BREAKING NEWS! Democrats for Congress are endorsed by a large labor union. Last week the AFL-CIO announced its endorsement of three Democrat candidates for Congress: Sal Pace (D-Urination), Joe Miklosi (D-Denver), and some guy running in the 4th CD, whose name doesn't even bear mentioning because he has no shot. That guy is henceforth known as T-GRAC: The Guy Running Against Cory (Gardner).
Before the Democrats had even won their party's nomination, the big labor group threw its full support behind each candidate in the name of their support for higher government spending and higher taxes.
In fact, they believe so much in Sal Pace's candidacy that they bothered to get his resume right in the first sentence of their press release:
The Colorado AFL-CIO announced today that it is throwing its support and endorsement to Former Speaker of the Colorado State House of Representatives Sal Pace for the 3rd Congressional District.
Pace is actually now the former Minority Leader, not Speaker, but what's the difference to the AFL-CIO? He's a Democrat who has voted to raise taxes and government spending — that's all they need to know.
Perhaps most important to the AFL-CIO should be Pace's threat that he will "put his fist where he needs to put it" on behalf of union bosses. Remember, that stuttered utterance came merely days after the tragic shooting at an event for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Listen to the clip here (courtesy of WhoSaidYouSaid). With that lack of tact, it should make for some interesting tracker Youtube moments of Pace over the next 12 months.
One former state House Speaker the AFL-CIO notably did not endorse was Andrew Romanoff, who has been rumored to be looking at the 6th CD race, now that a judge-ordered gerrymandering has made the district much more Democrat-friendly. Instead, the union threw its weight behind state Rep. Joe Miklosi (D-Denver), the only declared Democrat in the race, and someone who has announced his plans to be a carpetbagger and move into the district once the lines are drawn.
President of Compass Colorado, Tyler Q. Houlton, had this to say about the endorsements of Pace and Miklosi:
"Joe Miklosi and Sal Pace have a long history of kowtowing to union bosses and their liberal agenda. Colorado working families cannot trust Miklosi and Pace to put their needs ahead of union special-interests and their crusade to raise taxes and drastically increase government spending."
The endorsement of Miklosi mirrors the AFL-CIO's pattern of endorsing primary candidates who cannot win, like when they threw millions of dollars into trying to defeat Democrat US Senator Blanche Lincoln in the primary last year, only to watch her win the primary and go down in flames in the general, thanks in part to her war chest having been bled dry by a bruising primary.
The AFL-CIO also threw their endorsement behind the candidate now known as T-GRAC. If the judge-ordered map stands against the state GOP's appeal to the Supreme Court, the 4th CD will have voter registration numbers that are nearly identical to Colorado Springs Congressman Doug Lamborn's 5th CD. And when has anyone cared about Lamborn's challengers?
Another major labor group, the SEIU, endorsed Obama's re-election last week despite the fact that a GOP challenger has not even been selected yet.
All of this is to say conservatives are right when they charge labor unions are merely another wing of the Democrat Party. The political question that matters then is: Who are Pace, Miklosi, Obama and T-GRAC fighting for? If the needs of Colorado are opposed to the special interests of labor unions, who will these candidates stand behind?