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State AFL-CIO endorses Duckworth, waves off Zopp objections

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* From the Illinois AFL-CIO…

The state’s largest labor organization endorsed Tammy Duckworth for U.S. Senate and Susana Mendoza for Illinois Comptroller for the March Primary Election.

The Illinois AFL-CIO Executive Board voted on the endorsements at its meeting Wednesday.

Duckworth is running for the nomination to face off against first-term Sen. Mark Kirk in 2016.

“Congresswoman Duckworth has a 97 percent voting record on issues affecting working families,” said President Michael T. Carrigan. “She has a track record supporting the middle class. Her race will be one of the most important in the nation. It is critical that union members are educated and mobilized for that race.”

Mendoza is running for the Democratic nomination for State Comptroller – a race in the fall that will likely be against Gov. Bruce Rauner’s hand-picked appointee Leslie Munger. Munger was selected to fill the vacancy following the death of Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.

“The Illinois AFL-CIO endorsed Judy Baar Topinka and we supported her,” Carrigan said. “We believe Susana Mendoza will stand with working families and against the Rauner anti-worker agenda.”

Mendoza, currently the City Clerk in Chicago, had a 92 percent voting record with the state federation during her 10 years in the General Assembly.

“We have already started our education and mobilization plan with members, families and community allies,” Carrigan said. “The proposals coming out of the Governor’s office and Congress are harmful to the middle class. Who we send to Springfield and Washington can change the priority to focus on income inequality and empowering everyday working people.”

Endorsements for other races in the Illinois Primary Election are scheduled for meetings set in mid-January.

The Illinois AFL-CIO represents more than 1.5 million members of union families.

* The Chicago Tribune has Andrea Zopp’s negative react…

But Bryce Colquitt, Zopp’s campaign manager, said he believed the backing of Duckworth by the state’s umbrella organization for organized labor had been engineered earlier by outside forces.

Colquitt said Zopp’s camp originally had been told that endorsement interviews would occur in January but were asked earlier this week to meet with the AFL-CIO’s executive board on Wednesday. He said news of Duckworth’s endorsement came less than an hour after Zopp’s interview.

“This is another example of the D.C. elites tipping the scales to try to coronate Tammy Duckworth. It’s clear that their campaign is concerned about the momentum we’ve been getting,” Colquitt said. He likened the endorsement to Duckworth’s early and controversial backing from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

* So, I asked Bill Looby at the AFL-CIO for a response…

It’s not an unusual claim from candidates who didn’t receive an endorsement to say that there was outside influence on the process.

The case for supporting Tammy Duckworth is pretty clear.

This is a race with national repercussions. Duckworth has been endorsed by the Illinois AFL-CIO in her congressional races and, most importantly, she has a 97 percent voting record with the AFL-CIO. She is well-known in the labor movement and we have had thousands of union family members volunteer to knock on doors and make phone calls to help get her elected.

There are concerns about Andrea Zopp’s actions in corporate management and on the Chicago Board of Education. With the current environment in Illinois and Washington D.C., it is critical that we elect a strong and proven ally of working families to the U.S. Senate. Tammy Duckworth’s record earned her the Illinois AFL-CIO endorsement.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 11:10 am

Comments

Zopp is an awful candidate with school closings and a record on the school board that would make her tough to promote for state Rep, let alone the US Senate.

I’m just surprised she’s still around…

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 11:19 am
Zopp toed the Rahm line on the Board of Education votes and she should pay a price for that. Glad to see that mentioned specifically.

Comment by truthteller Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 11:19 am
Zopp doth protest too much.

Comment by Tournaround Agenda Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 11:19 am
Duckworth has Dick Durbin’s support. That doesn’t hurt at all with the national organizations.

Comment by Lincoln Lad Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 11:21 am
No shock here. Interesting though that they’re talking about national repercussions. They’ve got a lot of fish to fry and only so many boots on the ground. Is this their #1 priority. That might cause some indigestion elsewhere.

Comment by A guy Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 11:22 am
Zopp is a very nice and honorable person but she completely lacks a case for her candidacy. This is going to keep happening to her so she better get used to it.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 11:32 am
Washington wants that Senate seat ‘Dem’ and Kirk is seen as extremely vulnerable. Of course the national power brokers are having input. While I believe Andrea Zopp to be a quality person, the right play here is to step aside on this one, and seek a big Duckworth victory in the primary as a springboard for the real race for the seat. There can be other days and other elections for Zopp if that is her ambition.

Comment by Lincoln Lad Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 11:32 am
The “national repercussions” are no mystery. Kirk is the consensus most vulnerable of the 24 Senate GOP incumbents up for election in 2016. The national players are attempting to give Duckworth a clean shot and avoid spending money in a primary.

Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 11:38 am
The response from Bill Looby perfectly threads the needle. It’s always enjoyable to watch people do their job well.

Comment by The Captain Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 11:40 am
The AFL-CIO is doing what it has to do. When someone votes with you 97% of the time, you need to get their back.

Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 11:59 am
Bill Looby is a class act. I realize it’s not the topic of this post, but you don’t see his name that often. I’ve worked with him in the past and he has always been an honest man.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 12:02 pm
After Zopp’s work on the CPS board, I’m shocked that she’s running for the Dem nomination and not the GOP nomination.

Comment by From the 'Dale to HP Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 12:12 pm
Zopp would have a better chance trying to win Ken Durkin’s seat and built up her credentials for a higher office in the future.

Comment by A Jack Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 12:24 pm
Rather Ken Dunkin. So many ‘D’ names floating around.

Comment by A Jack Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 12:27 pm
“Engineered earlier by outside forces”?

Zopp is the candidate who was on the Chicago Public Schools board that approved the $20.5 million no-bid contract with the former employer of CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett.

And then, after that contract was linked to a federal criminal probe, Zopp said that she viewed Byrd-Bennett’s financial ties to SUPES as “a plus, not a negative.”

If Zopp were my candidate, I’d try not to talk about big decisions that were engineered earlier by outside forces.

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 12:35 pm
@A Jack: I feel your pain. Imagine what might happen if Dunkin, Durbin and Durkin were all seen in one place.

Comment by Tournaround Agenda Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 12:47 pm
But.. But Biss is a mathematical genius! Didn’t anyone tell the AFL-CIO that he was a mathematician? Surely if they knew how smart and math-y he was they would have endorsed him!

Comment by Johnny Q. Suburban Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 1:18 pm
math genius, but not a people person!

Comment by Amalia Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 1:26 pm
Andrea who?

Comment by Northsider Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 1:26 pm
I hear Zopp was told she might have been able to at least hold this endorsement off until the new year had she come out in favor of Keystone, but she hesitated — obviously concerned about upsetting the environmentalists. A mistake in my book. The Greens will be with Tammy anyway. Why not try to put the trades together with her African-American base?

Zopp’s a long shot no matter how you slice it, but she missed a chance here to do some coalition building.

Comment by Familia Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 2:00 pm
Amalia:

No one who’s had the chance to get to know Biss would say “he’s not a people person!”

I vehemently disagree with him on pension issues, but I find him easy to get along with and self-depricating, not the stereo typically aloof math professor some people assume him to be.

Comment by 4 to 1 Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 2:09 pm
Ask any SURS annuitant who tried to continue teaching on a part-time basis as a community college adjunct what they think of State Senator Biss! Hounding people making small change is not exactly the type of double-dipping that amounted to insider abuse of the pension system.

Comment by Different Strokes Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 2:21 pm
Given the recent events transpire get in Syria which despite how you feel about the President, it’s hard not to feel that his administration of foreign policy is nothing short of disaster, does anyone really want to see the Senate going back to the D’s.. We need the strongest leaders possible today in DC. Tammy Duckworth hardly fills that need.

Comment by Sue Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 3:29 pm
– Given the recent events transpire get in Syria which despite how you feel about the president…–

Well put.

Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 5:49 pm
– Keystone–

The ultimate DC grifter fundraising con to extract money from mentally challenged extremists on either end of the spectrum.

Who cares?

Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 5:53 pm
Perhaps if zoo threatens to hold her breath until she gets what she wants, they will reconsider.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 8:04 pm
Zopp

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, Oct 1, 15 @ 8:04 pm