Labor & Employment Law

Time for Unity in Kentucky U.S. Senate Race

By Berry Craig

Kentucky Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo (D) didn’t quite pull a ?Happy? Chandler when he told the Lexington Herald-Leader he is ?not taking a position? in the U.S. Senate race between fellow Democrat Jack Conway and Tea Party-backed Republican Rand Paul.

Albert B. ?Happy? Chandler, a former U.S. senator and two-time Bluegrass State governor, lost the 1967 Democratic gubernatorial primary to Henry Ward. Happy was so miffed that he supported Republican Louie B. Nunn in the general election. Nunn won.

In May, Mongiardo lost a close primary battle to Conway, the state attorney general. Both have good labor records. So before the primary, the Kentucky State AFL-CIO didn’t endorse either candidate, leaving individual unions to support whomever they pleased.

The state AFL-CIO this month unanimously endorsed Conway for the general election. Meanwhile, Mongiardo’s decision not to back Conway is sad news to more than a few union members, including some who voted for him. Says United Steelworkers (USW) member Jeff Wiggins, president of the Paducah-based Western Kentucky Area Council:

I am very disappointed that he would take that stance when we have a chance to elect a senator who will support labor.

Wiggins, who is also on the state Kentucky AFL-CIO Executive Board, voted for Mongiardo.

Union members in Kentucky know what’s at stake now. We must unite behind Conway. Paul despises unions.

Paul was pleased to get a $2,500 contribution from the National Right to Work Committee. He fiercely opposes the Employee Free Choice Act, too. He bashes ?big labor.?

Polls show a close race and Wiggins worries that Mongiardo’s neutrality, if it continues, could tilt the election to Paul. ?I hope Mongiardo will change his mind and step up to the plate for Conway.?

Trey Grayson, the guy Paul pummeled in the GOP primary, has gone to bat for the victor, at least for public consumption. Grayson, Kentucky’s secretary of state was also the favorite of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). 

No sooner did Paul win than Grayson and McConnell joined hands and sang Kumbaya at a Republican ?unity rally.? Looking at the united trio, Wiggins warns fellow union members, ?None of them are our friends, that’s for sure.?

Wiggins says Mongiardo should take a lesson from the GOP?s post primary unity and the Paducah labor council?s solidarity following the May vote. Before the primary, the Paducah central labor council voted better than three-to-one to recommend Mongiardo’s endorsement to the state AFL-CIO. After the primary, the council voted unanimously to recommend Conway’s endorsement

We don’t always agree on things that come up in the council. Sometimes we fuss. But then we take a vote, the majority rules and we go out the door united. That’s what’s got to happen in the Senate race. Jack Conway won, but Dan Mongiardo is our friend, too. I urge him to stand with his many labor friends behind Conway.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on July 15, 2010 (boomark / email).