Bobby Kasper: We can’t afford to let complacency set in

September 26, 2014 by
Bobby Kasper

Bobby Kasper

The Boston Red Sox were 62-28 on July 19, 1978. They were on pace to win a whopping 111 games. Their bitter rivals, the New York Yankees, lagged 14 games behind in the American League East standings, a deficit that seemed too big for any team to overcome. The Red Sox were considered heavy favorites to cruise into the Major League Baseball playoffs and win the World Series.

And if the baseball season were 90 games long, they would have.

Unfortunately for long-suffering fans in Boston, the Red Sox went into a late-summer funk, while the Yankees found their groove. After New York swept a four-game series Sept. 7-10 at Fenway Park, the Red Sox’ seemingly insurmountable lead in the standings had disappeared.

In Red Sox lore, the series has become known as “The Boston Massacre,” the final turning point in a roller-coaster season. The Yankees went on to beat the Sox in a one-game playoff for the division title. They advanced to the playoffs and eventually won their 22nd World Series.

Outside New York, though, the 1978 season is forever remembered for the Red Sox’ collapse. What happened? How could the Sox blow such a large lead?

Nobody knows for sure, of course, but I wonder if complacency didn’t infect the Boston clubhouse that summer. As the wins piled up in early July, perhaps the Sox’ confidence turned into overconfidence, their intensity turned to apathy. It’s possible they thought they had nothing to worry about until the playoffs.

Union members in Minnesota who have followed the political polling may be feeling the same way the Red Sox did in 1978. In the major statewide races, both labor-endorsed candidates – Gov. Mark Dayton and Sen. Al Franken – hold double-digit leads over their opponents, according to the most recent Star Tribune Minnesota Poll.

The poll results are encouraging, but the election season is far from over. And if you think our deep-pocketed opponents – from ALEC to the Koch Brothers – are throwing in the towel, think again.

Labor-endorsed candidates for Minnesota House, meanwhile, are under fire for making progress on issues that matter to working families, like raising the minimum wage, balancing the budget responsibly and removing barriers workers faced in organizing unions. They stood with us, and it’s up to us to stand with them in November.

The ‘78 Red Sox learned World Series aren’t decided in July. We can’t afford to learn a similar lesson about elections. It’s critical that we continue to door-knock, phone bank and talk to our friends and family about the importance of voting for labor-endorsed candidates – and do it up until the polls close on Nov. 4. Click here to find out how you can get involved.

If we refuse to succumb to complacency and, instead, keep up our intensity, I’m confident we’ll be celebrating a victory Nov. 4.

– Bobby Kasper is president of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, and a member of Laborers Local 563.

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New endorsements give shape to Minnesota AFL-CIO’s 2014 political push

June 18, 2014 by

mnaflcioThe state’s largest labor federation, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, added to its list of endorsed candidates for state and federal offices yesterday, as Labor’s 2014 political push continued to take shape locally.

Most notably, the Minnesota AFL-CIO backed 55 DFLers running for the Minnesota House of Representatives.

The DFL Party will look to defend its 12-seat majority in the House in balloting Nov. 4. Members of the Minnesota Senate, where the DFL also controls a majority of seats, will not stand for re-election until 2016.

The Minnesota AFL-CIO also announced yesterday its endorsement of Minnesota Rep. Steve Simon for Secretary of State, incumbent U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson in the 7th Congressional District and Sharon Sund in the 3rd District.

Earlier this year the state AFL-CIO endorsed Gov. Mark Dayton and his running mate, Tina Smith, along with six DFL candidates for federal offices: Sen. Al Franken; Reps. Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Rick Nolan and Tim Walz; and Mike Obermueller, Rep. John Kline’s opponent in the 2nd District.

Minnesota AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Steve Hunter said the federation and its 1,000-plus affiliate unions will work to get the state’s 300,000 union members – and 250,000 members of the AFL-CIO’s community affiliate, Working America – to the polls in support of labor-endorsed candidates this fall.

“When the Minnesota AFL-CIO endorses a candidate, it means that working people can count on that person to be their voice when they are elected to office,” Hunter said. “We look forward to electing these candidates to office and working with them to continue building a better Minnesota and country.”

In the East Metro, endorsed House candidates include incumbent Reps. Barb Yarusso (District 42A), Peter Fischer (43A), Leon Lillie (43B), Sandra Masin (51A), Laurie Halverson (51B), Rick Hansen (52A), Joe Atkins (52B), JoAnn Ward (53A), Dan Schoen (54A), Will Morgan (56B), Erin Murphy (64A), Rena Moran (65A), Carlos Mariani (65B), Alice Hausman (66A), John Lesch (66B), Tim Mahoney (67A) and Sheldon Johnson (67B).

Other East Metro candidates endorsed yesterday include Paul Gammel (32A), Laurie Warner (32B), Greg Pariseau (38B), Tim Stender (39A), Tom DeGree (39B), Kay Hendrikson (53B), Don Slaten (54B), Denise Packard (57B), Amy Willingham (58A), Marla Vagts (58B) and Dave Pinto (64B).

The federation noted it expects to add to the list of endorsed candidates in the coming weeks and months.

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Labor 2012: Minnesota unions eye legislative seats in suburban areas

October 24, 2012 by

Mona Meyer, a volunteer from the Communications Workers of America, picks up her door-knock route from Peter Polga-Hecimovich, St. Paul Regional Labor Federation political organizer.

On a sunny Saturday morning Oct. 20, dozens of union volunteers trickled into a coffee shop downtown Burnsville. They paired up, gathered routes and handbills, and fanned out across the suburb, knocking on fellow union members’ doors and talking about their labor-endorsed candidate for Minnesota House, Will Morgan.

Similar campaign activities have been taking place in Stillwater, Woodbury and other East Metro suburbs this fall, and they reveal a key strategy behind Minnesota unions’ Labor 2012 campaign: Building a better Legislature means winning in the suburbs.

“These are the races that have been tight in recent elections,” said Bobby Kasper, president of the 50,000-member St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, which organized the door-knock in Burnsville last month. “We know they are going to be really tight again this year, and labor-endorsed candidates are going to need every union vote in order to win.”

The St. Paul RLF, working with the Minnesota AFL-CIO and other union federations, has identified eight races critical to rebuilding a pro-middle class majority in the Legislature. Those candidates come from places like Shoreview, Stillwater, Woodbury, Eagan and Burnsville – places where “Tea Party” candidates swept into office two years ago, helping Republicans gain majorities in both the Minnesota House and Senate for the first time in decades.

Despite winning by narrow margins in these suburban districts, freshmen lawmakers did not seek out the middle ground at the Capitol. Rather, many of them sought to push their party to new extremes, shutting down the state government, attacking collective bargaining rights and pushing Right to Work legislation that would undermine the middle class.

Volunteers in Burnsville reported hearing a lot of frustration from union members they have talked to during door-knocks and phone banks.

“When you talk to union members out here about what the Legislature has done for middle class families, they say they are fed up with the gridlock, with the attempts to divide people,” said Mark Krey, a rank-and-file member of SEIU Local 284. “We need to get people elected who are running because they want to do good for the community – not people who just want to take the seat for the Republican Party.”

The Burnsville campaign event was the fourth door-knock this fall for Troy Eisenhuth, a member Teamsters Local 120. “I know my livelihood is at stake,” he said. “If these guys pass Right to Work, they take away my union – and they take away everything I’ve got.”

Find a list of labor-endorsed candidate – and sign up for a volunteer shift with your union – at www.middleclassmn.org.

Labor 2012 volunteers gather in a coffee shop downtown Burnsville before a door-knock organized by the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation.

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