union divisions - battle for afscme's future

for many of us within afscme there has been a battle behind the scenes for months over afscme president mcentee's personal endorsement of senator clinton. yesterday, this battle became even more public with an article on huffingtonpost.com here.

while i agree with some of what the author said, i am not convinced that race is a primary factor in these divisions within afscme. i am proudly one of clinton's white, hard-working americans, i just voted for obama in oregon's primary, and i am one of the members who pushed the issue of whether oregon should break with afscme international and endorse obama. there is no question that mcentee's early endorsement of clinton has caused a rift within afscme, and in states such as oregon where obama has been polling among our members at an average rate of 2 to 1 over clinton, the rank and file members have become increasingly pissed off at afscme international and mcentee--even those members who are supporting clinton or mccain.

to me, the fundamental issue here is not about race, but about whether unions and their political endorsements are democratically driven or not. no one was surprised that mcentee pushed through the early endorsement of senator clinton, his longtime friend. for him, i imagine it was an issue of loyalty to the clintons, combined with a desire to end his career once again having personal access to the white house and another clinton administration (mcentee's endorsement of bill clinton was highly successful and earned him special access). some have joked that mcentee just couldn't wait to take another ride on air force one. but that clashes with the fundamental reality that we pretend that afscme is a member-driven organization, and in oregon certainly--and in many other states across the country--afscme members are overwhelmingly supporting obama. in oregon, we have sent official letters and made phone calls to mcentee and the afscme executive board, requesting that they not campaign for clinton in our state, but those requests have not been honored. and thus we have a situation where our oregon afscme money and staff resources are being spent to support the candidate that our members have chosen--senator obama--while afscme international has spent tons of money on their personal candidate--senator clinton--to counter our efforts, while also personally attacking oregon afscme's leadership.

afscme international's efforts in oregon will fail, however, because obama will clearly be the democratic nominee. in the longer term, however, we will never forget the way that mcentee forced his personal choice on our union and our members, and the sharks are circling to take him out. and his "yes men" on the executive board need to be worried for their positions as well. a new generation of afscme leaders are rising, and one thing is crystal clear to us: afscme will be a member-driven democratic organization. top-down unionism died in the 20th century, some of the afscme leadership just don't realize it yet.