obama campaign trail in pittsburgh - part 2

the level of intensity within the obama campaign in pittsburgh continues to build. the pittsburgh area is divided up into two main offices, one north and one south, and there are small satellite "staging offices" in almost every small township and suburb in the area. the hours are ridiculously long, and the vast majority of the staff get paid little or nothing, but the level of commitment is unwavering. the eating habits are terrible for most of us, eating whatever is quick and available, whenever they can. but food and drinks keep arriving day and night from local supporters, which is much appreciated.

one major edge of the obama campaign over the clinton campaign is the ground campaign. over a month of work on the ground here doing canvassing, phone calls and other organizing has created a impressive list of supporters and volunteers. and this week all that pre-work is put in overdrive, and the people have been coming out in droves to make it happen here in pittsburgh.

tonight i will go to a "steelers for obama" rally, which promises to be huge. got the video camera, and will be filming in between volunteering. the obama staff have joked about wanting to get a hold of "steelers for obama" gear, because that alone could win pittsburgh given how much the residents love their football team.

people of all ages stream in and out of the office at all hours of the day. and there are a handful of staff whose main job is to route the volunteers and get them working. younger residents have been making a splash here, including this group of kids who are making phone calls for the campaign (what an amazing education in grassroots democracy!).

pittsburgh, pa: wifi cloud and abandoned parking meters

this is my third day on the campaign trail here in pittsburgh, pa. as i drove across one of the 446 (!) bridges in the "city of bridges" for the first time sunday morning, i immediately liked the city. the architecture is striking, the rusting metal everywhere, the worst transportation situation of any city i have been in, and yet the gritty determination of this place is palpable. the contrasts of the city are what i noticed first, a mix of old and new, sparks of rejuvination amidst a sea of despair and economic hardship. i write this connected to the city's wifi cloud (works much better than portland's metrofi) and yet the city run parking lot next to the obama campaign office where i park the rental car has rusting and abandoned parking meters. yesterday i did some obama canvassing in one of the poorest neighborhoods i have been in in a long while, and yet 90%+ of the people i talked to where very friendly and respectful.

the afscme factor here in pittsburgh is confusing and strange, however. i have been hunting for an afscme contact--any contact, including hillary supporters--and can't find one. i spoke with an seiu organizer who is working on the obama campaign and asked her if she knew of any afscme contacts, and she didn't. i drove down to the pittsburgh afscme council headquarters, and entered a very clean and professional--and empty--office and spoke with the receptionist.
she looked at me a little strangely when i said i was an out of state afscme member looking for any local members volunteering on either hillary or obama's campaign, and said there were no longer any campaign activities in their office, and directed me to the hillary headquarters down the street. so i entered the hillary headquarters and was greeted by a very professional and friendly woman and i proceeded to ask whether she had seen or knew of any afscme volunteers and she had not, but she directed me to one of the hillary campaign staff. i then spoke with this earnest young man and asked him and his response was "well, they endorsed hillary but we don't really communicate or work together." so i gave him my contact info and asked him to call me if he found any afscme contact. so, in contrast to other cities where afscme members are actively involved in political campaigns, i can't find a single member or staff person yet in this "city of bridges".

oh well, i'm off to do more campaign work, alongside volunteers from other unions...

other unions condemn mark penn, while my union remains silent

i have spent no small amount of time trying to educate people about the extremely shady character who is hillary clinton's "chief strategist", mark penn. sourcewatch wiki gives a small taste of his misdeeds and highly questionable clients and allegiances, and a google search will yield a mountain of troubling information. i have always been amazed at how gerald mcentee, president of afscme, is able to ignore penn's role and still tirelessly claim that the clinton's "will fight for working families". as recent as april 1, mcentee was fulfilling his role as clinton apologist by claiming that she opposed nafta originally, when there are many, many documented instances of hillary clinton supporting nafta.

and most recently, mark penn was doing what he does best, being a shill for global corporations and powerful elites, while promoting a "free trade" deal in colombia. in fact, penn's p.r. firm, burson-marsteller signed a $300k contract with the colombian embassy. yes, the same colombian embassy and colombian president uribe that oversees the assassination of labor leaders in colombia. as my friends and family know, i visited colombia at the end of 2006 as part of a union delegation, and spoke with many union activists who have faced brutal repression from the uribe government, and the paramilitary that do their dirty work for them. my hate of mark penn and what he represents is direct and personal. i try not to swear on this blog, but you all know what i mean when i say "[expletive deleted] mark penn!"

so, given this recent revelation about mark penn, two of the country's most prominent unions have strongly condemned him and questioned the hillary campaign as well, which has paid penn's firm more than $10 million so far. these statements by these unions are appropriate and timely. but it is with sadness that i see that my own union, afscme, remains SILENT. gerald mcentee--president of afscme--has never disappointed me more than right now. it is time for mark penn to go, and it is time for the clintons to go, and finally it is time for gerald mcentee to [expletive deleted] go! thats right, i have finally publicly said it. in no uncertain terms, i am saying: "26 years is enough, your time is up mcentee, time to go!" i will welcome your retirement at the afscme convention this summer.

here are some quotes from unions with more courage and honor than mine.

from the teamsters:

“How can we trust that a President Hillary Clinton would stand strong against this trade deal when her top advisor is being paid by Colombia to promote it?” Hoffa said. “To support this so-called ‘free trade agreement’ is anathema to the labor movement and to anyone who supports working people, social justice or the environment.”

“This has caused us to question Clinton’s stated stances on everything from human rights and environmental issues to very basic labor issues,” Hoffa said.

from change to win:

“It’s time for Senator Hillary Clinton to send her vaunted ‘chief strategist’ Mark Penn packing -- back to his job consulting for union busting corporations and anti-labor governments for good.

“We have questioned Penn’s role in the Clinton campaign in the past for his representation of union busting employers like Cintas. At that time, Penn said there was a wall between him and his firm’s representation of union busters. The latest revelation that Penn -- whose firm represents the Colombian government in its effort to secure passage of a so-called free trade agreement -- is actively involved in securing its passage in the middle of Senator Clinton’s presidential campaign is outrageous. It also suggests that he has been playing a double role – advising the Senator on what to say to curry Democratic voters and advising the Colombian government on what to say to curry a majority of votes in Congress.