For Immediate Release
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Working People Win Big
Statement from AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee on Election 2006 Results
Yesterday voters created a wave of change, and today we are sailing on a deep blue sea.
This election was a clear message from the American people that they want their leaders to stand up against the powerful lobbyists and big corporations that have run our government for far too long.
Voters said “no” to the Republican Party for turning its back on the middle class. Too many
hard-working Americans are struggling to get by, and not getting one bit of help from the politicians elected to serve them.
In overwhelming numbers, they turned out to vote for change—and union workers played a decisive role in delivering those votes.
Voters want their leaders to take real action to help families keep up and even get ahead. They want their elected officials to make our public schools great and make college tuition more affordable. To strengthen Social Security and Medicare. To make health care more affordable—and available to everyone. To adequately fund critical services. And to lower the cost of medicine for our seniors instead of raising the profits of the mega-pharmaceutical companies.
And while the do-nothing Congress failed to give workers a raise, the people stepped up: Yesterday, they raised the minimum wage in all six states where it was on the ballot.
What’s more, the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Wrongs measures—which would slash the vital public services that people depend on—were defeated everywhere they were on the ballot. In Oregon, Nebraska and Maine, voters rejected constitutional spending caps that disregard pressing public needs.
For six years, President Bush has pushed an anti-worker agenda that enriches corporations and the wealthy, while neglecting—even punishing—working families. The Republican Congress has been complicit in this great national sellout. Their rubber stamp has been revoked.
America took its red-hot anger and turned it into blue votes in precinct after precinct and today is new day in this country.
I’ll say this for President Bush. He finally showed he can be a “uniter, not a divider.” He united this country against his wrong-headed policies by dividing America into the haves and the have-nots.
Yesterday’s sweeping mandate for change has shaken Washington to its core. And it has sent shock waves through the states. We took back the people’s House and are on the cusp of winning the Senate. The Democrats picked up six governorships yesterday, including the election of Martin O’Malley in Maryland and Ted Strickland in Ohio—both huge victories for public employees. And we hung on to important governorships, like Jennifer Granholm in Michigan, Jim Doyle in Wisconsin and the election of Chet Culver in Iowa.
The Democratic Party posted major gains in state legislatures, taking back chambers in at least nine states. In Iowa, the Democrats now control the House, Senate and governor’s mansion for the first time in 40 years.
We are counting on this new slate of leaders to help workers, just as we helped them achieve so many great victories. AFSCME and the AFL-CIO played an instrumental role in yesterday’s outcome.
The House of Labor helped elect many strong, pro-worker leaders yesterday. And we are going to hold them to their campaign promises to safeguard public pensions, fund essential services and defend workers rights. There will not be a repeat of Katrina on this government’s watch. There will not be serial neglect of our first responders. There will not be massive rollbacks of collective bargaining rights and workplace protections.
My union represents 1.4 million public service workers. We are EMTs, nurses, custodians, librarians, childcare providers and public employees of all stripes. We mobilized like never before for this election.
Because the stakes were so high, our union conducted an unprecedented “get out the vote” effort. We put more of our members on the street, recruited more volunteers, and spent more money than we ever had in a midterm election. All told, AFSCME spent $35 million, including $4.8 million on federal races as part of a strategic independent expenditure campaign.
We had a structure in place earlier than ever before and were active in some races even before the DCCC. We put into play races that were previously thought to be un-winnable. No non-party committee spent more on federal independent expenditures than AFSCME did this cycle.
And union members, as part of the AFL-CIO’s great program, carried out a “labor-to-neighbor” program to mobilize union members and non-union households.
Finally, the AFL-CIO reached out to the Change to Win unions so we could mount a unified electoral program.
Working families won big yesterday—and I’m proud of the role that the labor movement played in turning America’s yearning for change into votes at the ballot box.
We look forward to working with public officials on both sides of the aisle to give Americans the kind of responsible government they want and deserve.
Thank you.
