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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2008)
OCT. 17, 2008:NWLP 10/14/08 9:55 AM Page 1 G E N E R A L E L E C T I O N E n d o r s e m e n t s o f t h e N ORTHWEST O REGON L ABOR C OUNCIL U.S. President/Vice President B ARACK O BAMA /J OE B IDEN Inside MEETING NOTICES See Page 6 U.S. Senate: J EFF M ERKLEY U.S. House of Representatives First District: D AVID W U Third District: E ARL B LUMENAUER Volume 109 Number 20 October 17, 2008 Fifth District: K URT S CHRADER Portland Oregon Secretary of State: K ATE B ROWN Oregon Attorney General: J OHN K ROGER Oregon Treasurer: B EN W ESTLUND Oregon Labor Commissioner: B RAD A VAKIAN Multnomah County County Commissioner, Dist. 3: J UDY S HIPRACK County Commissioner, Dist. 4: C ARLA P ILUSO Columbia County County Commissioner, Position 1: E ARL F ISHER County Commissioner, Position 3: T ONY H YDE Circuit Judge: J ENEFER G RANT Clackamas County County Commissioner, Position 4: C HARLOTTE L EHAN Sheriff: C RAIG R OBERTS City of Portland Commissioner, Position 1: C HARLES L EWIS Ballot Measure 26-94 (Safe and Successful Children) Support City of Gresham Commissioner, Position 3: S HIRLEY C RADDICK Commissioner, Position 5: P AUL W ARR -K ING Ballot Measure 26-98 (Gresham Police Levy) Support Oregon State Senate Dist. 14 - M ARK H ASS Dist. 17 - S UZANNE B ONAMICI Dist. 21 - D IANE R OSENBAUM District 23 - J ACKIE D INGFELDER District 25 - L AURIE M ONNES -A NDERSON O REGON H OUSE OF R EPRESENTATIVES Dist. 26 - J ESSICA A DAMSON Dist. 27 - T OBIAS R EAD Dist. 28 - J EFF B ARKER Dist. 29 - C HUCK R ILEY Dist. 30 - D AVID E DWARDS Dist. 31 - B RAD W ITT Dist. 33 - M ITCH G REENLICK Dist. 35 - L ARRY G ALIZIO Dist. 36 - M ARY N OLAN Dist. 38 - C HRIS G ARRETT Dist. 39 - T OBY F ORSBERG Dist. 40 - D AVE H UNT Dist. 41 - C AROLYN T OMEI Dist. 42 - J ULES K OPEL -B AILEY Dist. 43 - C HIP S HIELDS Dist. 44 - T INA K OTEK Dist. 45 - M ICHAEL D EMBROW 46 - B EN C ANNON Dist. 47 - J EFFERSON S MITH Dist. 48 - M IKE S CHAUFLER Dist. 49 - N ICK K AHL Dist. 50-G REG M ATTHEWS Dist. 51-B RENT B ARTON Dist. 52 -S UZANNE V AN O RMAN Authorized and paid for by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council 1125 SE Madison St., Portland, OR 97214 When Wall Street stumbles, others pick up the tab By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor For six weeks, working people have been looking from the sidelines at a financial system meltdown, while government has taken panicked, in- consistent, expensive and so far inef- fective action to stop it. Ordinary citi- zens didn’t engineer the collapse, but they may be footing the bill — through lost retirement savings, low- ered wages, and the taxes they pay. On Sept. 16, the Federal Reserve announced the biggest ever govern- ment bailout of a private corporation — the $85 billion rescue of AIG, one of the world’s largest insurance com- panies. That was the appetizer. The meal, and what a big meal it will prove to be, is a fallback plan pro- posed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson — $700 billion in tax- payer funds to buy up exotic Wall Street creations. With outraged constituents calling in 10-1 against that idea, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected Paulson’s proposal 228-205 on Sept. 29. But then the U.S. Senate took it up, passing the same basic plan but adding $150 billion in unrelated tax breaks and other federal spending. The Senate bill passed 74-25 with support of Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Joe Biden (D- Del.), and John McCain (R-Ariz.). [Oregon Republican Gordon Smith and Washington Democrat Patty Mur- ray were for it, while Democrats Ron Wyden of Oregon and Maria Cantwell of Washington voted against it.] The more expensive bill then passed the House Oct. 3 by 263-171, five days after it had rejected it. [Washington Democrat Brian Baird voted for the second bill, as did Ore- gon Democrats Darlene Hooley and David Wu, and Republican Greg Walden. Oregon Democrats Earl Blu- menauer and Peter DeFazio voted against it.] The $700 billion figure is by any reckoning a colossal amount of money. It’s $2,300 for every man, (Turn to Page 4) workers take pride in job Carrying the vote Union to handle, deliver, count ballots By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor Though nearly all of it is behind the scenes, union members are a big part of making Oregon’s vote-by-mail system clean, fair, and efficient. That’s because much of the handling, deliv- ery and counting of the ballots is done by union workers. The handling and delivery falls on the shoulders of the mail handlers, postal workers and letter carriers of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), for whom taking care of ballots is some- thing like a sacred duty. “It’s a patriotic thing,” said L.C. Hansen, president of Portland-head- quartered Branch 82 of National As- sociation of Letter Carriers (NALC). Between one-third and two-fifths of postal employees are military veter- ans, Hansen points out, thanks to civil service preferences in hiring. And Hansen said her members are extra vigilant to see that ballots are correctly delivered, a conclusion echoed by Brian Dunsmore, vice pres- Rod Cardwell, a member of National Postal Mail Handlers Union Local 315, uses a hydraulic hand truck to lift a three-quarter-ton pallet of Voters’ Pamphlets. Portland’s central post office will process 120 pallets of Voters’ Pamphlets this election season. ident of American Postal Workers Union Local 128, and Gregory Stark, Executive Board member of National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU) Local 315. Recent postal union conventions have passed resolutions calling for other states to adopt vote-by-mail, and not just because it brings in additional Postal Service revenue. It also en- hances the image of the public postal service to the citizenry. And vote-by- mail makes it possible for member- ship groups — like labor unions — to amplify their political strength: Be- tween ballot mail out and Election Day, groups like unions can get daily updates on which of their members have voted. That allows them to focus political education and get-out-the- vote efforts on members who haven’t voted yet, and thereby greatly increas- ing turnout. Twenty-eight states allow voters to cast ballots by mail without the need (Turn to Page 4)
