I was cruising the Internet this morning, and came upon this story:
The United Farm Workers (UFW) today endorsed California State Treasurer Phil Angelides’ campaign for Governor. Angelides is endorsed by UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta and more than forty labor organizations representing over 2.5 million working Californians.
“We believe you will be a Governor who will strongly represent the interests of farm workers and all the people of California,” UFW President Arturo Rodriguez wrote in a letter to Angelides. “You have demonstrated a strong and consistent commitment to fairly remedying our nation’s broken immigration system. You have shown your firm commitment to the right of farm workers to improve their lives and the lives of their families through self-organization and union contracts. Your experience in the public and private sectors has prepared you for leadership of the nation’s largest state.” (California Chronicle 4/21/06)
So, another labor endorsement for Angelides. He has a lot of them, as well as a lot of endorsements in general. I figure it’s a good thing that will help him pick up a portion of the Latino vote. But, imagine my surprise when I see this:
Controller Steve Westly’s campaign for governor today announced it has won the endorsement of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). The organization has decided upon a dual endorsement in the Democratic primary race.
“We believe you will be a Governor who will strongly represent the interests of farm workers and all the people of California. You have [also] demonstrated a strong and consistent commitment to fairly remedying our nation’s broken immigration system,” wrote Arturo Rodriguez, President of the UFW, in a letter announcing the organization’s endorsement of Westly’s candidacy. “You have shown your firm commitment to the right of farm workers to improve their lives and the lives of their families through self-organization and union contracts.” (California Chronicle 4/21/06)
Huh? Yes, this is from the same news source, same day, same evertyhing. First of all, it appeared that these “news stories” were pulled almost entirely from a press release. It is interesting that the two letters are almost exactly the same. But, I’m thinking are both of these stories were correct? The Angelides story didn’t say anything about a dual endorsement. Well, it turns out that both of these stories were correct. Dan Weintraub noticed this yesterday:
In another in a string of dual endorsements, the United Farm Workers are backing both Angelides and Westly for governor. This has got to be grating on Angelides, who thinks of himself as the labor candidate and has been working for years to secure union backing for his eventual run for governor.
I think the two press releases (likely both released by the UFW) are a bit misleading. But, both candidates get some sense of a win. But, ultimately, this is a bigger win for Westly. Angelides got the initial few labor endorsements by himself, but now the unions (and other orginizations such as the Sierra Club) are beginning to hedge their bets. For Westly, just blocking Angelides getting the entirety of the union infrastructure is a positive.
I think there’s two forces at work here. First, you have your traditional self-preservation. The unions want to be on the side of the winner, or more accurately, don’t want to be on the side of the loser.
So, the second point, which I suppose is almost inseparable from the first point, is that the unions appear to really favor Angelides. He has been working for the union vote for a long time. Issuing the joint endorsement allows them to feel secure in endorsing Angelides. However, this has got to be a point of consternation for the Angelides campaign. It’s a sign that a lot of power brokers in the Democratic party are feeling Westly’s momentum. Angelides really needs a big win of some sort at this point. I’m not sure what that would be, but he needs to slow Westly’s momentum, pronto.
