California billionaire and extreme “green” hypocrite Tom Steyer has partnered with the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association to form a new super PAC. The PAC — called For Our Future — plans to “mobilize voters in key Senate races and presidential battleground states.” Veteran Democratic strategist Paul Tewes, the top political director for President Obama’s 2008 campaign, will run it.
Steyer has agreed to “match the donations that the unions put into the group, helping amplify labor’s resources” as part of the partnership.
But, not all union executives are pleased with the prospect of partnering with Steyer.
According to the Washington Post, the presidents of eight building trade organizations have declared their opposition to the new super PAC. After stating that they will refuse to contribute to For Our Future, the union leaders demanded that AFL-CIO rethink the partnership. Via the Washington Post:
Terry O’Sullivan, general president of the laborers’ union, went even further in a separate letter to Trumka, accusing the labor federation of selling its political agenda to “a job-killing hedge fund manager with a bag of cash.”
“This Super PAC creates a significant conflict between the interests of hard-working union members and the interests of those running the Super PAC,” he wrote.
“With your blessing and support, Tom Steyer has purchased the backing, prestige, and control of the AFL-CIO, and will now use it to advance his own agenda, promote his own views, and further his own political ambitions,” he wrote. “This scheme is the logical outcome of an obsession with, and a desire to throw open the doors of labor to, outside organizations that are completely out of touch with the needs and concerns of ordinary, blue-collar working Americans.”
At issue for the building trade unions is Steyer’s fierce opposition to an extension of the Keystone XL Pipeline — something the unions championed due to the jobs that the oil pipeline would have created.
The union leaders feel that the AFL-CIO have sold out the “importance of building trades jobs and our members’ livelihoods” in favor of pursuing a “a coalition strategy with outside organizations that has produced mixed results at best and disastrous results at worst” for blue collar workers and employment prospects throughout the country.
Building trade union leaders are right to take issue with the super PAC — and any prospect of partnering with Steyer. If there is one thing that we know of the hypocrite Steyer, it is that he would sacrifice anything (but his own wealth/investments) to push an extreme “green” ideology that doesn’t actually benefit our environment.
Jobs and future employment prospects mean nothing to the extreme “green” billionaire. The fact that AFL-CIO has partnered with Steyer reveals how out-of-touch the union has become to its own members.
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