political assassination: not to be taken lightly

senator clinton's very unfortunate remark today about bobby kennedy's assassination has resonated around the world:

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," she said, dismissing calls to drop out.

and it wasn't the first time either. back in march, she said nearly the same thing in a time magazine interview:

"I think people have short memories. Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A. My husband didn't wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June, also in California."

exactly a week ago (may 16), mike huckabee effectively ended his chances of being a mccain vp choice with his reckless and very inappropriate joke at the national rifle association:

"That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he — he dove for the floor."

and just yesterday, senator tom carper was pushing for clinton to be obama's vp, but made this remark:

"I'll encourage [Obama] to ask, and if he does, for her to say yes. She would be a good president if something ever were to happen to him."

...if something ever were to happen to him...if something ever were to happen to him...what the hell is up with the clinton campaign team and their surrogates right now? why on earth would senator clinton ever even use the term "assassination"? why on earth is tom carper using the possibility of something happening to obama to help "make his case" for why clinton should be vp? well, after the events of today, senator feinstein, senator carper and bill clinton can focus on other asks, because like with huckabee last week, this puts to rest any further talk of an obama-clinton ticket. i am not suggesting that the clinton campaign is secretly hoping for obama to be assassinated, but i am suggesting that they are very sloppy with their words, and senator clinton will be perceived as considerably less "presidential"--and possibly not even "senatorial"--after today's "misspeak".

the assassination of bobby kennedy was a national tragedy, like the assassination of jfk, like the assassination of martin luther king, jr. my father was in his early thirties when bobby kennedy was killed, and had been a supporter of his campaign. he was a teacher and was excited about the prospect of a bobby kennedy presidency. my father and i have talked about the similarities with obama's campaign now, the excitement that so many of us feel for change, the willingness of average citizens to get involved to move this country forward. but bobby kennedy's death changed my father's life forever, and he boarded a plane for europe the day after bobby was killed, and has lived most of his years since in europe. he will never forget that day, just as many older volunteers have stated to me during my time volunteering for the obama campaign--that they remember the day king died and they remember jfk, and their hope for obama is tempered by the nagging fear that it could happen again.

on may 18, the 75,000 person obama rally in portland was the biggest of the campaign so far, and one of the biggest political campaign rallies in history. after the event, the volunteers were cleaning up the litter and re-stacking all the barricades that we had setup the night before. i was next to the podium where obama had stood and watched as the secret service were dismantling it. the waist high railing had been reinforced with metal plates of some kind, and as they removed them a chill went down my spine--these were there to protect obama from an assassin. the words of my father echoed in my mind, and there was a sense of deja vu.

so, in this context, i am deeply disappointed to hear huckabee, senator clinton and her surrogates so carelessly feed the conscious or unconscious political assassination fears of millions of americans. we don't need another national tragedy. now--more than ever--we need "change we can believe in".

union divisions - part 3 - afscme president's response

in response to the anonymous email that was sent out this week to afscme staff and members (see previous blog post), afscme president gerald mcentee sent out his own broadcast email today. i can't help but notice the irony in the fact that the anonymous email service was supposedly "outsourced" to a service provider in japan. the clintons have long been big proponents of corporate globalization, and thus it is interesting that their friend--mcentee--is now taking heat via anonymous emails sent from an offshore corporation that makes money by benefiting from the jurisdictional and legal limitations of the internet age.

one thing about mcentee's email that i agree with is when he states: "When there are disagreements, we should be able to debate face-to-face." it is no fun and unfair to be attacked anonymously and not be able to counter the arguments. that is why i make no attempt to hide my identity on this blog. i certainly have my disagreements with mcentee--especially as he continues to spend our members' money on the clinton campaign and continues to attempt to drive a wedge between working families with his "electibility" arguments against obama--and so i can't wait to get to the afscme convention in san francisco and "debate face-to-face" about these and other issues.

this is mcentee's email response:

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

You may have received an anonymous email (attached) that is circulating around the country making false and outrageous claims about AFSCME's political program and finances.

I am personally offended by the falsehoods included in the e-mail, including the suggestion that the rights of our members "have been trampled on by some of our union leaders," including members of the International Executive Board.

As you know, our decision-making process is democratic and our finances are transparent.

It is especially disturbing to me that this email is being sent anonymously. We have a proud history of open and honest debate. False accusations and name-calling have no place in our union, and no one should be making unsubstantiated charges from behind a curtain.

The email writer went to extreme lengths to remain cloaked in secrecy. When we looked into the matter, we learned that they outsourced their lies and distortions to Japan. Specifically, they used a Japanese website designed to allow people to send anonymous emails. The purpose of the site is to hide the identity of the user and to skirt American liability and privacy laws. The company gets paid to send anonymous emails and they promise to delete all traces of the transaction.

The Japanese company even tells prospective customers that they "will absolutely not release any kind of user data without a court order from the Supreme Court of Tokyo, Japan."

I hope you will let us know if this email from Japan makes its way to you or your members. When there are disagreements, we should be able to debate face-to-face.

In solidarity,

GERALD W. McENTEE

union divisions - part 2 - afscme anonymous email...

the internal strife within afscme got cranked up another notch this week when someone sent out an anonymous email to afscme staff and some members about president mcentee, his friend hillary clinton and the millions of members' dollars that have been poured into the clinton campaign. news of the email spread like wildfire on wednesday morning, 5/21. at first i thought it was only sent to oregon afscme people, but then was highly amused to find that it had been sent out nationwide. some people who know i have been a vocal critic of afscme international's handling of the clinton campaign endorsement asked me if i was involved. some of the issues that are raised in the email are certainly ones that i have raised before, but those who know me well know that it was not me for two big reasons:

1. the language used and style of writing in the email is not mine. people can look back through my blog posts to see that i clearly have a different writing style.
2. if i sent out such an email, i would not hesitate for a second to put my name on it. i wouldn't need to use an anonymous email service. i would sign it proudly: michael o hanna, vice president of afscme local 88 in portland, oregon.

so, without further delay, here is the email that has been circulated this week (i will follow up in the next post with mcentee's email response):

If you're going to San Francisco for the AFSCME Convention be sure to bring a calculator. The Bill of Rights for Union Members in the Preamble of the AFSCME International Constitution (p.8, sub. 6) provides:

"Members shall have a right to a full and clear accounting of all union funds at all levels. Such accounting shall include, but not be limited to, periodic reports to the membership by the appropriate fiscal officers and periodic audits by officers elected for that purpose or by independent auditors not otherwise connected with the union."

The same Bill of Rights (p.8, Sub. 2, second sentence) provides:

"Active discussion of union affairs shall be encouraged and protected within this organization."

We know as trade unionists rights exist only on paper until we fight to make them a reality. Get ready for a fight in San Francisco. Our rights have been trampled on by some of our own union leaders.

We began this political season with millions and millions of dollars designated by the membership for political action. We also began the political season with the three top Democratic candidates who all have 100% AFSCME voting records. Sadly, as the first phase of the political season ends, we have have squandered our millions of earmarked political dollars in a irrational struggle to deprive Barack Obama, a US Senator with a 100% AFSCME voting record, the Democratic endorsement. Our leaders have squandered the money to the point where we have now borrowed millions from the banks to finance this massive waste of our resources. Resources that should have been saved for the general election in the fall or spent in primaries that really mattered to the membership.

President Gerald McEntee was elected to shepard our resources. Instead he has been feeding the wolves, the in-laws of the wolves, the cousins of the wolves, and the distant acquaintances of the wolves.

We are entitled to an answer to a simple question to the International President:

"What did AFSCME members gain by spending all our political money, and more borrowed money, in a futile attempt to defeat Barack Obama?"

We are entitled to the answer to another simple question:

"What was the TOTAL amount of our money spent (political money and other non-political money) on this futile effort?"

We are entitled to have a full, fair, and active discussion of this fiasco at the convention.

We are entitled to know if McEntee, as a DNC member, first voted to disenfranchise Florida and Michigan voters and now claims to be concerned about counting our votes in those states. The only reason he is on the DNC in the first place is because of our union. It surely is not due to his political genius. He is on the DNC because of our clout.

We are entitled to know how our International Vice-Presidents voted on spending all our money and then borrowing more money from banks to attack Obama.

We are entitled to all this because we are AFSCME. We are union members and we have a national constitution where we established rights to make sure future generations of AFSCME members would always have the best and most democratic union in the country. We put it down on paper. We wrote it into our constitution. We voted to ratify the constitution. Now it is time to stand up for our unions constitution by demanding answers.

We will undoubtly face a fight in San Francisco to enforce our own constitution. Be prepared to stand up for our union. McEntee is right about one thing. This IS an internal AFSCME problem and we need to fix it in San Francisco so it never happens again.

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.