Union Power -- More Than Meets The Eye

Organized labor is in the mail, on the airwaves and on the streets for Obama and other Democratic candidates. And there's even more union activity underneath the surface. Besides their own ads and massive get-out-the-vote campaigns, which we detail below, unions are bankrolling the attack ads of several other advocacy organizations.

Here are some new disclosures:

A Tour Of Senate Ads

Our business here is to monitor indie political groups and their ads, and business has been good. Advocacy groups haven't run out of money. The bad news? They've run out of ideas.

Two new North Carolina ads follow story lines we've heard over and over before (not that that's a bad way to influence voters -- it just makes the blog more boring). Here's one from Freedom's Watch, blaming Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan for jacking up taxes. Our takeaway: She wants to tax candy?!

Next, Americans for Job Security denounces unions that want to take away secret ballots in union elections. "Hagan's on their side, not ours," the ad says, as an armored truck speeds out of Washington, presumably delivering union cash to Hagan. Watch the ad here. There's a virtually identical ad targeting the Democrat Ronnie Musgrove in a Mississippi Senate race.

Moving along to New Hampshire... Labor unions (those bad guys from the last ad) are piling on to Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) by, predictably, tying him to President Bush. The distinguishing factor? The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees uses a rope metaphor (we're at the "end of our rope") and the Service Employees International Union uses a country-store cash register gimmick. We don't have the AFSCME ad in blogable format, so you'll have to trust us. Here's the SEIU ad:

Now follow us to Minnesota for a breath of fresh ideas...

Continue reading "A Tour Of Senate Ads" »

12:55 PM ET | 10-23-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Unions Out To Scare Seniors; NRA, To Scare Gun Owners

Unions are working overtime to put Barack Obama over the top in battleground states.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is airing a TV ad accusing John McCain of being "Risky on Social Security." The ad says McCain wants to privatize Social Security, subjecting it to stock-market volatility. One senior says, "We earned that money, now he wants to give it to Wall Street. No way."

Obama's been using this same argument, and Factcheck.org calls it a whopper. According to Factcheck, the plan McCain supports wouldn't affect current retirees, since no one born before 1950 would be allowed to put Social Security taxes in private accounts. AFSCME, however, contends that the plan would hurt the entire Social Security system and so would affect all seniors.

This is AFSCME's first return to TV since the Democratic primaries, when it supported Hillary Clinton against Obama. The ad will run in Wisconsin until close to Election Day, with more than $1 million worth of air time, according to the union.

On another front in the issues war, the AFL-CIO, which includes AFSCME, this week dropped a mailer featuring a union member who says Obama will "protect my gun rights." The mailer went to 80,000 gun-loyal swing voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Click on the image to read the mailer:

The union mailer is evidently trying to counteract the National Rifle Assocation's message that Obama wants to take away gun rights. The NRA's new ads after the jump...

Continue reading "Unions Out To Scare Seniors; NRA, To Scare Gun Owners" »

4:06 PM ET | 10-18-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Unions Can't Stop Giving To Democratic Operative

Unfortunately for Sen John Sununu (R-NH), Democratic operative Craig Varoga seems to have a never-ending pot of union money to run attack ads against the incumbent.

Varoga oversees a complex network of 527 organizations including Patriot Majority, which has extended its ad buy tying Sununu to President Bush and "Big Oil." Varoga already picked up millions in union money this year.

Now he reports this September bounty:

Big Union Money Behind New Hampshire Ad

UPDATE: It keeps coming. Patriot Majority Midwest just reported receiving $2.18 million from AFSCME. Also disclosed: $650,000 worth of ads against Republican candidates for Congress.

The beauty of 527 organizations is that they can raise unlimited amounts of cash in huge chunks. Let longtime Democratic operative Craig Varoga demonstrate how....

Varoga's group, Patriot Majority, just filed new disclosures showing that its recent ad attacking Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) was funded by some big names with big money.

In July and August, the 527 received $1.2 million from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; $500,000 from the Change to Win labor federation (which is spearheaded by the Service Employees International Union); and $125,000 from the United Food and Commercial Workers union, according to the filings.

That's more than enough for the $700,000 anti-Sununu ad buy. Who's next on the target list?

-- Will Evans

6:17 PM ET | 09- 9-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Pro-Clinton Group Finds New Target: McCain

A 527 group that backed Hillary Clinton and attacked Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries now pivots to target Republican John McCain.

The American Leadership Project (not to be confused with the newly visible anti-Obama group American Issues Project, or for that matter, the American Project on Leadership and Issues or the Project on Issues and American Leadership, both of which we just made up) is running a radio ad that sums up McCain's energy policy as "more money for Big Oil, more problems for us." It criticizes McCain's support for offshore drilling and tax breaks for oil companies.

English and Spanish versions of the ad are running in Colorado during the Democratic National Convention this week.

During the primaries, the group's pro-Clinton and anti-Obama ads were funded primarily by labor unions such as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ($2.2 million); the American Federation of Teachers ($400,000); and the International Union of Painters ($250,000), among others. The biggest individual donor was S. Daniel Abraham, the founder of Slim-Fast and a long-time Clinton supporter, who gave $100,000.

The group's president, political consultant Roger Salazar, previously was a spokesman for President Clinton, former California Gov. Gray Davis, and John Edwards' 2004 primary campaign.

During the primaries, the Obama campaign accused the group of violating election laws. Obama's campaign finance counsel compared ALP to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- just about the worst thing one Democrat could say about another. But now, all may be forgiven. ALP's Web site urges voters to call Obama and "tell him to keep fighting for the issues that matter to the middle class," almost exactly what the American Leadership Project said of Clinton in its primary ads.

How times have changed.

-- Daniella De Franco and Will Evans

1:31 PM ET | 08-25-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

New Union-Funded 527 Blasts CO Republican

A new 527 organization funded by labor unions ran its first TV advertisement this week blasting Colorado Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer for ties to "Big Oil."

The Colorado First Project, formed in May, has taken in $250,000 from the Service Employees International Union and $100,000 from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The group's president is a Colorado yoga teacher, Allyson Levine, and its attorney is Mark Grueskin, who was hired by the Democratic National Convention Committee as counsel for the Denver convention. The group doesn't have a Web site and is trying to operate with a low profile.

"The decision's been made that the ads speak for themselves," says Grueskin. "Unlike a lot of political groups that need to puff themselves in them media, this is a group that decided not to do that."

Continue reading "New Union-Funded 527 Blasts CO Republican" »

1:24 PM ET | 08-15-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail