We Did It!

Through door knocking, phone banking, leafleting and more, AFSCME mobilized working family voters and helped change the direction of the nation.

By Gonzalo Baeza

The hard work of AFSCME members and the literally countless hours put into our get-out-the-vote efforts paid resounding dividends at the polls on Nov. 7. In addition to taking control of Congress from the hands of a rubber-stamp majority that has legislated against our best interests for years, we also elected pro-workers governors and state legislators, and made our voices heard on key ballot initiatives. In six states voters raised the minimum wage and called for it to rise with inflation. In the three states where it was on the ballot, voters rejected so-called Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) initiatives — reckless spending restrictions that would force cuts on essential services while costing the jobs of our members.

A Turnout Like no Other.

Nationwide, thousands of activists took part in AFSCME’s “labor to neighbor” effort to help get out the vote for worker-friendly candidates, participating in phone banks, labor walks, worksite leafleting and numerous campaign events.

“This election was a clear message from the American people that they want their leaders to stand up to the lobbyists and big corporations that have controlled our government for too long,” says AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee, who is also the chair of the AFL-CIO Political Committee.

Union members and the labor movement’s political operation were hugely responsible for the extraordinary results. Overall, union families made up 23 percent of the vote on this off-year Election Day. In battleground states where U.S. Senate seats were in play, 73 percent of the union vote went to Democratic candidates, compared to 55 percent for all voters.

Pro-worker forces also elected a majority of governors, including Martin O’Malley in Maryland and Ted Strickland in Ohio — both big victories for public employees. In New York, Eliot Spitzer was elected governor. In Iowa, Chet Culver became the second Democrat elected to the governor’s post in more than 40 years, and Massachusetts elected Deval Patrick its first African-American governor. AFSCME helped retain key governorships, including Jennifer Granholm in Michigan; Jim Doyle in Wisconsin; Ted Kulongoski in Oregon; and Bill Richardson in New Mexico.

Wins all Across the Nation.

The Democratic Party also posted major gains in state legislatures — the source of state budget funding for many AFSCME contracts — picking up 10 chambers, including the House in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon and Pennsylvania; the House and the Senate in Iowa and New Hampshire; and Wisconsin’s Senate. 

The November elections signified an unprecedented effort on the part of AFSCME. As part of a reinvigorated AFL-CIO Labor 2006 program, we mobilized more members and recruited more volunteers than in any previous mid-term election. (See thePresident's Message.) 

“The House of Labor elected many strong, pro-worker leaders,” McEntee says. “And we are going to hold them to their campaign promises to raise the minimum wage, safeguard public pensions, reform health care, fund essential services and defend workers’ rights.” 

Make no mistake about it. The next two years will be pivotal for enacting our legislative agenda and paving the road to the White House in 2008.

Maryland

A well-coordinated campaign known as the Maryland Initiative combined the efforts of Maryland Public Employees Council 67, Maryland State Employees Council 92, the Association of Classified Employees (ACE)/AFSCME Local 2250 and AFSCME Retiree Chapter 1. With the election of Gov. Martin O’Malley and U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, the results speak for themselves.

Joining forces to pursue a shared legislative and political agenda, the affiliates held trainings for leaders and activists, conducted joint candidate interviews and created a common plan to mobilize union members in the days preceding the primary and general elections. They also moved previously inactive members into the action, like Valerie Carroll, a former service manager who retired last July. Carroll worked as a phone bank volunteer in Local 2250’s headquarters in Landover. An AFSCME member since 1992, her political activism surfaced in recent years. As she explains it, “I have never been political in my life. When I found out who really was for and was against working people I said, ‘well, the thing to do is get out there and also get other people to do the same.’”

New Mexico

Council 18 members demonstrated that putting aside just a few hours a week prior to Election day could make an enormous difference at the polls. Tammy Tapia, president of the Albuquerque Area State Employees, AFSCME Local 1211, was part of a group of dedicated volunteers in her local.

“Whether it was phone banking or labor walks, every member was really committed,” says Tapia.

Their dedication delivered results — they re-elected Gov. Bill Richardson and kept democrats in the majority in both the state House and Senate.

More good news

In addition to electing candidates, the votes of working families resulted in several ballot initiative victories.

Here is a sampling of what we did.

Raised minimum wage:

Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio

Defeated public service cuts

Maine, Nebraska, Oregon

Defeated 65% Solution*

Colorado

^{*Sixty-five percent solution is an effort to force cuts in the support services AFSCME members provide that schools depend on.}

New York

No matter the party, AFSCME stands with candidates who stand with us. That was especially clear in the state of New York, where Bob Rauff, executive vice president of Local 881 of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/AFSCME Local 1000, carried out an effective bipartisan effort. CSEA members there helped re-elect assemblyman Marc Alessi (d), a former CSEA staffer, and state Senators John Flanagan (R) and Caesar Trunzo (R).

“Whether the candidate was a Republican or a democrat, this election was about the issues that are most important to our members,” notes Rauff, whose family boasts a strong union background.

Statewide, AFSCME’s six affiliates played an instrumental role in returning the governor’s office to the democrats after 12 years of Republican control. Longtime attorney general and AFSCME ally Eliot Spitzer was elected governor while U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton romped to a second term and democrat Andrew Cuomo won his bid to succeed Spitzer as attorney general.

Ohio

Scores of union households and dedicated activists from Council 8, the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA)/AFSCME Local 11 and the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE)/ AFSCME Local 4 played a pivotal role in effecting a sea-change in state politics, electing democratic Congressmen Ted Strickland to the office of governor and Sherrod Brown to the U.S. Senate. 

“Public employees, school bus drivers, food service workers and many others came from all over the region. You name the city in Ohio and members were showing up in Columbus to help with our phoning operation and other activities,” reports OCSEA retiree Frances Henderson, a former customer service specialist at the state department of Public Safety. “It was really great to see everyone together in unity.” 

AFSCME activists made sure every voter they contacted understood the high stakes of the election. 

"Some people would say to us that voting wouldn’t make much difference so it was really important to let them know that their vote does count. By voting — and following up — we can elect our public officials and make sure that they are accountable and do what they say they will do,” says OCSEA retiree Regina Flemister, who worked for 30 years as a caseworker in Franklin County.

Oregon

Council 75 has a strong track record of turning out the vote. To help in 2006, Matt Hilton from AFSCME Local 328 took time off from his job at the Oregon Health Sciences University and devoted numerous hours to “tracking which members had voted and who hadn’t,” he says.

“Unlike most of the nation, all of Oregon’s elections are conducted by mail, with ballots sent out about two and a half weeks prior to the election. We at the council call our system ‘ballot-hunting,’” Hilton explains.

And the results could not have been better, with democrats retaining the majority in the Oregon Senate and regaining control of the state House after 16 years. In addition, Gov. Ted Kulongoski (d) won re-election by defeating Republican Ron Saxton.

Wisconsin

For many AFSCME volunteers in Wisconsin, the days leading up to Election day consisted of nonstop hours. darold “dode” Lowe, president of AFSCME Retirees Subchapter 52, described a typical day as a volunteer: “We would hand out literature to our members as they came to work as early as 6:30 a.m. Then we would be dropping literature at workplaces for one of our endorsed candidates and finally we’d be making phone calls for the AFL-CIO members out of AFSCME headquarters. I probably volunteered between 5 and 7 hours a day.” 

Along with re-electing Gov. Jim doyle (D), AFSCME helped democrats win control of the state Senate and take seven democratic seats in the Assembly.