Thursday, August 7, 2008

Vince Berltrami Pegs Sean Parnell

In a Community Voices column, in yesterday's Anchorage Daily News, Alaska AFL/CIO Chief pegged Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell (R - Saradise) and his lackluster performance at Tuesday's League of Women Voters-KTUU TV Candidate Debate series at UAA's Wendy Williamson Auditorium. Beltrami wrote:

Parnell said, "The Club for Growth has individuals that belong to it that contribute to campaigns ... my entire report to date is made up of individuals contributing to my campaign."

The group is made up of large corporate contributors and multi-millionaire corporate businessmen. So technically, they'd be considered "individuals" if they wrote the checks personally, but likely they were "bundled" from the group as Young stated. That's just a tad misleading.

And when it was Parnell's turn to poke at Young I'm sure he considered asking about major issues like the economy, the energy crisis, military issues, or perhaps education, right? Wrong. He went after the congressman for a vote he made supporting workers rights. Huh? He had one question to take Congressman Young on with, and he challenges his support of workers. Unbelievable.

And worse, Parnell bungled it. He seemed to know very little about the issue. The legislation is actually called the Employee Free Choice Act. He made two absolutely false statements about the legislation. He said it "would require employees in a business to have an open ballot when voting whether or not to organize a union." And he said "it takes away the secret ballot." He's wrong on both counts.


Beltrami is correct to note that, of the five AK-AL U.S. House candidates, only Parnell is opposed to this legislation. But he might have added that Young missed a very important vote last week in Congress. A week ago, the U.S. House passed the Paycheck Fairness Act, despite opposition from most Republicans. Here's what the bill seeks to do, according to Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro:


"With this resolution, we take up an effort that began more than 150 years ago when visionary women came together to stand up for women's rights, to better the status of women in our society. In this tradition, more than 11 years ago, I first introduced the legislation that we consider this morning, the Paycheck Fairness Act, and I cannot help but think of all the Aprils we have commemorated Equal Pay Day without legislative movement. But today the legislative inertia we have experienced for years have come to an end. The wage gap is real... Over the course of her lifetime, a female high school graduate will make $700,000 less than the young man she graduates with. Compared to a man, a female college graduate stands to lose up to $2 million in the course of her career. This is true across the board."

Don Young was one of nine congress members who failed to be there for the vote.

image - Vince Beltrami in the middle - courtesy of AFL/CIO

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vince Beltrami is supporting Linda Menard as a donor and deputy treasurer. He must really want more Republicans voting in favor of Alaskan workers...

Philip Munger said...

anon @ #1 - didn't know that. Thanks - interesting...

Anonymous said...

Yep, Beltrami and most of the unions (teachers included) are supporting Menard over the Democratic candidate Erick Cordero. That's right, they're supporting the woman who openly tells people that she's psychic and that God used to tell her how to vote on important issues when she was on the school board.

The first time I met her (several years ago now), swear to God, she reached out, put her hand on my arm and closed her eyes so she could get, as she put it to me (a complete stranger), a psychic read on me. Linda is a nice lady who has done a lot for her community over the years, but I think she lost touch with reality a LONG time ago. I also think that unless we all wake up and realize that basic sanity has to be at least as important as "picked by the Governor to run", or the Valley is in BIG trouble.

Well, unless God really is talking to her....

Philip Munger said...

tucker24AK,

I believe God talks directly to every human being, but that few listen.

Anonymous said...

Well Phil, the question is really - do you think the voices in her head are God? Because most of us, most of the time, would be taken a way to a nice soft room with nice soft lighting if we started talking too publicly about the voices in our heads.

Maia said...

How can the unions be supporting a GOP candidate? The Republican Party has consistently failed to represent the interests of working Americans. That's disheartening.

Anonymous said...

I supported Linda Menard before there was a democrat candidate in the race. Why? because Lyda Green is one of the worst legislators ever in terms of supporting workers, in fact, she proposed "right-to-work for less" legislation in 2000, the most anti-union legislation there is.

I registered as a deputy treasurer for Linda so that I could legally deliver PAC checks to her, and to send a message to Lyda we were going to take her on with all we had. She dropped out soon after.

I'm fond of Erick, but for now that seat belongs to Linda, and as far as Republicans go, she is moderate enough for my tastes. To blindly vote "R" or "D" without consideration of many other factors, can be an ill-measured approach.

In fact, I (we) have supported and still support a few other "R"s in the legislature because they have voted right on our issues. Not many, but a few.

KWBII said...

No Vince, but you illustrate the point in spite of yourself. The seat does NOT belong to Linda. The seat belongs to the people and it is high time that we remember that there is still a little matter of a vote. Before we vote, maybe Linda could at least tell us what she thinks about - something. The voters deserve that much.

Anonymous said...

C'mon kevin...in spite of myself? My statement that the seat belongs to Linda was meant to imply my conclusion that Valley voters will overwhelmingly elect her. Care to take any odds?

And, I spent two hours with her one on one, finding out her positions on issues important to labor. How people vote on pocket book issues is primarily what dictates my support. If you're curious about where Linda stands on something, why don't you ask her? I did.

CelticDiva said...

Vince,

I've spent a great deal of time with Erick Cordero, have you?

He's incredibly supportive of labor...and all of the other Progressive issues. That is a claim Ms. Menard cannot make. (Check out his website and see his stances on Transportation and Social Justice and then go and ask Linda Menard about those same issues.

Anonymous said...

Vince -

It's quite probable that I've known Linda longer than you've been alive.

And I and a lot of others a lot older and wiser than you have been asking her questions about what she believes in for months now, on issues like energy and transportation and labor organizing and a host of other things. She himhaws and demurs and won't give a straight answer...except on AGIA which she described as "nifty" - a word that I haven't heard in decades now.

I fear that the reason you were able to get the answers you wanted and we weren't is simply because you represent a large and powerful special interest group with money and volunteer support to offer. I don't - I'm just a constituent.

Anonymous said...

You smart and buy Sword of the New World Vis, you play the game is right, Sword of the New World Gold. you have a wonderful time, buy vis, I have it cheap snw vis, I buy Sword of the New World money