{"id":11643,"date":"2018-08-22T07:00:58","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=11643"},"modified":"2018-08-21T12:31:08","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T16:31:08","slug":"liunas-endorsement-of-hogan-is-a-big-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=11643","title":{"rendered":"LIUNA\u2019s Endorsement of Hogan is a Big Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco.<\/em><\/p>\n

In politics, it\u2019s an iron law that unions always endorse Democrats, yeah?\u00a0 Labor is known for supplying money and manpower to the Democratic Party in an alliance dating back decades.\u00a0 But the truth is more complicated owing to the complexities within the labor movement little appreciated by outsiders.\u00a0 And that truth just erupted in the Governor\u2019s race in a big way.<\/p>\n

Recently, the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), one of the largest unions in the country, endorsed Republican Governor Larry Hogan<\/a>.\u00a0 As the Washington Post noted<\/a>, LIUNA had supported Hogan\u2019s 2014 opponent, then-Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown, and gave him a last-minute $500,000 loan<\/a>.\u00a0 Why is this such a big deal?<\/p>\n

First, LIUNA is in part a building trades union.\u00a0 A big chunk of its half a million members work in the construction industry alongside unions representing carpenters, electricians, operating engineers, iron workers, bricklayers and more.\u00a0 Accordingly, it has an interest in landing construction projects for its members.\u00a0 The Post reported<\/a>, \u201cA spokesman for the union said it is backing Hogan because of his emphasis on building roads and bridges \u2013 particularly his $9 billion proposal to add toll plans to Maryland\u2019s most congested highways.\u201d\u00a0 LIUNA Mid-Atlantic Vice President Dennis Martire added<\/a>, \u201cTransportation infrastructure continues to take a back seat for many elected officials\u2026 It\u2019s refreshing to see Governor Hogan\u2019s proposed plans for Maryland\u2019s roads and highways.\u201d\u00a0 Local organizations affiliated with two other building trades unions \u2013 the Roofers and the Plumbers and Pipefitters<\/a> \u2013 have also endorsed Hogan.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be surprised if more trades climb on board.<\/p>\n

Second, LIUNA is one of the most diverse unions in the country.\u00a0 It represents large numbers of African Americans and Latinos who are not as socially conservative as the other trades and public safety unions that are supporting Hogan<\/a>.\u00a0 Many LIUNA members are government employees, and in Montgomery County, the union represents trash haulers who are employed by county contractors.\u00a0 The union\u2019s legislative agenda goes beyond traditional building trades issues.\u00a0 In endorsing Rich Madaleno in the Democratic gubernatorial primary<\/a>, the union cited his work on earned sick leave and the $15 minimum wage.\u00a0 LIUNA also endorsed Marc Elrich for County Executive<\/a>.\u00a0 That\u2019s right, folks \u2013 here is an organization that supported Madaleno, Elrich, Brown AND Hogan.<\/p>\n

Third, LIUNA spends massive amounts on Maryland political campaigns.\u00a0 From 2005 through June 2018, the union contributed $2.2 million to Maryland candidates, PACs and independent expenditure committees.\u00a0 Its biggest expenditures were $678,065 to the Clean Slate Baltimore PAC opposing 2016 Mayor candidate (and former Mayor) Sheila Dixon; $528,500 to Anthony Brown\u2019s 2014 campaign for Governor; $150,000 to the One State One Future Super PAC for Brown; $78,250 to the state Democratic Party; and $35,000 to the Progressive Maryland PAC that ran negative TV ads against County Executive candidate David Blair.\u00a0 There is no indication that the union will spend any money promoting Hogan, who \u2013 Lord knows! \u2013 doesn\u2019t need more money.\u00a0 But LIUNA\u2019s resources are now off the table for Democratic nominee Ben Jealous, who could have used them.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Progressive Maryland, LIUNA is one of their dues-paying affiliates<\/a>.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t stop Progressive Maryland from criticizing LIUNA\u2019s endorsement of Hogan on Facebook, an almost unheard-of act by an umbrella group against a member.\u00a0 That\u2019s how much LIUNA\u2019s choice stings the left.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, consider this.\u00a0 One of the most remarkable findings in the recent Gonzales poll<\/a> showing a sixteen-point lead for Hogan over Jealous was its estimates for Baltimore City and Prince George\u2019s County.\u00a0 Those are two jurisdictions Jealous needs to win by big margins, but the poll shows him leading Hogan by six points in the City and thirteen points in Prince George\u2019s.\u00a0 We are skeptical that those margins will hold.\u00a0 But to the extent that middle-class African Americans are a key to the election, it\u2019s hard to think of many labor unions that represent more middle-class African Americans than LIUNA.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a long way to go to Election Day and Jealous still has some large and powerful groups behind him.\u00a0 But none of this is good for the Democrats.\u00a0 Hogan must be smiling all the way to the hiring hall and beyond.<\/p>\n

Disclosure: The author worked for LIUNA in 1994 and 1995 and spent sixteen years working for building trades unions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco. In politics, it\u2019s an iron law that unions always endorse Democrats, yeah?\u00a0 Labor is known for supplying money and manpower to the Democratic Party in an alliance dating back decades.\u00a0 But the truth is more complicated owing to the complexities within the labor movement little appreciated by outsiders.\u00a0 And that truth just … Continue reading LIUNA\u2019s Endorsement of Hogan is a Big Deal<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[151,1197,325],"tags":[1545,1977,2133,968,1601],"class_list":["post-11643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adam-pagnucco","category-larry-hogan","category-progressive-maryland","tag-adam-pagnucco","tag-ben-jealous","tag-laborers-union","tag-larry-hogan","tag-progressive-maryland"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4mKJE-31N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11645,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11643\/revisions\/11645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}