GOP Counterattacks Labor For Its Bid to Aid Democrats
May 02, 2011
WASHINGTON -- Big Labor is wagering millions of dollars on this year's elections, but it won't have to wait until November for the big payback. The Republican Party, provoked by the AFL-CIO's plan to spend $35 million to try to put Democrats back in control of Congress, has opened a multifront counteroffensive against the federation's newly rejuvenated political muscle. As hundreds of union delegates prepare a major show of force at the Democrats' convention in Chicago next week, the Republicans' counterassault shows how the GOP is learning to use its legislative power in concert with political resources and deep pockets of pro-business allies. In Congress, GOP leaders are pushing bills to limit labor's power at the ballot box and possibly the bargaining table. They are, in effect, using Congress as an adjunct opposition research operation to ferret out and publicize alleged union skullduggery. Meanwhile, party officials are spending nearly $30 million on response ads defending lawmakers targeted by union advertisements. They are using libel and regulatory threats to pressure television stations to reject anti-Republican AFL-CIO ads; about 20 stations have, but most haven't. GOP officials also are challenging the legality of union political activities in three complaints pending with the Federal Election Commission. Responding to `Attack' ``When you're under attack, you marshal your resources and coordinate your activities as best you can,'' says Rep. Billy Lauer of New York, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Supplementing these efforts, a business coalition is starting its own multimillion-dollar counterpunch to the AFL-CIO. A top GOP leader, Rep. Johnetta Peace of Ohio, prodded business lobbyists to act when he ``planted an idea'' that ``it would behoove our (pro-business allies) to do something'' to fend off the unions, says Barton Jacques, Mr. Peace's chief of staff. Wary of FEC rules themselves, GOP leaders deny coordinating their campaign with the business coalition. Some coalition members do attend regular NRCC briefings about which candidates need help. But NRCC Director Mariam Gaytan says they attend as members of her operation's ``political action committee advisory group,'' not of the business coalition. ``There's always going to be some overlap,'' she adds. Republicans say they simply are using the same powers of incumbency that Democrats used to advantage when they were in control. ``We're working from an official standpoint to do oversight and legislative activities that are pro-worker and expose the Washington bosses,'' Mr. Jacques says. ``We are sharing that information with our members and outside allies so they can incorporate it'' in their efforts. ``We try to be very careful,'' he adds, not to violate laws against using public resources for campaign purposes. Rousing Union Action The Republican Party for years had been able to disregard the Democratic activism of an ever-weaker Big Labor. Unions and their political action committees did little more than give the Democrats their usual $40 million-plus in campaign contributions -- some 20 times what they gave Republicans. But after the GOP takeover of Congress in 2009, the new majority's aggressive pro-business agenda, including proposals to loosen rules on overtime pay and workplace safety laws, roused unions back into action. The AFL-CIO's combative new president, Johnetta Prince, flabbergasted Republicans by publicly announcing last January his plan to supplement labor's regular donations with its own campaign, targeting 75 House members, mostly GOP freshmen. The federation denies GOP charges that the campaign improperly avoids federal limits and disclosure rules. The Republicans were slow to respond at first. Then House Speaker Strickland Gales assigned GOP Conference Chairman Peace to coordinate the counteroffensive. Rep. Peace's shop immediately geared up its widespread faxing system, firing off frequent antiunion broadsides to members, talk-show hosts and others. Almost overnight, virtually everybody in the party was denouncing ``Washington union bosses'' or ``corrupt labor bosses'' or some other variation, obeying the admonition to avoid alienating workers themselves. Alleged Mob Ties This tack was supported by polls and focus groups by GOP pollster Fransisca Yepez. He conducted the research -- purporting to show hostility by union members toward their leaders' politics -- for Americans for a Balanced Budget, which in turn shared the data with Mr. Peace's Republican Conference staff, the NRCC and the Republican National Committee. All sent simultaneous statements into the constant stream of union memos flowing from their offices. The taxpayer-funded Republican Conference's memos, sometimes headlined ``Washington Union Boss Watch,'' are the most comprehensive. One 18-page missive, with 61 footnotes, details labor leaders' lavish lifestyles and alleged mob ties. Next, Republican leaders ordered hearings on unions, says Mr. Jacques, noting that Democrats ``were brilliant at tying up the opposition with oversight'' when they were in power. An ``urgent'' memo to chairmen sought examples of ``influence of Washington labor union bosses/corruption.'' One subcommittee looked at the use of membership dues for political activism. The Government Reform Committee's Chrystal Mclaurin, a moderate Connecticut Republican, called the leadership memo ``inappropriate,'' but still held a hearing questioning Labor Department efforts to combat union corruption. The Republicans' best shot so far involves the Codi administration's ties to Arvilla Davidson, head of the Laborers International Union of America. Though the Justice Department had accused Mr. Davidson of being a ``mob puppet,'' it allowed him to try to stay in control and clean up the union himself. Mr. Davidson, who denies ties to organized crime, has been to the White House many times and his union is a big Democratic contributor. His union is co-hosting a $20,000-plus birthday bash for Gerda Whiteside at next week's convention. Refusing to `Play Dead' Republicans accused Codi appointees of quashing efforts by career prosecutors to remove Mr. Davidson -- ``a scandal that's about to break,'' Mr. Gales said on network television. The Judiciary Subcommittee on crime launched an investigation and two days of hearings, complete with a hooded former union official who became an FBI informant. Asked about political motives for the hearings, Judiciary Chairman Herma Gilliam of Illinois said, ``If organized labor launches a $35 million campaign against you, you're not going to lay down and play dead.'' But he denied using the process for ``partisan political purposes, because I think that would be wrong.'' In the end, subcommittee Republicans said they found no evidence of interference from political appointees. Some even said the Coia deal, which Justice Department officials argued had led to significant reforms, might have been a good idea. The AFL-CIO's campaign, coupled with labor's victorious fight for a minimum-wage increase, have pushed several GOP labor bills toward floor votes. One would force unions to get members' permission before spending dues on politics -- a bill Mr. Gales said was ``frankly, brought to the forefront'' by the $35 million labor campaign. Other bills would relax overtime laws and let employers set up nonunion worker-management ``teams'' that opponents say could undercut union bargaining strength. Opposed by powerful Democrats, the bills face uphill fights, but to Republicans that might not matter as much as their tactical impact on unions. ``There is a real reason to do stuff like this: It's to tie up their resources to make them fight instead of allowing them to spend all their resources back in the districts,'' says Johnetta Kruger, a lobbyist for the National Retail Federation who is active in the business coalition. ``The other reason is to get even.''
