Kentucky Union Voters Hope to ‘Ditch Mitch,’ Send Lunsford to Senate

by Seth Michaels, Oct 22, 2008

The momentum for pro-working family candidates is building across the nation. In Kentucky, Sen. Mitch McConnell, one of the Senate’s most virulent opponents of workers, is now at risk of losing his seat, thanks to a strong union program.

AFL-CIO-endorsed candidate Bruce Lunsford is running to unseat McConnell, and union members around the state are essential to his campaign. They’re leafleting worksites and talking to other union members to make sure they vote with workers and vote for Lunsford.

Bill Bandy, a UMWA member, leafleted at a GE plant in Louisville last week and reports the response was enthusiastic.

We’re encouraging workers to get out and vote for Lunsford for Senate. It’s very important that we win in the Senate. We have an excellent opportunity to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, and to do that, we have to get rid of the No. 1 nemesis in Congress—and that’s Mitch McConnell. We can do that with Bruce Lunsford.

Rick Day, an IBEW member, is another union member who’s taking part in the effort to elect Lunsford.

I feel more and more confident about Lunsford every time I see him….Bruce seems like he’s deeply moved by our concerns about health care and our work going elsewhere.

Kirk Gillenwaters, a UAW member who took part in a worksite leafleting last week, says his fellow union members are concerned about the election and want to make sure they vote for pro-worker candidates.

It’s been a very good, receptive group of people.

McConnell, as the Senate’s Republican leader, has been a reliable vote for the Bush agenda on trade, jobs, retirement and the economy. McConnell has led the effort to obstruct important legislation, voting against lowering prescription drug prices for seniors and against extending unemployment insurance for struggling workers. McConnell opposed expanding health care coverage for children and voted to block the Employee Free Choice Act. (Needless to say, McConnell supports Bush appointees—like Richard Stickler, a former coal CEO, as head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Oh, and then there’s McConnell’s wife, anti-worker Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao.)

The Kentucky AFL-CIO endorsed Lunsford in March, when it seemed unlikely that McConnell could be defeated. But through the tireless efforts of union volunteers, Kentucky’s workers have learned over the past months about McConnell’s anti-worker record and the differences between him and Lunsford, and this hard work has paid off. Lunsford is within striking distance of unseating McConnell. (You can help by contributing to Lunsford here.)

Lunsford’s growing strength in the polls didn’t happen by accident. It evolved through local union mail, worksite visits, rallies and phone banks, all opportunities for union members to hear from their brothers and sisters about the stakes in this election and learn where the candidates stand. (These efforts got a trial run when union members helped Gov. Steve Beshear cruise to victory a year ago.)

Now, in the closing days of the campaign, the Kentucky AFL-CIO’s “Bluegrass Express” tour is hitting cities and towns across the state, visiting worksites and union halls to talk with workers about Lunsford and the need for change. Tomorrow morning, union members will hold a rally with Lunsford in Gilbertsville, and they won’t let up until the polls close on Nov. 4.

Lunsford has been working alongside union members to bring a pro-worker voice to the Senate. Earlier this month, he met with union members for a roundtable discussion in Louisville. Last week, Lunsford talked with union volunteers and encouraged them to keep up the good work—he understands the importance of unions and the power of a mobilized union movement to make change.

I grew up in a working family. My dad was a union laborer. He worked at General Electric in Cincinnati, and we lived in Northern Kentucky. I have seen what working families find important. And this is what I would like to do for you. I would like to give you the opportunity to have quality health care. I would like to give you the opportunity to organize without intimidation. But, in order to represent the working families of Kentucky, I need your help. I need you to get to those worksites and hand out leaflets, and do it with enthusiasm. I need you to make member-to-member phone calls. And I need you to do mail to other members. This is the time to take back our country. And we can do it with your help.

Nonpartisan groups like Campaign Money Watch and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington agree that McConnell is looking out for himself and his big-money corporate allies, not Kentucky’s working families. Lunsford’s campaign to replace McConnell, on the other hand, draws its energy from the working men and women of Kentucky labor. It’s a difference that could lead to big change in the Senate next year.

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Paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Political Contributions Committee, www.aflcio.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

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