PAGE 10 |
February 2, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
POLITICS
... A union-backed challenger to Greg Walden
From Page 1
no viable alternative,” Burnette
told the Labor Press, “and he
wasn’t coming home to hear
what people had to say.… He
wasn’t in touch with his con-
stituents.”
Burnette decided to run, and
take early retirement from his
job as executive director of Ore-
gon Board of Maritime Pilots to
be able to campaign full-time.
Winning a race against
Walden would seem to be a long
shot. Oregon’s Second Congres-
sional District hasn’t elected a
Democrat since 1978. The dis-
trict covers all of Oregon east of
the Cascades, two-thirds of the
state, and includes some of Ore-
gon’s most Republican areas.
Republicans hold a 36 percent
to 27 percent voter registration
edge over Democrats in the Sec-
ond Congressional District, and
57 percent of the District’s vot-
ers went for Trump last year,
compared to only 39 percent
statewide.
More to the point, Walden
has won election in the District
10 times in a row, garnering
more than 70 percent of the vote
against the last two Democratic
challengers.
How could a Democrat win
in that landscape?
“This election is different,”
Burnette says. “The stakes are
high and immediate.”
Burnette says Walden’s con-
stituents know he was willing to
do them a disservice on health
care, and now that hangs like an
Northwest Oregon Labor
Council backs Loretta Smith,
Lynne Peterson, and
incumbents in local races
“He’s dedicated and committed, and he
very much understands and cares about
labor.”
— Kevin Billman, UFCW Local 555
albatross around his neck.
Moreover, Burnette points
out, the District’s voters do vote
for Democrats: Majorities in the
District have voted for incum-
bent U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, and
he’s a Democrat.
Burnette isn’t the only one to
think Walden may be vulnerable.
As many as seven other candi-
dates are running in the May
Democratic primary for the
chance to run against Walden this
November. Two years ago, there
was only one: Attorney and for-
mer oil executive Jim Crary ran
unopposed in the Democratic
primary, and lost to Walden by
more than two to one.
But Burnette says he wants to
campaign differently than the
District’s past Democratic can-
didates. He thinks the Demo-
cratic Party has pursued the
wrong strategy in rural America
— fielding candidates who are
‘Republican lite.’
“I think ‘red’ America’s al-
ready got a Republican party,”
Burnette said. “They like it. So
if we want them to do some-
thing different, we’re going to
have to offer them something
different.”
It’s stances like that that make
■ Greg Malinowski for Washington
County Commission.
They also voted to endorse:
■ Lynn Peterson for Metro President
Delegates to the Northwest Ore- ■ Kathryn Harrington for Washington
County Chair
gon Labor Council (NOLC)
voted without debate
■ Pamela White for
Jan. 22 to approve the
Clackamas County Clerk
Executive Board’s en-
■ Loretta Smith for Portland
dorsement recommen-
City Council
dations for local races
Not all votes were
in the May 2018 pri-
unanimous, and dele-
mary. Endorsed candi-
gates from several
dates included incum-
unions abstained from
bents:
endorsement votes be-
■ Nick Fish for Portland City
cause their unions
Loretta Smith
Council
haven’t yet deliberated
on who to endorse.
■ Deborah Kafoury for a final term as
NOLC, which covers Mult-
Multnomah County chair
nomah, Clackamas, Washing-
■ Paul Savas and Sonya Fischer for
ton, and Columbia counties, will
Clackamas County Commission
vote
on other local endorse-
■ Shirley Craddick for Metro Councilor
ments at its Feb. 26 meeting.
Burnette a good match for Ore-
gon’s largest private sector labor
union. United Food and Com-
mercial Workers (UFCW) Local
555 has pursued a political strat-
egy that takes the fight to overtly
anti-union Republican incum-
bents even in districts where
they’re considered safe. Because
it represents grocery store work-
ers, Local 555 has members all
over the state.
Local 555 is backing Bur-
nette because he alone among
the contenders calls for re-
unionizing America’s workforce
as a central part of his campaign.
He also wants health care for all,
more federal investment in rural
areas, and policies to promote
renewable energy and a sustain-
able environment.
As a third mate in the mer-
chant marine from 1989 to
1994, Burnette was a member of
the International Organization
of Masters, Mates & Pilots
union. After that career was
brought to a close with what
later proved to be a faulty diag-
nosis of asthma, he worked for
the Port of Portland as a water-
way planner, responsible for
making sure channels were
dredged.
AFSCME Local 88 makes
endorsements in
Multnomah County races
Members of AFSCME Local
88 got a chance to ask questions
of candidates for County and
City races at their Jan. 17 meet-
ing, and afterward, voted on en-
dorsements. The local repre-
sents about 3,400 employees of
Multnomah County.
Two first-time candidates got
the local’s endorsement:
■ Jennifer McGuirk for Multnomah
County Auditor (she’s in a crowded race to
succeed Steve March, who’s term-limited)
■ Susheela Jayapal for Multnomah
County District 2 (the seat is currently
occupied by Loretta Smith, who is term-
limited and seeking a position on Portland
City Council.)
Members also endorsed two
incumbents up for re-election:
“Eric is highly energized,”
says Local 555 Legislative Di-
rector Kevin Billman. “He’s
dedicated and committed, and
he very much understands and
cares about labor.”
Kallie Kurtz, Burnette’s cam-
paign manager, thinks President
Trump has made Walden vulner-
able in a way he’s never been
vulnerable before — creating di-
vision among Republicans,
while motivating a lot of non-
Republicans to get active
who’ve never been politically in-
volved before.
Kurtz, a school counselor and
member of Service Employees
International Union Local 503,
ran Mark Reynolds’ 2016 state
House campaign against Hood
River incumbent Republican
Mark Johnson. Reynolds lost by
several thousand votes, but a
year later, Johnson decided not
to run again, instead leaving to
head up the state’s business
lobby.
“For a long time these dis-
tricts have been considered like
there’s no chance, so [Democ-
rats] aren’t even trying in them,”
Kurtz says. “But as we’re run-
ning real campaigns, and as
unions like the UFCW are mo-
bilizing and making infrastruc-
ture available to run campaigns,
you’re seeing a huge shift.
There’s a lot more to be gained.”
MORE ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN
More about why Eric Burnette is
running at burnette4congress.org
■ Deb Kafoury for Multnomah County
Chair
■ Mike Reese for Multnomah County
sheriff
Backed by Oregon labor,
Measure 101 passes
overwhelmingly
Oregon voters passed Ballot
Measure 101 by a strong margin
in a Jan. 23 special election,
with over 60 percent of voters
ratifying a package of taxes on
hospitals and insurance compa-
nies that was approved by the
Legislature last year. Those rev-
enues will attract federal Medi-
caid matching funds to pay for
the Oregon Health Plan. The
taxes — 6 percent on hospital
net revenue, and 1.5 percent on
health insurance premiums —
are forecast to raise $670 mil-
GREG WALDEN’S
LABOR RECORD
Overall: In 20 years, he has voted in
accord with AFL-CIO recommendations
just 22 percent of the time.
Prevailing wage: He’s not a total
union foe: He voted against several
attempts to repeal Davis-Bacon
prevailing wage requirements. He also
voted against a measure to defund the
NLRB. Last year he spoke at the Oregon
State Building Trades convention.
Free-trade: He wasn’t in Congress
when NAFTA passed, but he voted for
every NAFTA-style trade deal since
taking office, including permanent
normal trade with China, deals with
Korea, Colombia, and Central America
(CAFTA), and the “fast track” procedure
that helps deals like this pass.
Weakening labor: Last year he
voted to undermine state-sponsored
retirement savings plans like one that’s
launching in Oregon. And last month
he voted for a bill that exempts tribal
casinos from the requirement to
recognize unions.
Affordable Care Act: He voted
dozens of times to repeal Obamacare,
and led a failed effort to replace it.
lion in the next two years, main-
taining access to health care for
one out of four Oregonians, in-
cluding children, seniors, people
with disabilities, and low-in-
come individuals.
The measure was endorsed
by multiple labor organizations,
including Oregon AFL-CIO,
American Federation of Teach-
ers-Oregon, Oregon AFSCME,
IATSE Local 488, IBEW Local
48, Oregon Education Associa-
tion, Oregon Federation of
Nurses and Healthcare Profes-
sionals, Oregon Nurses Associ-
ation, Oregon School Employ-
ees Association, Professional
and Technical Employees Local
17, National Association of Let-
ter Carriers Branch 82, Service
Employees Locals 49 and 503;
United Food and Commercial
Workers Local 555.