This page was last updated on April 16, 2012.
USW President Gerard to Kick Off Labor Effort for Critz in PA 12th CD; Randy Shannon; Progressive Democrats of America – PA 4th CD Chapter; April 13, 2012.
You can learn more about BCR’s leftster management here.
From 2004 to 2008, the BCT published at least 17 letters from Mr. Shannon. I found none since 2008. You can find my critiques of those letters here, here, here, here, and here. In addition to what you learned about Mr. Shannon’s positions here and in his letters to the editor, consider the following exchange on a fellow BCR member’s Facebook wall (9/27/11).
Lefty #1: “Capitalism has to go. Merely taxing/regulating always fails in the end.”
Mr. Shannon: “Divide and conquer. Take down the crazy bankers first.”
Rather than a full-blown critique, below are my comments about selected excerpts. For those portions I did not address, I recommend you do some fact-checking if you plan to use the info. For that matter, don’t accept what I write either. It’s important for all of us to do our own research to learn whom we can and can’t trust.
Remember, Leo Gerard is not a U.S. citizen, he’s a Canadian. Mr. Gerard is a foreign national running a political-advocacy business with over 600,000 members, 2010 revenue of $277 million, and that spent over $6 million in 2010 on “Political Activities and Lobbying.” The citizenship issue is not important because of what Mr. Gerard preaches; it’s important because of his position and the power of that position to affect local, state, and federal policies. You can find more about this at the bottom of a previous critique. It’s also necessary to note truth-in-advertising would require USW management to change its business’ name. According to “Steelworkers a minority within their own union,” as of 2005 less than one-third (about 180,000 out of about 600,000) of USW “members [are] employed in the primary and fabricated metals industries.”
In fairness, the USW is not alone when it comes to leftist activists posing as a labor union. The primary business of today’s labor unions – especially at the national level - is advocacy for leftist politicians and lobbying for leftist policies/programs. The AFL-CIO is another example. According to their Department of Labor LM-2 forms, AFL-CIO management spent over $29.6 million in 2010 on “Political Activities and Lobbying.” Representing employees is simply a fund-raising chore labor union management must endure to provide funds for its lobbying and political activities. Heck, AFL-CIO CEO Richard Trumka conceded as much when he said, “I got into the labor movement not because I wanted to negotiate wages. I got into the labor movement because I saw it as a vehicle to do massive social change to improve the lots of people.”
Beware of Mr. Shannon’s language. When Mr. Shannon writes of “the labor movement,” he really means the management of political-advocacy businesses like the USW, AFL-CIO, et cetera. Elsewhere on the BCR site, Mr. Shannon appears to categorize comments “critical” of his NAFTA views as “anti-union hate.”
Mr. Shannon wrote, “Since the 2010 election Altmire has swung to the right and supported many bills passed by the Republican House majority. Altmire currently has a Democratic voting score in the 50% range. Critz has usually opposed the Republican legislation and currently has a Democratic voting score in the 70% range.” Based on the ratings of two groups that rate voting records, it appears Mr. Shannon flipped the relative “voting score[s]” of Messrs. Altmire and Crist. According to Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), Messrs. Altmire and Critz had Liberal Quotients (LQ) for 2010 of 65% and 45%, respectively. The 2010 LQ for Mr. Critz is actually 50%, however. Mr. Critz was not yet in office for two of the votes used by ADA and the ADA treated those as “no” votes. The 2011 ADA ratings are not yet published. The American Conservative Union (ACU) 2011 ratings for Messrs. Altmire and Critz were 21% and 36%, respectively. Though I’m splitting hairs, currently-available ADA and ACU ratings seem to indicate Mr. Critz has a marginally more leftist voting record than Mr. Altmire, the opposite of what Mr. Shannon alleged. In fairness, though, more groups than the ADA and ACU rate voting records along ideological lines (using their own criteria) and Mr. Shannon didn’t note which one(s) he cited.
If Mr. “Critz styles himself as a conservative” while “usually oppos[ing] the Republican legislation” as Mr. Shannon alleged, he (or Mr. Shannon) has a confusing view of what makes someone a conservative. Could lefties be dressing up Mr. Critz to appear less lefty than he really is to sway Democrat primary voters into supporting him? Remember, as a group, Southwestern Pennsylvania Democrats aren’t exactly Kucinich Democrats or anywhere near as far to the left as BCR’s management. Though it varies a little, Beaver County registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by about 2:1 and in the 2010 primary the party makeup of actual voters was nearly identical to the registration data. Despite the large Democrat registration majority, in 2004 Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) barely beat President George W. Bush (R) and in 2008 Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) barely beat then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) in BC. After the 2005 payjacking incident and some criminal activity, BC voters mostly voted for Republicans for state and federal offices during recent elections. In 2010, the only Democrats running for a state or federal office who won in BC were U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire and two unopposed state reps.
Despite the gnashing of teeth, BCR didn’t appear to do anything to get someone more to their liking to challenge Messrs. Altmire and Critz in the primary. In fact, BCR VP Robert Schmetzer allegedly endorsed Mr. Altmire. In response to that critique, BCR’s Carl Davidson wrote on Facebook (1/16/12 @ 4:27 pm), “Schmetzer was listed as representing his town chair, not PDA. I’m not sure PDA has yet taken a position on Altmire this round.” OK, but given “progressives’” frequent and vocal dissatisfaction with Messrs. Altmire and Critz, it appears BCR didn’t push a true “progressive Democrat” to challenge them in the Democrat primary. Why not? Could the Altmire/Critz bashing by lefties be a smoke screen?
Finally, be sure to read Mr. Schmetzer’s comment at the end of Mr. Shannon’s article.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity. <g>
© 2004-2012 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.