Unions target GOP centrists in TV ads on cuts

[Rose Siding]

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Two unions on opposite sides of the recent labor-movement divide, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), are sponsoring the TV ads and a corresponding grassroots public-relations campaign. The move signals a burgeoning political partnership between the Change to Win Coalition, a breakaway labor federation that SEIU formed in September, and the AFL-CIO, of which AFSCME remains a member.
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The report, which achieves about $40 billion in budget cuts by slowing spending increases on Medicaid and other entitlement programs, will be revoted on more than a month after its original passage thanks to a series of Democratic procedural motions made before the end of last year’s session. AFSCME and SEIU now hope to heighten negative political consequences for centrist Republicans who must follow up their budget vote with a vote to extend $70 billion in corporate tax cuts.

“Many moderates didn’t realize that draconian cuts to programs for seniors were even included in the conference report,” McEntee said. “Now that they have had over a month to study the bill, they should understand why bucking their leadership and voting down the cuts is the right thing to do.”
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The eight-state ad buy will cost more than $500,000, according to SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger, and focus on the conference report’s cuts to Medicaid and nursing-home benefits for senior citizens. Centrist Republicans in 27 more states will be the targets of direct-mail and online protests, supplemented by labor-sponsored town meetings intended to educate constituents about the budget bill’s specifics.

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/011806_budget.html

[Bluzmann57]

1. Here in Iowa, I've heard a lot of those ads

Mostly from afscme.