Thursday, August 20, 2009
News Reed, Mitchell, Farokhi, Hoffman among labor union picks
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 6:52 PM
The qualifying period's still weeks away, but that's not stopping unions and organizations from endorsing candidates in the Nov. 3 city elections.
The Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council, which boasts approximately 9,000 members who live inside city limits and nearly 70,000 more in metro Atlanta, made its final endorsements last week for the Atlanta mayor and City Council races. Included in the list are incumbents Ceasar Mitchell and Ivory Young and political upstarts Amir Farokhi and Miguel Gallegos.
ANGLC President Charlie Flemming tells CL that 17 of its 42 affiliate organizations sat down with candidates to discuss privatization, cost-of-living wage increases, workforce housing, and other labor-related issues. The slate of endorsed candidates either agreed with policy stances or had reached out to labor in past policy discussions.
The union's endorsement has been like the touch of God in the mayor's race: for the last 20 years, its pick to run the city has gone on to win office. Flemming says its record isn't as spot-on for council elections, but political hopefuls lucky enough to get a nod — or unlucky enough, depending on how voters' opinions of unions — can expect a strong force working in their favor.
"If we are overwhelmingly in favor of a candidate, we're gonna do everything we can to endorse them," he says. "Phone banks, raise money, mailings, get out on weekend and knock on doors."
Flemming says he hopes Atlanta's so-called "strong-mayor" political system doesn't discourage councilmembers from taking a more hands-on approach to shaping city policy.
"[This year] the Council started standing up to to the mayor," Flemming says. "If they're willing to stand together on some issues, they can do much in their own right. I'm hoping City Council will step up and think of themselves in more of a leadership role."
The union didn't make endorsements in some races because the candidate did not respond to interview requests or was unable to sit down with union reps.
MAYOR Kasim Reed
CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT Ceasar Mitchell
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 1 NO ENDORSEMENT
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 2 Kwanza Hall
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 3 Ivory Young
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 4 LaShawn Hoffman
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 5 NO ENDORSEMENT
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 6 Miguel Gallegos
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 7 NO ENDORSEMENT
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8 NO ENDORSEMENT
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 9 Felicia Moore
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 10 C.T. Martin
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 11 Jim Maddox
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 12 Joyce Sheperd
POST 1 AT LARGE Michael Julian Bond
POST 2 AT LARGE Amir Farokhi
POST 3 AT LARGE Shelitha Robertson
Your prize for reading this far is perhaps the finest parody of a union commercial EVER. (If you're at work, wear headphones or turn down the volume.)
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