WHEREAS:

AFSCME runs the largest and most effective political campaigns in the labor movement; and

WHEREAS:
Elected officials in Washington, D.C., our state capitals and our city hall chambers have benefitted greatly from those efforts; and

WHEREAS:
Working families have been suffering through one of the worst economic crises in our history; and

WHEREAS:
We need the politicians we helped get elected to take immediate and concrete steps to help the families who have been hardest hit by this recession; and

WHEREAS:
All too many of the politicians holding office today seem much too eager to bail out big banks and Wall Street; and

WHEREAS:
Those same politicians seem all too timid about helping working families escape layoffs, keep their health insurance and avoid foreclosure.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME will support the election of candidates who have proven that they are willing to stand up and fight for working families; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That we will not fight to save the jobs of politicians of any party who have refused to take the tough actions required to get our economy working again; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That this union will not support candidates who scapegoat public employees, whether by
undermining services through layoffs and furlough days, applauding the firing of public school teachers while creating incentives to privatize education, or by attacking our pensions after decades of “borrowing” from our pension funds; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
That when circumstances warrant, such as the Arkansas Senate Democratic primary (Sen. Lincoln) we will take action to remove from office elected officials who have previously espoused support for working families, and gotten our union's support, but failed to support our policy agenda in office.
 
 
SUBMITTED BY: 
Danny J. Homan, President and Delegate
Susie Baker, Executive Vice-President and Delegate
Kay Gill, Secretary-Treasurer
AFSCME Council 61
Iowa