SEIU officials: Blanche Lincoln should forget about our support in general election

In a move that's likely to ratchet up already-white-hot post-Arkansas tensions between organized labor and the White House, officials with the labor powerhouse SEIU are confirming that they are all but certain not to back Blanche Lincoln in the general election.

SEIU sends over a statement from national political director Jon Youngdahl that constitutes the first on-the-record threat since the election not to support the Democrat:

For all the talk about what this race meant, the pundits are missing the point: all around this country their are families who've lost their jobs or watched their paychecks shrink. They are fighting to keep homes they've owned for 20 years. They are wondering how they are going to send their kids to school. These voters are demanding candidates who are speaking for them, not for the special interests who have destroyed our economy. And we will be at their side making sure that our members, their families and their communities have a voice in the process.

We'll see if Blanche Lincoln is made a better Senator for having to answer to working Arkansans over these past few weeks. And if you are Larry Kissell (NC-08) or Zach Space (OH-18) or Mike McMahon (NY-13) or Michael Arcuri (NY-24) or another candidate who stopped advocating for the needs of working families once elected, the labor movement is going to be at the side of those voters who demand change.

They will support her as soon as she moves back to the left (where she votes) after every election.

http://www.seiu.org/2010/06/arkansas-senate-race-lesson-that-working-families-will-hold-all-elected-officials-accountable.php

“The tens of thousands of volunteers and activists have made their point loud and clear: If you stop fighting for working families, working families will stop fighting for you.”

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“Working families” aka UNION members

SEIU President Mary Kay Henry was formerly a labor adviser to and member of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops’ Subcommittee on Catholic Health Care.

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(SEIU) Pledge to Boycott Arizona

It started in Arizona and it needs to stop in Arizona.

But despite growing outcry against SB 1070, Republican lawmakers in states across the country are embracing anti-immigrant copycat legislation similar to Arizona’s SB1070.

America wants serious solutions to our immigration problems—not frivolous policies, like Arizona’s SB 1070 that undermine public safety, waste millions of taxpayer funds, and imperil our most basic civil rights.

That is why, as we stand against intolerance in Arizona, SEIU is simultaneously stepping on the gas to make sure that Congress and the White House respond to the vast majority of Americans who want a serious, comprehensive immigration solution now.

“serious, comprehensive immigration solution” aka AMNESTY (means more UNION members)

AR-SEN: SEIU helped Bill Halter retire campaign debt

according to an SEIU official, SEIU is joining forces with other unions to work to retire the campaign debt of Arkansas Lt. Governor Bill Halter from his Lt. Gov. race.

Halter has been an outspoken proponent of health care reform, including a strong public option. In November, Lawrence O’Donnell interviewed Halter to discuss the Countdown viewer-sponsored free health clinic in Little Rock.

Bill Clinton told FDL’s Eve Gittelson that it would be problematic for him to attend a free medical clinic being held in Little Rock, Arkansas(organized by the National Association of Free Clinics) tomorrow because MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann had “politicized” the event.” He indicated that some were turning the event into a primary kickoff against Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln.

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