OFF THE FLOOR
A Capitolwire Column
By Peter L. DeCoursey
Bureau Chief
Capitolwire
BLUE BELL (Sept. 24) – Union leader Henry Nicholas helped elect Milt Shapp, Dick Thornburgh and Ed Rendell to the governorship of Pennsylvania. He also played a big role in the rise of myriad other political careers, including U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Philadelphia.
Now Nicholas, the international vice president of AFSCME, is working hard to be the John The Baptist for Rob McCord’s gubernatorial campaign. Just before McCord announced that campaign today, Nicholas previewed what he believes will happen to catapult McCord into a Democratic primary win.
“We’re looking for a winner in the fall, and Rob is it,” said Nicholas. “He will have the support of AFSCME, the Teamsters and I am working on the teachers (union) and they are going to be there. And I think Rob will get the endorsement of the AFL-CIO.
“I am friends with all of the candidates, I am friends with Allyson: She can’t win in the fall. Rob can. She can’t win in the center of the state. Rob can.”
Nicholas says McCord is the most electable Democrat and “this election is about the labor movement’s survival in Pennsylvania.”
He believes the Legislature will pass anti-labor laws, including a right-to-work bill, and in a second term, Gov. Tom Corbett will sign them. He said McCord is the labor movement’s best, perhaps only, chance to stop that.
“I’m here representing my AFSCME International union, as senior vice president,” said Nicholas, who is also the president of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, and of Local 1199c in Philadelphia. “We are representing 250,000 members, and they are 100 percent behind Rob McCord.
Well, like John the Baptist, Nicholas may not be wrong, but he is at least a bit early, according to David Fillman, head of the state worker’s AFSCME local.
Of his AFSCME union’s endorsement of McCord, Fillman said: “That’s not quite true. I have not taken any action at this point,” pending an endorsement meeting by his team in late October or early November. “I have not officially done anything at this point. I have worked well with Rob. I have to canvass my members and see where they are before we do anything.”
But when you talk to those in the know about that endorsement, they believe Fillman’s AFSCME and the other locals around the state are going to endorse McCord unless something major changes between now and when the votes occur.
Which is normally Nicholas’ modus operandi: work behind the scenes to get everyone moving toward where you want them to go, then go public and create an expectation that they will do what you want to do. It is a recipe that mostly works, even though it tends to annoy the folks you are trying to guide, like Fillman.
It is not that Fillman and others will follow because Nicholas led, but rather that he and other early and influential union leaders – Wendell Young of the UFCW and Mike Dunleavy of the IBEW, the union which hosted the second leg of McCord’s announcement tour in Pittsburgh – have done a good job of explaining why they want McCord and why they believe he is best for unions.
Of course, so far, McCord’s publicly-declared union support is tied with that of Schwartz, and a little ahead of Katie McGinty.
But if Nicholas is right that the teachers union will end its declared neutrality, then he believes he can get McCord the AFL-CIO endorsement, which could be very significant.
Two big hurdles loom in that process: There’s the two-thirds of the member unions of the AFL that have to vote for someone to get that endorsement. And then back in 2002, when the AFL-CIO did endorse someone -Bob Casey Jr. – they ended up the least relevant force they had ever been when Rendell won the primary.
So there is a certain sense in which some union leaders want to sit out this primary – no one wants to pick wrong.
But Nicholas is one of those guys, like former state AFSCME leader Ed Keller, who is a master of the process of creating political and union momentum.
The campaigns of U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Montgomery, York businessman Tom Wolf and Katie McGinty all declined to comment on Nicholas’ views and activities on behalf of McCord.
Former DEP Secretary John Hanger responded: “As a former member of 1199c, and the only candidate who has carried a union card for a total of 8 years, I look forward to making my case to organized labor. The next Democratic governor must work to strengthen unions because a growing union movement is essential to addressing the horrendous income inequality that is devastating workers and decreasing economic growth.”
