Labor & Employment Law

Arkansas Working Families Ramp Up Final Push for Halter

By Mike Hall

Arkansas AFL-CIO President Alan Hughes says Tuesday’s June 8 U.S. Senate Democratic primary run-off between two-term incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter “is going to be very close.”

It was union members, he says, that two weeks ago forced what was once considered a sure win for Lincoln and her Wall Street and corporate backers into a run off with Halter and his progressive, working family agenda. In an e-mail to union voters Hughes says:

With your help again, we can defeat Lincoln and truly hold her accountable.

With the run-off just days away and early voting already underway, Arkansas unions, Working America, the Alliance for Retired Americans and other allies are reminding their members about Lincoln’s close ties and big campaign cash from Wall Street and Big Banks, the insurance industry and other corporate interests, and pointing out how her voting record is littered with votes for her contributors. Says Hughes:

During her more than 10 years in the U.S. Senate, Lincoln has repeatedly sided with corporations over working families and left working Arkansans behind. She has taken more than $1 million in contributions from bankers like Goldman Sachs, and she aggressively supported trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) that resulted in our jobs being shipped overseas.

A new television ad from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) highlights Lincoln’s ties to Big Oil.

Blanche Lincoln says she works for Arkansas. But for too long she’s been helping oil companies get their way in Washington. While gas reached $4 a gallon, Lincoln took $1.1 million in campaign cash from oil and gas companies–then voted to help oil companies avoid paying taxes with special tax breaks $14 billion worth.

Click here for the full commercial.

On the ground, union members are distributing worksite fliers comparing Halter’s pro-worker agenda with Lincoln’s corporate track record and urging working families to get to the polls. Throughout the state, union-member-to-union member phone banks neighborhood walks are getting the word out about the importance of going to the polls Tuesday.

For more on Lincoln’s record, take a look lincolnexposed.com, and for more on the race, check out these two Arkansas blogs, the Blue Hog Report and Blue Arkansas.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on June 04, 2010 (boomark / email).