Shifting Gears
AFSCME candidates for office in Florida submit their petitions, while a California AFSCME doctor speaks out for global justice. Third in a series.
By Susan Ellen Holleran
Carrie Mitchell-Long recently completed a major step in her campaign for a seat in the Florida legislature. "I have entered my candidate petition cards," says the Local 3343 (Council 79) president with pride.
She got the cards signed by going door to door and by attending various events. Mitchell-Long feels she had most success with the door-to door efforts. They enabled her not only to make sure the signers came from her district but also to sell herself to voters.
She believes her campaign has brought greater visibility to some of the issues she cares deeply about. "At first, my opponents were afraid to deal with affirmative action. I spoke up. Now other candidates are taking it on."
CAN’T SCARE HIM. In north Florida, John Leshuk, another AFSCME candidate for the legislature, has been facing a crisis. "The Department of Corrections is giving me a real fit. They’re saying I have to choose between my job and the campaign."
Leshuk, who is president of Local 2848 (Council 79), filed his papers in July 1999. The ethics commission should have informed him about any potential problems within 10 days. Instead, nine months later, on April 12 of this year, it sent Leshuk a letter saying he couldn’t run because doing so would violate conflict-of-interest rules.
He suspects political motivation — a suspicion strengthened by the fact that the warden, his boss, "put on a big fundraiser for one of my opponents."
But Leshuk is not giving in. Citing a Florida precedent in his favor, he’s seeking opinions from other state bodies.
When he gets a favorable one, a Council 79 lawyer will file suit to enforce his right to run.
NO BLANK CHECK. In California, Janice Nelson, MD, is speaking out for global justice. The incumbent congressman she is opposing has been a leader in the corporate-sponsored efforts to bring China into the World Trade Organization and grant it permanent normal trade relations, despite its history of rampant human rights abuses.
"I am very concerned about environmental and workers’ rights issues in China," says Nelson. Recently unionized by the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, an AFSCME affiliate, she knows how difficult it is to win respect and a voice on the job — rights that China’s workers do not enjoy.
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