Specter Meets With Labor Officials

Officers with the powerful Service Employees International Union are meeting Tuesday with newly minted Democrat Arlen Specter, a labor official confirms.

Anna Burger, Chair of Change to Win and Secretary-Treasurer of SEIU, as well as Eileen Connelly, the Pennsylvania State Council Executive Director, sat down with the new Democratic senator. What was discussed was not immediately known, but undoubtedly the topics covered included Specter's continued opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act and how it will affect the labor community's support for him in 2010. On Monday, SEIU president Andy Stern met with Specter's most likely primary rival, Rep. Joe Sestak.

The union community has worked the Specter defection with a fair amount of political craftiness. Labor officials have strongly suggested that, absent a commitment to their core legislative principles, they would be more than comfortable supporting a primary challenger or even backing former governor Tom Ridge, should he run in and win the Republican primary.

These hints, combined with growing concern over Specter's politics from the Democratic community at large, have created policy pressure points that seem to be changing the dynamic on issues like the Employee Free Choice Act. Democrats on the Hill and in the labor community feel more confident now than a week ago that Specter will come out in favor of a compromise bill as a means of shoring up his progressive flank.

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Comments

[Nonamnesiac]

One of the problems is there is absolutely no fat in EFCA. Any further compromise means that Labor will remain overwhelmed when they attempt to organize. Management in this day (as in the past) is absolutely ruthless, dishonest and shameless when it fights unionization attempts. Even with all of the tools in EFCA, Labor is still not on an equal footing with management in its attempts to organize.

[Bboyshoes42]

The Union leaders should walk in and have a ten second meeting consisting entirely of "Hello Sen. Spector, we are union leaders, we will support a candidate that supports our cause. If you support EFCA, we will support you; if you do not, we will not"

[Tom Payned]

And Senator, we expect your support of single payer health care just like you have, and which has treated your cancer at tax payers expense.

[lovethesinner]

Good point. Ultimately, the health-care is the more important issue, nationally. These two issues, labor and health-care, can't be separated. They are critical to the whole of Obama's agenda, moving forward. I can't help feeling that either Obama has either received promises that Specter will produce, or he's stirring the pot in Pennsylvania to get the grass roots to start picking up the debate.

That's what Thomas Payne did. He stirred the pot... good.

[WinterParkMom]

I don't live in PA, however everything I've heard out of his mouth makes me very afraid of him being counted as a Dem. If I were PA voters, I would vote the other guy in the dem primary and again in the General.

Specter seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth on issues that are key to independent and dem voters. He has publicly said: I did not say I am a loyal democrat, I voted against the bankruptcy bill, I will vote against healthcare reform and I will vote against the card check bill. How does that position jibe with the democratic agenda?

I don't know what deals he made with the admin, but I hope it was something that they can back away from, slowly and carefully or we will all be sorry, even those of us not in PA.

[j-rich]

You don't have to worry about that. I'm a Pennsylvanian, and if he doesn't support employee free choice act and healthcare, than I'm not supporting him. And I'm sure the rest of Pennsylvania will wise up. This man cares nothing for the average person. He only cares about himself and his own political future. And I won't have it. He wants to call himself a democrat, than he damn well better act like one.

[suec03]

Arlen Specter will have to face the reality that other politicians can raise money for him, but the trade unions provide a lot of the "boots on the ground" door-to-door and phone-banking staffing in an election. If they side with another candidate, he will have to use his fundraising money to recruit less-experienced volunteers to distribute his paid flyers and mark his paid phone bank tally sheets.

[Martampa]

Specter is an egomaniac who will do anything to be reelected. I would hope that every union and the Democratic voters in PA never support him.

[DCDemInsider]

Oh, Dios mío!

Obama jumbled his words as he welcomed guests to the White House to observe todays Mexican holiday, He welcomed eveyone attending a Cinco de Mayo celebration, but instead called it "Cinco de Cuatro."

El Presidente es, obviamente, más inteligente que cualquier hombre que haya vivido en la Casa Blanca antes.

Viva Zapata everyone.

[suec03]

Okay. On the post that pertained to Cinco de Mayo, I translated that your point was that the President, intending to poke fun at their day-early celebration, accidentally said "Five of Four" instead of "Fourth of May." What was the point of posting it as a comment on this unrelated article?

[gavrielle]

Five of Four? Well, not everyone wants to jabber away in a foreign tongue. Those that do have many others to choose from besides "Mexican". By the way, bi-lingual does not mean English-Spanish speaking. It means speaking two languages. ANY two languages. Oh, and thanks for shoving your language down everyone's throat in this country. Most of us know exactly what your fellow Spanish speakers are saying about us when they decide to get rude and snarky about Anglos when we're standing right next to them. I always enjoy humiliating these types of people when I respond to their not-so-private comments in public. Here's a tip: You were all supposed to learn English (the North American lingua franca) and have Spanish as your "secret language" which is what every other non-English speaking group did when they came here. In not doing that and forcing everyone else to cater to Hispanic nationalistic whims, you've put yourselves at a disadvantage.

[LoriMcG]

If Arlen Specter doesn't support the Employee Free Choice Act, he will not receive my vote. In the past he has stood up for workers however, I will vote for Joe Sestak depending on the outcome of Specter's decision.

Lori

[tapley]

Don't stop there. Hold him to the fire for Health Care, EFCA and other legislation which protects the middle class. It is obvious to me he feign's support for the little guy even though that is how he described his father. He appears to act like a true republican and places the needs of business before the workers. Trickle down econimics means we get the crumbs.

[CitizenT]

Yup. He has a tough row to hoe if he wants my vote on election day. Yes on EFCA is just the first step for.

[jubei]

Specter is getting scared and nervous of Admiral Navy Joe Sestak,now all of a sudden specter wanna meet up with labor unions what a WUSS!!

[Tom Payned]

Go Joe.

The Dems didn't want him to run for Congress but he did anyway and won.

Winners can win regardless of establishment support. President Hillary Clinton isn't it?

From time to time, the people do get the person they want.

Let that be a lesson to Specter.

[x4faith]

I DO NOT SPECTER! He will NOT WIN, PERIOD!

[larry278]

Specter is notching it up in his campaign for re-election. Sen Specter has a record of changing his views & votes as conditions change. Trolls: feel free to call that flip flopping. Trolls who use pejoratives against Sen Specter cause voters to choose Specter.

[Lemmy]

He's trolling for cash - plain and simple.

[MESGAIN26]

i guess that make specter the biggest li flopper of them all he left the gop to become a dem what that say about specter & the gop as a party

[Tom Payned]

Specter and Lieberman should form their own party.

The party of those who don't even try to hide their hypocrisy, yet still get the benefit when they fail.

The new party like the GOP, would have three letters, POA. Politicians Opposing Accountability.

[Bitsko]

Gotta work on those tenses, Mr. Stein.

[fed up in kansas]

I think it's time to run a true democrat in Pennsylvania and let Specter get cut out entirely. His selfishness is over the top. Of course, the true answer to most problems in politics: term limits.

[december30]

I agree, Specter needs to go.

[tjdumas]

Trust me, if he don't back the EFCA, then he won't get the union behind him which represents a large democrat and independent voting group meaning he won't have the votes to win as a dem. he may have switched sides but trust me, if he don't back obama's agenda to a degree with EFCA and cap and trade, the dems will get another Dem to run against him in the primary which he would lose most definitley without Labor behind him.

[reallyenuff]

Specter's nickname - "carp". H e flip flops more than a live fish out of water.

[charger2]

The more he speaks the less Like him

[tjdumas]

I agree with you Charger2, the only thing is that he does vote with dems on a whole lot of issues. I know this isn't a easy pill to swallow but he could do some good. Now with that being said, he will have to do almost a major 360 to please most dems who think he's still a rethug in dem clothing.