06:32:04 PM EST

FALSE-UNTRUE-BULLSHIT! (none / 0)

it was a couple of local members of ASCME that made this statement - NOT the Iowa ASCME

were you confused - or are you being deceitful?

its one or the other.

Offend the Media - Vote for Hillary!

by Seymour Glass on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 07:11:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Latest on the AFSCME Flier (none / 0)

National AFSCME testified against mandates in Congress in April:

http://www.motherjones.com/washington_di spatch/2007/12/obama-clinton-afscme-mand ates.html

The flier was falsely attibuted to Edwards.

How low will Hillary go?

by dmc2 on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 07:22:22 PM EST

Re: Latest on the AFSCME Flier (none / 0)

The flier was falsely attibuted to Edwards.

That is a bold-faced lie. The flyer has large print, immediately adjacent to the mailing label, indentifying it as an AFSCME mailing not associate with any candiate or candidate's campaign.

by hwc on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 08:10:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Latest on the AFSCME Flier (none / 0)

Why the denial from the Edwards camp then?

by dmc2 on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 08:14:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Latest on the AFSCME Flier (none / 0)

Beats me.

Nobody ever accused John Edwards of being the sharpest political knife in the block.

If he were smart, he would be pressing the difference between his call for universal health care and the only Democrat in the field NOT calling for universal health care (Barack Obama).

by hwc on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 08:21:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Latest on the AFSCME Flier (none / 0)

Maybe it's because of this:

Clinton Campaign Disguises Negative Flier As Product of Edwards Campaign

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/arch ives/2007/12/6643_clinton_campaig_2.html

by dmc2 on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 09:01:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Thanks, interesting link (none / 0)

It reinforces one of my other points. The flier attacks by lying about Obama's plan:

Obama "claims his health care plan covers everyone, but his proposal does not match his words... Instead, Obama took the timid way out, offering yet another band-aid solution."

That's substantially more false than true. The Obama plan represents a significant change from the status quo, and if implemented successfully, will greatly increase the number of people with health insurance while simultaneously lowering the cost of coverage.

But when the flier concludes, "Barack Obama's plan is just more of the same," that's dishonest.

I strongly disagree with the following. Mandates by themselves do not eliminate the chance for people to wiggle out buying into the system. And enforcement mechanisms could be really tricky:

However, the plan does not have a mandate, which means that some people could wiggle out of the system and remain uncovered. The Clinton and Edwards plans do have mandates, though the Edwards plan is widely seen as having better mechanisms for enforcing that mandate.

by Satya on Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 01:01:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Latest on the AFSCME Flier (none / 0)

Huffington Post:

Union members in Illinois and Iowa are denouncing their national leaders as hypocrites for sending out a deceptive campaign mailer aimed this week at Barack Obama. They are livid that the political arm of their 1.4 million member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) financed a mailer to Iowa voters slamming Obama for opposing individual health care mandates - the same sort of mandates long opposed by the union.

"This is definitely hypocritical, absolutely," said Carter Woodruff, an activist with Iowa AFSCME and a former official of the union state council. "It's a desperate attempt to attack [Obama] for unfounded reasons. It's a shame they stooped so low."

The union's direct mail flyer was written in a disguised manner that suggested it came from the John Edwards campaign and not from AFSCME and it slapped Obama for taking what it called "the timid way out, offering yet another band-aid solution."

AFSCME's national leadership endorsed Hillary Clinton last October and is expected to spend millions on her behalf if she wins the nomination.

Woodruff along with Henry Bayer, Executive Director of Illinois-based AFSCME Council 31, spoke to reporters on a conference call organized by the Obama campaign. Council 31, representing 75,000 Illinois public employees, endorsed Obama this month. "Senator Obama has fought like hell for working people," said Bayer. "His health care plan is most in line with that of our national union."

The dissident union members, indeed, pointed out that AFSCME's national health care resolution passed earlier this year declared that individual mandates are "incompatible" with the principles and interests of the union membership.

And in congressional testimony last April, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee also denounced individual mandates as they would force families to "pay much higher prices" for health care policies.

But AFSCME President McEntee is a long-time loyal supporter of the Clintons and though his union went through an extended process of internal consultation before acting it was a foregone conclusion that it would eventually put its heft into Hillary Clinton's corner. He was an early supporter of President Bill Clinton's candidacy and emerged as the most important pro-Clinton labor leader during the 1990's.

by Piuma on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 07:35:58 PM EST

Re: Latest on the AFSCME Flier (none / 0)

"Senator Obama has fought like hell for working people"

This is the meanist thing about the flier. It distorts the Obama health care plan with dishonest tactics.

I don't think it hurts Edwards much but by quoting Edwards it could lead recipients into believing that the really inflammatory language of the flier was also crafted by Edwards campaign.

by Satya on Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 11:58:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Latest on the AFSCME Flier (2.00 / 1)

See my diary here

Simply put, the local AFSCME folks are misleading about the disagreement between McEntee's earlier statements about mandates. McEntee was mainly against mandates because he feared that percentage of a family's total income needed for insurance could become too much. Hillary responded to that by capping how that percentage it would cost the family. So that's why McEntee could agree with her plan. I'm disappointed at the eagerness to slam Senator Clinton instead of actually looking at the facts. But I'm not surprised.

by Mike Pridmore on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 08:08:12 PM EST

Re: Latest on the AFSCME Flier (none / 0)

Thank you Mike for your thoughtful response to my diary. Among the facts still missing are the full position of AFSCME with regard to mandates and details from the Clinton campaign about where the specific limit is drawn for how much families have to pay for their coverage. Any daylight you can shed on either of these would be most welcome by me for one.

I think that your well crafted diary holds one assumption I can't quite agree with when you say:

My problem with the way this is being portrayed by some of the local AFSCME folks is that they are misleading about the difference between McEntee's congressional testimony about mandates and the mandates suggested by both Clinton and Edwards.

My read of Bayer's and Woodruff's comments tells me this is not just about one isolated case of opposing mandates as in the McEntee testimony. In the article I quoted, Bayer says clearly, "We've always opposed individual mandates."

Also this is born out in the .HuffPo article which states:

The dissident union members, indeed, pointed out that AFSCME's national health care resolution passed earlier this year declared that individual mandates are "incompatible" with the principles and interests of the union membership.

So the union's position on mandates is about more than just the April testimony. If national AFSCME leadership has suddenly found a way to make them more effective based on reality and real number projections and analysis then they should be sharing that wonderful information more widely.

But mandates are problematic in a number of ways and I for one do not see how without some reality based test cases (current state plans for example) and some solid analysis we can make subsidized mandated coverage work.

by Satya on Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 11:55:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Latest on the AFSCME Flier (none / 0)

Barack Obama on health care: Setting the record straight

With each day that counts down to our state's caucuses, the campaign rhetoric heats up--and too often it's the truth that gets burned.

Now you may have received a very misleading piece of mail from your union, AFSCME, about Barack Obama's health care plan.

Let's look at the real facts:

FACT: The AFSCME mailer merely echoes Hillarv Clinton's unfounded attacks on Sen. Obama which allege that his plan would not cover 15 million Americans who now lack health insurance. Clinton's claim is based on the idea that this number of Americans could not afford to purchase health insurance and thus would not do so unless "mandated"---and Barack's plan does not include such a mandate.

The health plans proposed by Hillary Clinton and John Edwards both include what is called an "individual mandate," Clinton and Edwards would force all Americans to buy health insurance regardless of cost or their ability to pay. This is the "Massachusetts model" supported by Mitt Romney and other Republicans.

FACT: Experts believe the Obama plan could be more comprehensive than the ' Clinton and Edwards plans. According to the New York Times, Clinton "is being misleading in implying that her own plan covers everyone. Mandates rarely achieve 100 percent compliance. In addition, they are almost impossible to enforce. Because of those difficulties, Mrs. Clinton's own plan would probably leave out millions. ... Mr. Obama's health plan could actually have a better compliance rate." (Katharine Q. Seelye, NYT, 12/5/07)

FACT: AFSCME has actually OPPOSED individual mandates such as Clinton's because they do not take into account the affordability of health coverage.

"[T]he Massachusetts reform model attempts to achieve near-universal coverage through the use of individual mandates that require those without access to coverage through their jobs to buy coverage in the individual market. ... [M]any working families will be forced to pay much higher prices for coverage. [Such costly mandates] are unaffordable and unacceptable to working families and they will ultimately doom this plan to failure." (Testimony of AFSCME International President Gerald McEntee to the U.S. House of Representatives, 4/25/07)

"Individual mandates., .should be rejected because they make coverage unaffordable." (AFSCME Campaign for Affordable Health Care sample letter to Citizens' Health Care Working Group)

"Individual mandates are incompatible with AFSCME's principles and long term interests. (Resolution offered at 2006 AFSCME International Convention - cosponsored by 9 delegates from Clinton's home state of New York)

FACT: On mandates, Hillary wants to have it both ways. Hillary Clinton's health plan has the kind of individual mandate that AFSCME has strongly opposed. But Clinton won't say how her mandate would actually be enforced. Would citizens who canʼt afford to buy health care face penalties? Would their tax rebates be garnished? Would they be disqualified for public services or student loans? Hillary Clinton doesn't say. But by not enforcing the mandate, she might as well not have the mandate at all. A rule with nothing to enforce it isn't a rule, it's a wish. And wishing for universal health care isn't a realistic plan.

FACT: Barack Obama has been a leader for health care reforms that are progressive and comprehensive. As a state senator in Illinois, he led the fight to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. And he forged a bipartisan consensus to pass legislation that created a task force to lay the groundwork for universal health care in his home state, In the U.S. Senate he has fought to improve health care for veterans and expand care for children through S-CHIP, and he has advocated for universal reform to make health care affordable and accessible to all..

by brianboru on Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 02:41:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Latest on the AFSCME Flier (none / 0)

I had guests in the afternoon and then was out Christmas shopping Saturday evening, and am working on other things this Sunday. But I hope to have a longer more detailed response piece out in the am on Monday. Thanks for your response to my comment.

by Mike Pridmore on Sun Dec 23, 2007 at 03:11:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

You are not logged in.

In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.

If not, you can make an account right here. It's quick and free.