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November 11, 2005
Happy Tuesday!
Green Machine Turns out Winning Votes
In battles large and small, AFSCME volunteer activists motivated members and other supporters to vote on Nov. 8 — and their efforts showed what we and other unions can accomplish when we work together.
- In California, a majority of voters — spurred by progressive forces that included hundreds of AFSCME volunteers — "terminated" all four regressive ballot initiatives sponsored by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R). Among the initiatives: Prop. 75, the "paycheck deception" effort to prohibit unions from using a portion of a member's dues or fees for political activities unless the member gives his or her annual, signed consent. The measure is punitive and designed to weaken the political clout of workers and their unions by restricting our right to communicate with our members on important issues. Members conducted an intense, six-week campaign: They visited several hundred worksites, passed out 500,000 flyers, mailed 317,000 pieces of literature and posted 15,000 yard signs. In addition, our Polling Center placed 447,329 calls to AFSCME and other union households. The West Coast branch of the Green Machine also targeted radio ads in Latino communities, state-wide. Prop. 75 went down by a resounding 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent, dealing Schwarzenegger — and Big Business and conservative ideologues who backed the measure — a major political rebuke. Another victory for AFSCME was defeating Prop. 76, which would have placed dangerous limits on state spending; it lost by a whopping 62 percent to 38 percent. AFSCME also helped defeat Prop. 74, which would have required public school teachers to have five years on the job before obtaining tenure, and Prop. 77, aimed at creating a panel of retired judges to draw legislative-district boundaries. Californians showed their anger at the millions of precious tax dollars the governor and his allies wasted in mounting these ballot initiatives.
- In New Jersey's gubernatorial race, U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine (D) beat Doug Forrester (R) handily. More than 400 of our activists joined a statewide GOTV effort that included distributing 100,000-plus flyers to worksites. AFSCME International's Polling Center placed 139,000 calls for Corzine.
- In Virginia, Democratic Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine defeated Jerry Kilgore, a conservative Republican, for governor by a surprising six-point margin despite President Bush's 11th-hour attempt to rescue Kilgore. AFSCME made significant financial contributions to Kaine and to his party's GOTV operations.
AFSCME-endorsed candidates and incumbents won contests for a variety of other offices around the country. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R), won re-election by 20 percentage points with endorsements and lots of help from DC 37 and DC 1707. In St. Paul, Chris Coleman (D) overwhelmed a Democratic Mayor Randy Kelly, who endorsed President Bush for re-election last year; our Polling Center made 116,000 calls for Coleman.
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