Inside The RNC's Union Outreach
RNC chair Ken Mehlman and other top GOP officials used recent meetings with organized labor to urge them to give to GOPers in key '06 races, bolster or begin contributions to the nat'l party cmtes and cease donations to 527s, according to multiple union sources.
A total of 3 meetings were held, in descending order of how friendly the GOPers deemed the unions by a standard of their giving history and what they did in the '04 WH race. WH pol. dir. Sara Taylor attended all three. The 1st pow-wow included the Seafarers, Carpenters and IUOE, all viewed as among the most Republican-friendly organizations in the labor movement. The second included the firefighters, the painters, the iron workers and the laborers. Many of these (most notably the 1st) actively opposed Pres Bush in '04, but all give generously to labor-friendly congressional GOPers. The final meeting included SEIU, UniteHere, the Airline Pilots, the plumbers and the NEA. A GOPer familiar with the meetings did not deny the ranking of the meetings, but noted that all invited had shown at least some measure of GOP support to merit the invite.
Republican strategists have long seen untapped potential in labor unions. But the WH, led by DCoS Karl Rove has generally frowned upon direct outreach. As WH pol. dir, though, Mehlman was always willing to talk to unions and Taylor has similarly kept her door open. Still, only the abjectly neutral unions have had access to key policymakers at 1600 Penn Ave, creating what one sympathetic labor official called a "very narrow friendship."
A GOP official said "Ken's message at the meeting was, 'We're going to hold the House and Senate. There are a lot of foks who you have reasons to support in our party. And because [these] Republicans have been supportive on your issues, we want you to support the party.'" The GOPers and unions assessed races in which their interest coincided. These included OH's marquee Senate contest, which has split labor. (The AFL-CIO and Change to Win efforts will generally help Democrats, while several individual unions, like the firefighters, will marshal support for Sen. Mike DeWine). Another was the re-election of embattled Rep. Bob Ney. A member of the transportation cmte, Ney retains the loyalty of many building trade unions. Others: Sen. Lincoln Chafee (RI) and Rep's Mike Fitzpatrick (PA), Jim Gerlach (PA) and Rob Simmons (CT). [JONATHAN MARTIN and MARC AMBINDER]
According to several sources, Mehlman asked participating unions to support, by dint of contributions, the RNC, the NRCC and the NRSC. They also hinted that donations to the RGA and the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership would be most appreciated.
In exchange for the "ask," the Republicans promised nothing but continued friendship. Several union officials briefed on the meeting hope the less antagonistic approach by Republicans predicts a future of, say, regular labor meetings with OMB officials and with White House domestic policy aides who have the ear of new chief of staff Joshua Bolten. Others say they want heads up when executive branch decisions might hurt their members' interests.
An SEIU official was optimistic: "We've worked closely with the RGA, Republican Main Street Partnership and the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee and we are expanding our participation in Republican primaries. Our program to recruit and train Republican SEIU members is a key piece of that effort." But, said the official: "Our message to them was essentially that we've worked with (and made contributions to) Republican candidates and lawmakers at all levels of government for many years and that support has been and always will be based on their record of/commitment to getting results on the issues that matter most to SEIU members in their state or district."
Other unions were more skeptical. Pol. directors are circulating an article from Saturday's Washington Post reporting that the Dept. of Energy has decided to reduce benefits for DoE contract workers. Among those unions with members working on DoE projects: the laborers, the carpenters and the operating engineers.
According to two independent sources, ex-DOL CoS Andrew Siff and GOP lobbyist/fundraiser Matt Keelen coordinated the meetings and vetted the attending unions.