Huge endorsement for Al Franken:
Minnesota teacher’s union today announced it had endorsed Democratic candidate Al Franken’s Senate run.
The Education Minnesota endorsement brings with it a recommendation to the union’s 70,000 members to caucus for Franken on Feb. 5 and the endorsement of the groups’ national education affiliates.
Franken now has the two biggest institutional endorsements in DFL politics: AFSCME Council 5 and Education Minnesota. With precinct caucuses just around the corner and Senate District convention season fast approaching, its difficult to imagine a scenario where Franken doesn’t win the DFL endorsement. The fat lady may not be singing, but she is certainly warming up off stage.
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That leaves the SEIU as the only Big Union still on the fence. I think all the candidates went through the “Spend a Day in Our Shoes” screening process, so they’re obviously intending to make an endorsement vote at some point.
I was at a Ciresi event tonight - observing - and Alan Spear spoke. Spear talked about the real general election liabilities for an Al Franken candidacy.
I don’t know how you can say the Fat Lady has sung until the endorsement actually happens.
Another thing: rank and file members don’t follow Union endorsements.
Well, Eva Young is generally wrong. Members do follow the recommendations of their unions, usually at a near 70% rate. However, I have to wonder how much that is holding up so far through the Presidential primary/caucus season. Obama has done quite well in spite of no major union endorsements until just recently. It makes me wonder if members haven’t already made their choice and are sticking by it in spite of the endorsement of their union.
Personally, in this situation, where we have two candidates who are equally good on working family issues(Ciresi and Franken) and another who is actually by far the best(Nelson-Pallmeyer) I wish unions would just tell their members that all the candidates are good and go vote your conscience. Then we could see which of the candidates can best inspire our members.
I think the US Senate race comes down to who is the most electable. I guess that I am not as confident in labor leaders figuring that out as I am with union members, who are the voters, figuring it out.
But, these decisions by unions are made through democratic processes within their organizations and if they decide to make endorsements more power to them. Personally, I and probably many teachers and public employees are still undecided.
John,
That is the important thing to realize. Of course union leaders have influence over their decisions and processes, but that’s why they’re called leaders. Ultimately, the decisions are made in a democratic process. And a 70% vote-with-the-union rate is pretty gosh-darned good, in my mind, especially when it comes to Minnesota’s caucus system.
To some, an Ed Minn endorsement might be big news. But frankly to me, it is a “meh”. Here’s my oh so personal take on this: Ed Minn has lots o’members, a big advertising budget, and the ability to distribute a blizzard of mailings. But as someone who has worked with campaigns at the very local level, that union borders on the worthless — and I chose that word deliberately.
Look how many times Steve Sviggum was endorsed by Ed Minn, or other Repubs who never had a nice thing to say about public education at all. Ask yourself why they do this. Go even further back when the Minn Education Assoc endorsed Arne Carlson over Rudy Perpich in 1990. We all know how great Gov. Carlson’s administration was to public education. My teacher mother essentially turned in her union card over that one.
When you look at how many classroom teachers vote Repub — and it is more than most people realize — you can see how having the Ed Minn endorsement might not seem as valuable as one hoped for. If Franken picks up SEIU, THAT is something to be excited about.
Teachers on this board, any thoughts?
I am a teacher who will not be following the EDMN recommendation. They should have staye dout of this one — at least until later in the process.
I am a teacher, and will not be following EDMN’s recommendation.
I believe the Teacher “Powers That Be” have made 2 mistakes on this one:
1) Recommending any candidate at this point; and
2) Recommending the particular candidate they settled on.
I was doing some more research on this, and found out Education Minnesota’s track record on the gubernatorial side is not so hot. They endorsed Steve Kelley in ‘06, Judi Dutcher in ‘02, and Mike Freeman in ‘98. I’m not sure what their record is on the Senate side. Klobuchar had basically everybody’s endorsement in ‘06, and Wellstone was the unopposed incumbent in ‘02. Janezich had a lot of union support in ‘00, but I don’t know what EM specifically did in that race.
As for what effect union endorsements have, the last time a DFLer won a statewide party endorsement without at least some union support was John Marty in 1994 (and he may have had a couple, I’m not positive). I just know that most of labor, including the state AFL-CIO, was with Freeman in ‘94. In primaries, it’s more of a mixed bag. In ‘98, Freeman lost to Skip, Janezich lost to Dayton in 2000, Greg Gray lost the Auditor’s race to Carol Johnson in ‘02, and Kelley lost to Swanson in ‘06, despite the former all having union support in the primaries. Of course, there have been a bunch of union-endorsed candidates who’ve won primaries too. So, it just depends on the candidates, circumstances, money, etc. All the candidates have said they’ll abide by the endorsement, so if history holds true, Ciresi and JNP may indeed have some tough sledding in Rochester.
Education Minnesota endorsed Al Franken for US Senate yesterday. I am a high school mathematics teacher and a member of this union. I strongly object to this endorsement and I encourage my fellow union members to ignore it and support the best candidate for the US Senate seat for Minnesota that we will decide on in November: Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.
Nelson-Pallmeyer, a Peace and Justice faculty member at St. Thomas University, an educator, is a superior candidate because of his grasp of the real issues that we face right now and the fact that we have to solve these problems in the next decade (yes, I know you very intelligent readers of this blog do not need an introducion to Jack). My union brothers and sisters must not be taking the time to watch the debates, read the candidate positions or attend candidate events to hear them speak. Franken has some serious bagage that is going to kill him in November.
I’m caucusing for Nelson-Pallmeyer — and voting for him in November.
I have been teaching for 40 years, and I have been thinking about this endorsement since yesterday. I have several thoughts.
First, I think it’s sad. I am absolutely persuaded that Al Franken would be the 2nd worst person running to be U.S. Senator. (The worse is already in that seat.)
Second, I think that Al Franken has the worst chance of the four Democrats to get elected in a race with Norm Coleman. His negatives are just too high. If he is the DFL candidate, the race is about him, not about the horrible Republican/Coleman record.
Third, I think it is a shortsighted and misguided attempt for Education Minnesota to pick a “winner” in spite of all available evidence. It is beginning to look like a pattern for a number of unions to jump on the bandwagon just as it is going over a cliff.
Fourth, I think that Al Franken would be one of the worse possible Democrats to advocate the sorts of values that Education Minnesota members usually have.
All that said, I must remember the role that teachers have in our society. They are links with the past and supporters of the status quo. That is the job. In a corrupt society like ours, that sometimes means that teachers fill the job of enabling the authoritarian bosses and taking the blame when things go wrong. Teachers are neither a rebellious nor a visionary lot.
This endorsement illustrates that point. Sad.
Looks like most teachers are following the intellectual and not the union . . .
With all the establishment support it looks like Franken will get the endorsement. Franken vs. Colemann? - There better be a third choice on the ballot.
I think Education Minnesota’s clout is more apparent after E-Day than before it. They supported Sviggum; they supported a lot of DFLers. Does this ensure that the teacher’s pension fund could be managed by drunken clowns, and still get bailed out by the legislature? Certainly. Does it make them kingmaker’s in the DFL nomination process? Hardly.
FYI John - the teachers fund was chronically underfunded by the State Legislature for decades.
Is Education Minnesota a kingmaker - nah…but so many DFLers holding elected office are backing Franken - and Franken has endorsement from many other organizations — so it’s a safe enough bet that Franken will be the endorsed DFL candidate. To expect other parties to pass on offering an alternative to Al and Norm is nuts.
This is what the two dominant parties have to offer??!!