Friday, April 18, 2008

More Unions Supporting Harris for AG


The Missouri Attorney General's race continues to be the lead primary in our state. The Committee for County Progress will host a debate with all 4 candidates on May 22 at White Recital Hall at UMKC (check out our web page for more information).

The word from Koster's campaign was that he was going to get all the unions' endorsements. Clearly, he got the early ones, but the folks deciding most recently seem to be going with Harris.

Here's the Harris press release about the Boilermaker's endorsement:

Boilermakers Union Endorses Harris for Attorney General

Columbia, MO – The Boilermakers Local 27 announced today that it is endorsing Rep. Jeff Harris for Attorney General. The support union, which represents workers in Northeast Missouri, St. Louis and vicinity and Southeast Missouri, is another major labor endorsement for Harris’ campaign. Boilermakers Business Manager, David Snead, pointed to Harris’ strong record of defending issues important to working families across Missouri.

“No other candidate in this race has been as reliable an ally for working families as Jeff Harris,” said Snead. “We know that we can count on him to stand with us and to fight for the issues that matter most to Missourians and to our members. Time and again, Jeff has led the fight, not just on issues of labor, but also on issues like health care and education that matter.”

Harris thanked the Boilermakers for their support. “I am excited to have this strong organization joining our campaign,” Harris said. “We’re working hard to reach out to all voters in Missouri, and working families are a major part of the team we are building. I respect the hard work that these folks do day in and day out, and as Attorney General, I will always be on the side of Missouri’s workers.”

The Boilermakers join a strong list of labor unions backing Harris’ campaign. Harris already has won the support of AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees), International Association of Machinists State Council, Sheet Metal Workers Local 36, Operating Engineers Local 513, IBEW Local 53, IBEW Local 257, Operating Engineers Local 148, Firefighters Local 1055, and the United Transportation Union
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No doubt that Koster is raising more money - will TV ads be enough to win? Donnelly is a real nice democrat and has recently picked up the SEIU - what effect will that have?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Koster's a Republican. No amount of money will be enough to fool Democratic primary voters.

I saw he's also ducking the first debate in Kirksville too. Just how sure are you that he'll actually show up for the CCP event?

Anonymous said...

Why would Koster debate? He is the frontrunner and has nothing to gain.

Anonymous said...

Two problems with Harris. (1) Compared to Koster, his main opponent, Harris does not have sufficient campaign funds to carry him through. (2) Many do not regard him as a lawyer with sufficient experience to become AG. Some anonymous poster has several times asked for the number and names of cases that Harris has actually tried. Though this poster is pretty obnoxious, his question is a valid one. And no ever answers the question, which suggests to me that Harris doesn't have any trial experience. How is that possible? A 40-something litigator who has never tried a case?