"Minnesotans are struggling with the realities of the Bush-Coleman economy," said Laura Askelin, president of the Southeastern Minnesota Area Labor Council in Rochester. "We can\'t continue on this path of putting the needs of a few over the needs of many, and unfortunately, Coleman is only concerned with the needs of a few corporate special interests."
Workers in Rochester held a news conference and rally focused on the Coleman record, while later in the day union leaders held a news conference in Duluth.
"The fact of the matter is that whoever is at the helm of this country now, whether it\'s President Bush or Norm Coleman, what they are doing isn\'t working for working people," said Al Netland, president of the Duluth AFL-CIO Central Labor Body. "Norm Coleman has spent the last five years protecting special corporate interests at the expense of Minnesotans. We need honest leadership to move our country forward, and Norm Coleman represents nothing but the same."
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| "If we want to close the gap between the rich and poor we need to fully fund education," said Vicky Bass, a junior at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth. "Norm Coleman voted to extend tax loopholes to help the rich and to keep millions in education funding from students." |
Other participants in the Duluth news conference had some fun at Coleman\'s expense, lampooning his support of the pharmaceutical industry and other corporations that have been big contributors to his campaign. Photos by Larry Sillanpa, Duluth Labor World |
Among the misplaced priorities cited at the news conferences:
• Coleman has received $206,100 in contributions from the oil and gas industry, $327,621 from the pharmaceutical industry, and $500,908 from the banking and credit industries. [Center for Responsive Politics, Accessed 3/26/08; 3/26/08; 3/26/08, 3/26/08]
• Coleman supports making the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy permanent and says Bush\'s economic policies "have had an incredible effect, producing 44 straight months of job growth, more than 7.8 million new jobs since August, 2003 and today\'s historically low unemployment rate of 4.5%." [Coleman for Senate Website, accessed 3/26/08]
• Coleman voted for legislation to keep a $5 billion tax break for big oil companies. [Republican Policy Committee, 2/7/06; Washington Post, 4/26/06; Joint Tax Committee, 5/9/06; Vote #118, 5/11/06]
• Coleman voted for legislation making it illegal for Medicare bargain over price with drug companies, which will add an additional $139 billion to corporate profits. The bill also blocked the re-importation of cheaper drugs from Canada. [Vote #459, 11/25/03; In These Times, 1/5/04; New York Times, 2/3/04; The Hill, 11/19/03]
A number of unions have endorsed Al Franken, who hopes to win the DFL Party endorsement to oppose Coleman, a Republican, in the November election.
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"Minnesotans are struggling with the realities of the Bush-Coleman economy," said Laura Askelin, president of the Southeastern Minnesota Area Labor Council in Rochester. "We can\’t continue on this path of putting the needs of a few over the needs of many, and unfortunately, Coleman is only concerned with the needs of a few corporate special interests."
Workers in Rochester held a news conference and rally focused on the Coleman record, while later in the day union leaders held a news conference in Duluth.
"The fact of the matter is that whoever is at the helm of this country now, whether it\’s President Bush or Norm Coleman, what they are doing isn\’t working for working people," said Al Netland, president of the Duluth AFL-CIO Central Labor Body. "Norm Coleman has spent the last five years protecting special corporate interests at the expense of Minnesotans. We need honest leadership to move our country forward, and Norm Coleman represents nothing but the same."
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|
| "If we want to close the gap between the rich and poor we need to fully fund education," said Vicky Bass, a junior at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth. "Norm Coleman voted to extend tax loopholes to help the rich and to keep millions in education funding from students." |
Other participants in the Duluth news conference had some fun at Coleman\’s expense, lampooning his support of the pharmaceutical industry and other corporations that have been big contributors to his campaign. Photos by Larry Sillanpa, Duluth Labor World |
Among the misplaced priorities cited at the news conferences:
• Coleman has received $206,100 in contributions from the oil and gas industry, $327,621 from the pharmaceutical industry, and $500,908 from the banking and credit industries. [Center for Responsive Politics, Accessed 3/26/08; 3/26/08; 3/26/08, 3/26/08]
• Coleman supports making the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy permanent and says Bush\’s economic policies "have had an incredible effect, producing 44 straight months of job growth, more than 7.8 million new jobs since August, 2003 and today\’s historically low unemployment rate of 4.5%." [Coleman for Senate Website, accessed 3/26/08]
• Coleman voted for legislation to keep a $5 billion tax break for big oil companies. [Republican Policy Committee, 2/7/06; Washington Post, 4/26/06; Joint Tax Committee, 5/9/06; Vote #118, 5/11/06]
• Coleman voted for legislation making it illegal for Medicare bargain over price with drug companies, which will add an additional $139 billion to corporate profits. The bill also blocked the re-importation of cheaper drugs from Canada. [Vote #459, 11/25/03; In These Times, 1/5/04; New York Times, 2/3/04; The Hill, 11/19/03]
A number of unions have endorsed Al Franken, who hopes to win the DFL Party endorsement to oppose Coleman, a Republican, in the November election.