[Editor’s Note: In an attempt to present balanced coverage of the City Attorney race leading up to the March 5 primary, here are separate partisan reports from each camp, Mr. Feuer first, followed by Mr. Trutanich.]
Continuing to win the lion’s share of important labor endorsements, Mike Feuer today announced an endorsement from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) District Council 36, in his City Attorney campaign.
“The differences between the leading candidates in the race for City Attorney could not be more stark,” said Alice Goff, President of AFSCME Local 3090. “City Attorney Carmen Trutanich claims to be on the side of working people. Yet when challenged by his opponent to share in the sacrifice of his workers by taking a pay cut equal to the cuts workers in his office already endure, Trutanich refused.
“On the other hand, Mike Feuer has a stellar record of always being on the side of working people.
“More than just sharing in sacrifices with workers, Mike has been a leader, a champion for countless causes and issues important to the labor movement. Mike shares our values. He shares our belief in a fair economy with a strong middle class that's rooted in good jobs, fair wages, decent benefits. For these reasons and more, we are pleased to give him our full support.”
Said Mr. Feuer: “This endorsement is especially important because it signals to labor groups who have yet to endorse in this race that I am the best candidate for L.A.'s working people.”
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is the second largest union in the United States, and the largest public employee union. It represents s1.3 million members. More than 10 percent of its members work for private non-profit agencies and organizations.
District Council 36 is comprised of 48 AFSCME Locals from Southern California counties representing close to 21,000 members, including workers from the Bet Tzedek (The House of Justice) Legal Services Union, where Mr. Feuer formerly worked in the late 1980s and early ‘90s.
For information about the Feuer for City Attorney campaign, see: http://www.votemikefeuer.com/
John Schwada reports that incumbent Carmen Trutanich gains an endorsement, too:
Giving his re-election campaign a big shot of adrenalin in the final days of 2012, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has won the endorsement of the Painters and Allied Trades District Council 36.
“It’s not every day that we can endorse an elected official who is a union member,” said Robert Smith, political director of the union. “When I heard Nuch had walked a picket line with our ILWU brothers and sisters [in the recently settled port strike], it just made it clear again that he's the right choice.”
As city attorney, Mr. Trutanich has protected the tax dollars of the city’s working men and women from frivolous lawsuits. He has prosecuted big banks that have hurt city employees’ pension funds and blighted working class neighborhoods by letting properties they have acquired through foreclosure go to seed.
“We want a city attorney like Nuch who has had real experience in the legal trenches, who has worked jury trials, who has walked more than a mile in the same shoes as the troops in his office,” Mr. Smith said. “Nuch is the real deal.”
“The endorsement of working men and women is something you have to earn said Mr. Trutanich. “When Council 36 endorses you, it’s like earning a medal of honor – a testimonial that you’ve got the right stuff, that you have stood by working people.”
The Painters and Allied Trades District Council 36 represent 11,000 working men and women in Southern California who work in finishing trades and include painters, drywall finishers, glaziers, floor-layers, and tradeshow and sign-craft workers.
Mr. Schwada, director of communications for the Trutanich campaign, may be contacted at John.schwada@gmail.com
