Change to Win (coalition of 7 unions, not only SEIU): Mark Pen Has to Go

[gulfcoastliberal]

Hillary boosters are acting as though only the SEIU is calling for Penn to go when it is really Change to Win, a coalition of 7 different unions calling for his ouster. Just wanted to correct some disinformation I saw posted earlier.

Mark Penn Has to Go

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, April 4, 2008

CONTACT: Greg Denier
Noreen Nielsen
[phone]

WASHINGTON, DC – The following is a statement from Change to Win executive director Greg Tarpinian concerning the latest revelation that Hillary Clinton’s chief campaign strategist Mark Penn met Monday with Colombia’s ambassador regarding the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

“It’s time for Senator Hillary Clinton to send her vaunted ‘chief strategist’ Mark Penn packing -- back to his job consulting for union busting corporations and anti-labor governments for good.

“We have questioned Penn’s role in the Clinton campaign in the past for his representation of union busting employers like Cintas. At that time, Penn said there was a wall between him and his firm’s representation of union busters. The latest revelation that Penn -- whose firm represents the Colombian government in its effort to secure passage of a so-called free trade agreement -- is actively involved in securing its passage in the middle of Senator Clinton’s presidential campaign is outrageous. It also suggests that he has been playing a double role – advising the Senator on what to say to curry Democratic voters and advising the Colombian government on what to say to curry a majority of votes in Congress.

“The vast majority of Americans do not believe that we should be granting preferential trade status to a government that coddles death squads that target union organizers. Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world for union members, where more than 2,200 workers have been murdered since the 1980s by Colombian death squads for trying to form unions while the government has done nothing to effectively stop the murders. It is time for Penn to go.”

** Note: Media representatives interested in scheduling an interview to discuss Change to Win’s position on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement should contact Noreen Nielsen at [e-mail]. **

# # #

About Change to Win
Change to Win is a six million member partnership of seven unions founded in 2005 to represent workers in the industries and occupations of the 21st century economy. Change to Win committed to restoring the American Dream for a new generation of workers – wages that can support a family, affordable health care, a secure retirement, and the opportunity for the future. The seven affiliated unions are: Service Employees International Union, UNITE HERE, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Laborers' International Union of North America, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and United Farm Workers of America.

http://www.changetowin.org/for-the-media/press-releases-and-statements/mark-penn-has-to-go.html

[PA Democrat]

1. It figures that other unions would have a BIG problem with Penn's

lobbying for the Colombian free trade agreement.

He made a statement tonight that the meeting with the Colombian ambassador was an "error in judgment." He just figured that out now?

[Tarheel_Dem]

2. No defense from the Clinton wing of the party?

They can ignore it here, but I'm afraid she either very publicly sacrifices Penn, or she loses PA & IN. I would think WV would be concerned about this as well.

[cliffordu]

3. Yep......Crickets........

I cant WAIT for her to have to throw him under a bus......


:rofl:


Oh, yeah,

K&R!!!! :kick:

[Tarheel_Dem]

4. I don't see how she avoids it, because there's a couple of weeks

for this story to hang out there, and April 22nd can seem like a lifetime, with wall to wall media coverage, especially after lying about Obama's NAFTA call just before OH. This is just icing on the cake, and it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of a*holes.

[anigbrowl]

5. And of course there's the matter of Columbian President Uribe

Calling out Obama over the trade agreement...but curiously, not Clinton who is also opposed to it. As far as I know.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/04/04/obama-refutes-colombian-president/?mod=WSJBlog
"In an interview with the Journal’s Jose de Cordoba published Friday, Uribe said opposition to the trade agreement would deal a serious blow to U.S. relations with Colombia, one of Washington’s strongest allies in South America where anti-American attitudes have been resurging in recent years. “I deplore that Sen. Obama, apparently because he wants to be president of the U.S., ignores all that Colombia has achieved,” he said.

Labor unions have fought hard against the trade deal, arguing that the Bogota hasn’t done enough to quell violence against trade union organizers. Uribe said that the country had made progress, and that the number of assassinated union members and teachers had fallen to 26 last year from 205 in 2001.

“That’s not the kind of behavior that we want to reward,” Obama said. “I think until we get that straightened out its inappropriate for us to move forward.”

He pointed to his support of the Peru trade deal that Congress passed last year as an example of his support for free trade under the right circumstances. “We’ve got to have some sort of standards that we stick to,” he said."

Doesn't it seem just a bit coincidental that Mark Penn was having a meeting with Columbia's ambassador earlier this week to discuss the trade deal he is lobbying for, and that the Columbian president only criticized the Democratic candidate that Penn doesn't work for?

PA voters should going to take a long look at Ohio, and NAFTA-gate and Canada-gate and then compare them with this situation.

[FrenchieCat]

6. Yep. That part does ring some kind of alarm......

Think there is a connection? Penn comes to town to see Death Squad President, and next thing you know, Death Squad President is denouncing Obama publicly to the world for being against a trade deal that Hillary is against as well. Why do I smell something fishy here? (can't they do anything that's not transparent?)

[anigbrowl]

9. Oh no, I'm sure it's a complete coincidence.

The flying pig outside my window told me so.

[anigbrowl]

7. Anyway, if she fires Mark Penn, think how much money her campaign saves!

But I'm sure Clinton supporters don't mind that 8-10% of their donations are going towards big biz Markie. After all, his firm represents greatAmerican icons like Philip Morris, Blackwater and all the big oil companies. Oh, and the emirate of Dubai (the one that wanted to run our ports). Oh, and...

Well, see for yourself:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Burson-Marsteller

[Capn Sunshine]

8. Penn is trying to clean up a fascist's image

Uribe is the worst sort of scum, directing the murder of http://www.cipcol.org/?p=387">well over 11,000 political opponents and hundreds of union leaders

This is who Clinton chooses to run her campaign (into the ground , I might add)

I seriously question her judgment about things.

[Larkspur]

10. The Clintons and the Bushes want Uribe to "look" good to counter Hugo Chavez

the charismatic and populist president of Venezuela who is building a Latin American coalition against the neoliberal economic policies supported by the Clintonistas and the Repukes.