Update: This afternoon all members of the State Committee received a meeting reminder from the State Chair with a copy of letter from labor representative Jeff Fannon in which he says that “Different unions have differing reasons for their positions on the Attorney General race, but on this they are united: a candidate who reflects such basic insensitivity to a major Democratic constituency does not deserve the supermajority support of the Democratic Party's State Committee.”
There appears to be more trouble for Bill Sorrell with organized labor.
If you're a regular reader you know that T.J. Donovan has been scooping up labor endorsements right and left. The Vermont Labor Council (AFL-CIO), the State Employees' Association, the Vermont Troopers' Association. Pretty much every labor organization in the state that's taken a position so far is supporting Donovan.
You could say that those are all situations where the union just likes Donovan and hasn't been given any particular reason to side with Sorrell. This week, though, Green Mountain Daily has learned that Sorrell has actively alienated labor leaders, and at a very bad time.
If you've spent any time around politics, or at least Democratic politics, you know that when you're printing flyers, brochures, or other literature it needs to have what?
The union bug.
Here's a picture of a union bug:
The union bug guarantees that your job was done at a print shop that provides its workers good wages, benefits, and working conditions. Since the working people of the country are one of the most important constituencis of the Democratic Party, it is vital for Democratic candidates to have their jobs done at a union shop and have the union bug printed on them.
There is only one union print shop in Vermont, First Step Print Shop in Underhill, and they've done printing for unions and Democratic candidates all over the state for many years.
Here's the problem. We haven't seen it yet, but GMD has learned that when the Sorrell campaign sent out an appeal from Howard Dean last week it did not have the union bug.
Big mistake and union members are pissed.
The Vermont Democratic Committee is meeting in Montpelier on Saturday and on the agenda is a proposal to endorse Bill Sorrell. The committee has already endorsed Donovan, but up until now the endorsement for Sorrell has looked like a shoo-in. As the story of the missing union bug circulates among the union members and other activists on the State Committee, though, that endorsement may be in doubt.
It's very hard to understand how any statewide campaign could make this kind of mistake. It couldn't be an intentional snub, but in light of the successful work Donovan has done to attract union support it sure can't help.
that the unions have any kind of strength and will actually do anything for Donovan. Hopefully, someday, the actually members will get the union bug.
Sorrell’s been AG for 15 years, and he’s been involved in Democratic poliics for basically his whole life, coming from a well-connected political family.
And he makes this kind of mistake?
Well, let’s assume it’s a mistake and not an intentional attempt to alienate the unions in a low-turnout, GOTV-oriented primary. He might be able to sail through a general election on name recognition alone, but if the unions are actively against him, then he’s got trouble.
“It is not appropriate, at this time, for me, a candidate seeking re-election to the office of Vermont Attorney General to use ‘union’ printing, as this would imply that the office of the Vermont Attorney General is beholding to, and supportive of, organized labor in its aggressive confrontations with management. As Attorney General, I may have to weigh in on legal issues when organized labor in Vermont initiates civil actions against management. How would it look if I had to distribute my opinions on paper cluttered with union labels? Am I supposed to submit my pre-trial arguments and motions to a federal judge in the Vermont Yankee appeal on ‘union’ letterhead? That would blow the case. If I’m going to blow the appeal, I’d rather it be done wherein no issue of a conflict of interest could arise. You see, it is NOT MY JOB to promote organized labor in Vermont. Nor is it MY JOB to look into any labor violations that organized labor in Vermont brings to the attention of the Office of Attorney General. That’s the Vermont Department of Labor’s job. And, while we’re at it, just to set the record straight, it is NOT MY JOB to look into all these cases about abuse of the elderly and disabled in Vermont. Doug Racine is handling that. It is NOT MY JOB to look into cases of migrant/immigrant workers’ rights and pay. The Federal Department of Immigration has my hands tied on that one. It’s clearly a Federal Case. And, it is NOT MY FUCKING JOB to interfere with the Vermont State Police or any local Vermont police department in it’s handling of tasers, unsolved murders and missing persons, drug-gang related crime, or, for that matter, ANY goddamn CRIME in Vermont. That’s what the cops are for, stupid! It is MY JOB to get re-elected. Then I will pursue the matter of regulating sodas and other sweet drinks in Vermont that all these working people are addicted to because organized labor continually seeks higher wages for them to purchase said sweet drinks. Because the descent ‘quality’ people of Vermont want action on this. They don’t want full disclosure of public records. They don’t want an Attorney General who will say to any radical wiggy activist group: “Okay here. Look at all these records. Look, here’s some more. Can I get you a soft drink while you photo-copy those?” This election is about ME. I was appointed by Howie Dean. HOWARD FUCKING DEAN, fer Chrissake! Why do you think he ran for President in 2004? Because he wanted ME to be the United States Attorney General, and take on the Soft Drink ‘cartels’ just like I took on the Tobacco cartels in ’97. It’s says so on Wikipedia. Don’t you people read the important stuff on the NET? And that’s another thing. As your Attorney General, I’m going to be looking into the Social Media in Vermont. I think there are a lot of folks out there all cranked up on Pepsi blogging all sorts of idiotic and inconsequential views, like this above piece about the goddamn ‘union’ printing, when the goddamn unions don’t even like me. You wait. I’m just getting started. I’m Fighting Bill Sorrell, your Fighting Attorney General. The longest running Vermont AG to occupy this office. I’m not going to let ANYONE fuck up my run, or my chance to run for Governor in 2016. So there. AND–I DON’T make mistakes. I don’t do anything that would be considered a mistake. I don’t do anything at all. THAT is MY JOB!”