Battleground Bulletin - Illinois

FIGHTING FOR WHAT’S RIGHT – ILLINOIS

Less than a week and counting! It’s time for another issue of Battleground Bulletin!   

As District 4 members made their final push on behalf of Labor-endorsed candidates, CWA wants to remind you that you will make the difference in the Battleground States of Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. You can depend on each new Battleground Bulletin! to keep you up to date from now to Election Day.

AFL-CIO Executive Director Karen Ackerman put it best last week on ABC’s “Top Line” when she said Labor’s get-out-the vote operations will save the day for endangered Democrats and overcome the so-called “enthusiasm gap” that belongs to anti-worker Republican candidates.

“Many of these races are going to be very close,” Ackerman predicted. “The difference will be and can be the labor vote.”

We know that about half of the 75 House seats that are in play are in high union density districts. We also know that in many states, Democratic candidates are running well in early voting results.

District 4 members played a key role in the election of President Barack Obama and a worker-friendly Congress in 2008. It’s up to us again.

We can win. We will win.

WHERE THE ACTION IS

Vice President Joe Biden joined Governor Pat Quinn in Chicago for a free "Putting Illinois Back to Work" rally October 12. Biden's appearance, just three weeks before Election Day, was a reminder of how much is at stake in the election and will serve as a rallying cry to Democratic voters.

"We're thrilled to have Vice President Biden show his support for Governor Quinn and his visit is a reminder of how much is at stake in this election," Campaign Manager Ben Nuckels said. "Joe Biden has spent his entire career fighting for working families, and he understands that the best way to help Illinois families is to elect Pat Quinn."

The announcement of Biden's visit comes as Quinn has overtaken his opponent in the polls. Under Quinn, Illinois' economic recovery is outpacing the nation. Unemployment has declined steadily in 2010, and Governor Quinn is continuing to put people in Illinois back to work. In 20 months as governor, he has worked with Ford, Navistar, UPS, and many other companies to help them save and create thousands of jobs in Illinois.

Meanwhile, polls show progressive Alexi Giannoulias making big gains in his race for a U.S. Seat. Giannoulias revealed his opponent, a Republican congressman, committed “economic treason” for raising money from U.S. businessmen in China the day before a vote on overseas business.

Giannoulias said his opponent’s vote was tied to the money and that his opponent put China’s interest ahead of that of the United States.

“It can be called nothing other than an act of economic treason,” said Giannoulias, the state’s treasurer.

CWA District 4 activists are also keeping an eye on four crucial congressional races:

In the 10th District, Dan Seal is battling nearly $600,000 worth of negative, false campaign ads by right-wing special interest groups.

In the 11th District, incumbent Debbie Halvorson has almost closed the gap against her opponent, who favors privatizing Social Security.

In the 14th District, incumbent Bill Foster, the first Democrat to represent the district since the 1970s, keeps picking up endorsements, first from the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune and now from the Batavia Daily Herald, which applauded his “centrist leaning and his willingness to listen to all sides of a question

In the 17th District, labor stalwart and incumbent U.S. Rep.Phil Hare joined Gov. Quinn in Moline for the presentation of a $10 million federal grant for a new passenger rail station. Hare’s office announced last week that the passenger rail project and construction of the $16.6 million station had been approved for a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grant. Hare said funding the project took cooperation between the state, federal and city governments.

“We’re going to be able to secure millions of dollars of grant money because of this project,” he said. “Without the huge investment that the governor made, that the state made, we wouldn’t be here.”

TOUGH TIMES FOR WORKING FAMILIES

As the result of the disastrous Bush-era economic policies, more than 1 in 8 Americans are now on food stamps.

Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that 32 states have adopted rules making it easier to qualify for food stamps since 2007. In all, 38 states have loosened eligibility standards.

Eligibility for food stamps varies from state to state, with the 11 most generous states allowing families to apply if their gross income is less than double the federal poverty line of $22,050 for a family of four.

"We've seen a huge increase in participation due to the economic downturn," said Jean Daniel, a spokeswoman for the USDA. “That's the way this program was designed."

Incredibly, food stamps have been blasted by some Republicans in this midterm election season as just another federal entitlement program.

These guys never stop. Outsource our jobs, and then take away our safety net. No wonder American families are angry!

BIG MONEY GONE WILD

The New York Times reports that Prudential Financial sent in a $2 million donation last year as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce kicked off a national advertising campaign to weaken efforts to police Wall Street bandits.

Dow Chemical delivered $1.7 million to the chamber last year as the group took a leading role in aggressively fighting proposed rules that would impose tighter security requirements on chemical facilities.

Health insurance providers funneled at least $10 million to the chamber last year, all of it anonymously, to oppose President Obama’s health care legislation.

And Goldman Sachs, Chevron Texaco, and Aegon -- a multinational insurance company based in the Netherlands -- donated more than $8 million in recent years to a chamber foundation that has been critical of President Obama’s policies.

None of these large donations were publicly disclosed by the chamber, a pro-corporation tax-exempt group that keeps its donors secret. But they show how Big Money interests have become an influential player in this fall’s Congressional elections.

These deep-pocketed donors don’t care about working Americans. In fact, most of the policies they’re peddling work against our best interests.

Remember, voting is the great equalizer. With hard work, we can send a message to the moneyed interests that are trying to buy our government.