Hillary Vs. Labor (The Nation)

[marmar]

BLOG | Posted 06/05/2007 @ 3:19pm
Hillary Vs. Labor

Ari Berman

A few weeks ago The Nation disclosed that Hillary Clinton's chief strategist and pollster, Mark Penn, leads a giant PR firm, Burson-Marsteller, that aggressively helps corporations stop union organizing drives. We cited the specific example of how B-M successfully assists the highly profitable and controversial uniform and laundry supply company Cintas in blocking union efforts to organize 20,000 of the company's garment workers and truck drivers.

The article and subsequent follow-ups prompted a lot of unease in labor circles. Now the heads of the two unions leading the organizing drive at Cintas, Bruce Raynor of UNITE-HERE and James Hoffa of the Teamsters, have gone public with their concerns, writing a letter to Hillary, highlighted in the New York Times today, expressing their displeasure with Penn's company and his role in her campaign. A copy of their signed letter is below:

Dear Senator Clinton:
It is with distress that we write you today. The Nation recently posted a story about Mark Penn, your pollster and chief strategist, detailing some of his firm's direct support for anti-union/anti-worker campaigns. His firm's activities in the effort to undermine workers right to organize at Cintas, a campaign our unions are involved in, is particularly disheartening.
We wanted to bring this to your attention since we value your positions on EFCA and many other workers issues and do not want to see you or the Democratic Party embarrassed.
We look forward to hearing back from you on this matter.

Sincerely,
James P. Hoffa Teamsters General President
Bruce S. Raynor UNITE HERE General President

A labor official told me that he expects Hillary to sit down with the two union heads and "placate us a little bit. But I don't think she'll cut Penn lose. He's her Rove."

Penn may eventually be forced take a formal leave of absence from Burson-Marsteller, a step he has thus far resisted. That might erase the political liability Penn has become for Hillary's campaign, but it hardly diminishes the underlying implications of his presence as her top strategist, the anti-union work Burson-Marsteller continues to do and the likelihood that if Hillary is elected Penn and his clients will greatly benefit, further blurring the distinction between the corporate and political world. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. In the NYTimes today too.

This will hurt her a bit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/us/politics/05labor.html?ref=politics

[cosmicdot]

2. ran across Mark Penn's name today

He associates with Simon Rosenberg (the New Dem and once Aspen Institute Fellow, who challenged Howard Dean for DNC Chair)

Penn's a 'Fellow' (whatever that means) at the New Politics Institute, a subdivision of Rosenberg's New Dem Network (ndn.org) ~ adjunct DLC MiniMe

The New Politics Institute started with a group of fellows who spanned a range of political perspectives in the broader progressive community. We added fellows over the first year to include those with different expertise in technology, media and important demographic groups. We plan to expand and diversify the network in the year ahead.

(Why not go to work for the DNC?)

Mark Penn

Fresh off advising Tony Blair for his successful run for a third term, Mark is best known for serving as President Clinton's pollster and political adviser for the 1996 re-election campaign and throughout the second term of the administration. He also ran the polling and messaging and was part of the media team for the successful Senate campaign of Hillary Clinton, serving as her chief campaign adviser. He advises organizations and companies on a wide range of image, branding and competitive marketing assignments. Mark has been a key adviser to Bill Gates and Microsoft for the last 6 years.


Other Fellows at NPI

Luis Ubiñas is a Director in McKinsey & Company’s San Francisco Office. He leads McKinsey's Media Practice on the West Coast, focusing on working with media, telecommunications and technology companies... Read More

Tim Chambers has a 12 year track record in the entertainment and technology industries. He has recently co-founded a new company, Media 50 Group, aimed at helping political practitioners understand... Read More

Ruy Teixeira. Besides being a Fellow of the New Politics Institute, Ruy Teixeira is a Senior Fellow at both the Center for American Progress and The Century Foundation. He has also held... Read More

Julie Bergman Sender has spent almost two decades of work in film, producing more than 10 films. She began her career in 1982 as a film Executive at Warner Brothers.... Read More

Jamie (Daves) has over ten years of experience in the public sector and has helped found a number of successful nonprofit and political organizations. Jamie keenly understands the nexus between the... Read More

Michael Kieschnick is president and co-founder of Working Assets, a telecommunications company that donates a portion of its revenues to progressive nonprofit groups and engages its members in civic activism.... Read More

Markos (Moulitsas) served in the U.S. Army and was involved in the technology community in San Francisco before founding Daily Kos on May 26, 2002 (rhymes with "prose") and becoming a... Read More

Sergio (Bendixen) is recognized as one of the preeminent experts in Hispanic public opinion research in the United States. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that Sergio "has earned the undisputed title... Read More

As a campaign manager, (Joe) Trippi has run presidential, Senate, gubernatorial and mayoral campaigns. In 2004, he was National Campaign Manager for Howard Dean's presidential campaign, pioneering the use of online... Read More

(why did Edwards bring Trippi onboard his team?)

Jennifer (Nix) is a former National Public Radio producer ("On the Media") and staff writer for Variety. Her writing has also appeared in New York, The New York Observer, The Nation,... Read More

http://www.newpolitics.net/network/fellows


Do Fellows get paid from donations to these 'organizations'? Or are they window-dressing to give legitimacy to a website organization?

a tweak of the IRS 501(c)(3) regulations on what constitutes 'tax-exempt' (charitable/educational) organizations could send some 'think tankers' and wannabe somebodies to the real work world

[flpoljunkie]

4. Thanks. Intriguing list. New Politics Institute, a subdivision of Rosenberg's New Dem Network?

[LBJDemocrat]

5. [Vomit]

This guy aided both Clinton's 1996 campaign AND Tony Blair?

She needs to ditch him.

I swear, there's no excuse for anyone on DU supporting a current frontrunner other than Edwards.

[ellisonz]

6. What about Obama?

[StudentsMustUniteNow]

9. Obama is in bed with Wall Street

Massively. He's also an open advocate of globalization. Another Third Way New Democrat. not a true old-fashioned American New Deal liberal.

[zulchzulu]

12. And the myth continues...

Obama is not "in bed with Wall Street". He has gotten a lot of contributions from people who work on Wall Street...guess what, they are smart people. Please tell me how a President would be effective by alienating Wall Street.

Please cite examples (do your homework) where Obama is "an open advocate of globalization". Then, if you can, tell me what candidate wants to shut our economy and trade off to the rest of the World.

[StudentsMustUniteNow]

13. The Audacity of Hope

He praises the New Economy that wrecked and demanufactured America. You should do your homework.

Trade should be done with the people's interest in mind. Corporations are private entities loyal to no one.

[zulchzulu]

19. WTF?

I READ "The Audacity of Hope" and you can bet that he doesn't praise unfair trade practices. Ferchrissakes, are you kidding?

That must be a bad bag of weed you're smokin', junior.

[StudentsMustUniteNow]

20. Here

“I would find myself in the curious position of defending aspects of Reagan’s worldview,” he writes. “I couldn’t be persuaded that U.S. multinationals and international terms of trade were single-handedly responsible for poverty around the world; nobody forced corrupt leaders in Third World countries to steal from their people.”

Also, he has trouble making his mind on CAFTA. Guess he saw it was politically expedient to vote against it in the end.

[zulchzulu]

21. Have you read Obama's "Why I oppose CAFTA"...

http://obama.senate.gov/news/050630-why_i_oppose_cafta/index.html

You wrote:
"...he has trouble making his mind on CAFTA..."

:rofl:

Also, did you READ Obama's sentence:

"I couldn’t be persuaded that U.S. multinationals and international terms of trade were single-handedly responsible for poverty around the world; nobody forced corrupt leaders in Third World countries to steal from their people."

Perhaps you don't know about Taylor in Liberia. You should read this article:
http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0508g.asp

[StudentsMustUniteNow]

22. Politics is shakey business

You can make a claim for anything.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

24. He doesn't know about "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", does he?

The Economic Hit Man explained all about working for the IMF or World Bank, going to a poor country with resources, attempting to bribe the president of the country, and if he was not able to be bribed, killing him in a mysterious plane crash. All in order to loot the country's natural resources, and keep its people poor.

As with Omar Torillos in Panama.

[lostnotforgotten]

16. Just One More Reason Not To Vote For Hillary - Bad Judgment

eom

[Morgana LaFey]

33. so does that make Kos a DLCer -- in philosophy if not reality?

Thanks for posting this -- I'd not seen it before.

[rinsd]

3. Ari Berman continues his Ariana like quest!

[ludwigb]

7. The Nation doesn't like Hillary

They've pretty much decided to oppose her--the editorial slant is clear.

In general The Nation is an excellent magazine, so what they say is worth thinking about. But just because they slant against someone doesn't mean we should write them off.... I remember them publishing a bunch of anti-Clark pieces back in 2004. In the meantime Clark has proven to be a fairly reliable progressive voice, so it appears they were wrong about him.

[StudentsMustUniteNow]

10. I don't think "Hillary" will be becoming a progressive voice anytime soon

Don't see why she would. She's a triangulator. Now that the war's out of vogue, she says the war's the "Republicans' war" when she pushed it with all her force on the American people in 2003 and 2004, playing the female iron lady, the hawk.

[SaveElmer]

8. And that is the 15th time I believe that this hit piece has been posted...

The energizer bunny...just keeps reappearing!

[marmar]

11. Sorry, I missed the other 14....

:eyes:

[cui bono]

23. Considering the piece was written today I highly doubt your claim.

This is the unions getting upset with her for her dealings with anti-union advisers.

Why do you call it a hit piece? Seems like news to me.

You might want to look into it rather than be so dismissive just because you are apparently decidedly pro-Hilary.

[rinsd]

30. No its theme muddying of the waters that Ariana Berminington has posted in his last 3 articles

He is trying to make the case that labor hates Hillary or that Hillary is anti-labor which is a big stinking pile.

[cui bono]

31. Again, the article was just written about something that just happened.

I understand you disagree.

[rinsd]

32. No, but I will point out someone with an obvious agenda.

Here's Ariana Bermington writing about Mark Penn on May 8th

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-berman/hillarys-corporate-consu_b_47918.html

The 18th

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-berman/hillary-inc_b_48771.html

Now another 2 weeks later.

Anyone want to guess what Ariana Bermington's next article will be about?

[nealmhughes]

14. Reckon there will be a Katrina-Hillary Texas Death Cage Match coming up soon on Spike?

Now that would be match to watch!

[usregimechange]

15. That ought to do it

[bonito]

17. K&R

[zulchzulu]

18. Senator Clinton's labor ratings...don't jibe with The Nation attack

I'm willing to play fair on this. I'd give Senator Clinton a B to B+ for labor issues... not exactly her against labor as the thread title suggests...

Here are the interest group ratings for Senator Clinton:

Labor

2006 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the Service Employees International Union 94 percent in 2006.

2005-2006 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 75 percent in 2005-2006.

2005 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers 100 percent in 2005.

2005 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the Service Employees International Union 100 percent in 2005.

2005 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the United Auto Workers 93 percent in 2005.

2005 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the AFL-CIO 93 percent in 2005.

2005 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers 84 percent in 2005.

2005 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Worker 100 percent in 2005.

2005 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees 88 percent in 2005.

2005 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the American Federation of Government Employees 83 percent in 2005.

2004 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the AFL-CIO 100 percent in 2004.

2004 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the American Postal Workers Union 100 percent in 2004.

2004 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the United Auto Workers 110 percent in 2004.

2004 On the votes that the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers considered to be the most important in 2004, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

2004 On the votes that the Service Employees International Union considered to be the most important in 2004, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

2004 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the Communications Workers of America 100 percent in 2004.

2004 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers 33 percent in 2004.

2004 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Worker 100 percent in 2004.

2003-2004 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees 100 percent in 2003-2004.

2003-2004 On the votes that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers considered to be the most important in 2003-2004, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 79 percent of the time.

2003-2004 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Int 62 percent in 2003-2004.

2003-2004 On the votes that the National Association for the Self-Employed considered to be the most important in 2003-2004, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 0 percent of the time.

2003-2004 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the American Federation of Government Employees 100 percent in 2003-2004.

2003 On the votes that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers considered to be the most important in 2003, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 73 percent of the time.

2003 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the Transportation Communications Union 100 percent in 2003.

2003 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the United Auto Workers 92 percent in 2003. Those who supported or provided other assistance in connection with a UAW organizing drive are given an extra 10% bonus.

2003 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the AFL-CIO 85 percent in 2003.

2003 On the votes that the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers considered to be the most important in 2003, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 71 percent of the time.

2003 On the votes that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Worker considered to be the most important in 2003, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

2003 On the votes that the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers considered to be the most important in 2003, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 67 percent of the time.

2003 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees 100 percent in 2003.

2003 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the Workplace Fairness 80 percent in 2003.

2003 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the Service Employees International Union 100 percent in 2003.

2002 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the Transportation Communications Union 100 percent in 2002.

2002 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the American Federation of Government Employees 100 percent in 2002.

2002 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees 100 percent in 2002.

2002 On the votes that the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers considered to be the most important in 2002, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 50 percent of the time.

2002 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the Communications Workers of America 86 percent in 2002.

2002 On the votes that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Worker considered to be the most important in 2002, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

2002 On the votes that the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers considered to be the most important in 2002, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 72 percent of the time.

2002 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the AFL-CIO 92 percent in 2002.

2002 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the United Auto Workers 102 percent in 2002.

2002 On the votes that the Service Employees International Union considered to be the most important in 2002, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

2002 On the votes that the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association considered to be the most important in 2002, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

2001-2002 On the votes that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers considered to be the most important in 2001-2002, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 92 percent of the time.

2001-2002 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the American Postal Workers Union 100 percent in 2001-2002.

2001 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees 100 percent in 2001.

2001 On the votes that the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers considered to be the most important in 2001, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

2001 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the Transportation Communications Union 100 percent in 2001.

2001 On the votes that the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers considered to be the most important in 2001, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 72 percent of the time.

2001 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the American Federation of Government Employees 100 percent in 2001.

2001 On the votes that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Worker considered to be the most important in 2001, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

2001 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the United Auto Workers 93 percent in 2001.

2001 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the United Food & Commercial Workers 100 percent in 2001.

2001 On the votes that the Service Employees International Union considered to be the most important in 2001, Senator Clinton voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

2001 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the AFL-CIO 100 percent in 2001.

2001 Senator Clinton supported the interests of the American Benefits Council 0 percent in 2001.

http://votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=55463

[wyldwolf]

25. Ha! So the Nation exaggerates their case against Hillary again!

[rinsd]

26. No its Ariana Bermanington..oop....I meant Ari Berman

:evilgrin:

[rinsd]

29. Labor's own words in this article don't jibe with the Ariana Berminington's attack

Dear Senator Clinton ☼:


It is with distress that we write you today. The Nation recently posted a story about Mark Penn, your pollster and chief strategist, detailing some of his firm's direct support for anti-union/anti-worker campaigns. His firm's activities in the effort to undermine workers right to organize at Cintas, a campaign our unions are involved in, is particularly disheartening.


We wanted to bring this to your attention since we value your positions on EFCA and many other workers issues and do not want to see you or the Democratic Party embarrassed.


We look forward to hearing back from you on this matter.


Sincerely,


James P. Hoffa Teamsters General President


Bruce S. Raynor UNITE HERE General President

IOW, Labor loves Hillary though not crazy about her advisor.

[WA98296]

27. A corporatist hiring a union buster...and you're surprised? She's a DLC repub

[wyldwolf]

28. Must make Obama a corporatist, too. Their labor ratings are virually identical

:)