University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, April 14, 1992
CAMPAIGN'92
5
Union leaders back Clinton
AFL-CIO chiefs recommend endorsement of Arkansas governor
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The powerful AFL-CIO moved toward endorsing Bill Clinton yesterday—a boost for the Democratic candidate because the giant labor federation had appeared ready to stay on the sidelines for several more months.
About 20 of the AFL-CIO's vice presidents recommended that their governing board throw the full weight of the 14.2 million-member federation behind the Arkansas governor.
AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland said recession-weary union members wanted a new administration in the White House — one that cared about working people and would work to improve their lives. Endorsing Clinton is the best way to accomplish that goal, Kirkland said at a news conference.
Clinton, in a statement issued in Little Rock, Ark., called the recommendation very gratifying. "I too believe it is time to act," he said. "We must energize a consensus for economic growth that we can all share."
It was the latest evidence that the Democratic Party and its activist groups were rallying around Clinton, who holds a commanding lead in delegates over his lone rival, former California Gov. Jerry Brown.
In recent days, House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia endorsed Clinton. Other party leaders who will be so-called super delegates to the convention also are expected to come his way.
Overall, Clinton has 1,277 delegates to Brown's 264, according to an Associated Press survey. It takes 2,145 delegates to the nomination.
Brown, campaigning in San Francisco, shrugged off the latest moves toward Clinton.
"They wrote us off," he said. "And we're still coming. This movement is still growing. It is a tortoise-and-a-bare story."
Keith Polite, Brown's Northern California coordinator, added that an AFL-CIO endorsement would be the decision of union leaders, not an indication of how the rank and file would vote.
Kirkland said the labor movement's backing should help Clinton to start focusing on the fall election against President Bush.
Instead of having to scrap for delegates until right before the Democratic National Convention in July, Clinton should be able to spend the time mapping a strategy to unseat Bush, Kirkland said.
Labor leaders want to protect Clinton from what happened to Walter Mondale in 1984, when Mondale was still fighting for delegates late in the primary season. He arrived at the convention exhausted and because of that made mistakes in the general election, Kirkland said.
Some union leaders had hesitated to back Clinton because he comes from a right-to-work state and has a spotty labor record. Brown, meanwhile, had a near flawless labor record as California governor.
Many union leaders have long voiced dissatisfaction with this year's choices and openly yearned for the entry of a big-name Democrat, such as Gephardt or New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
But Kirkland said that at yesterday's meeting there had been no reluctance to endorse Clinton and that he did not expect anyone else to enter the race.
"I have no sense of there being some white knight out there who would lead me."
The move to back Clinton came from the AFL-CIO's political works committee. That panel, made up of presidents of the nation's largest unions,
voted unanimously to recommend that the federation's 34-member executive council back Clinton at its May 5 meeting.
Many big unions, such as teachers, public employees, and service workers, already had endorsed Clinton.
But other union leaders had waited, largely because of Clinton's lackluster labor record. Clinton was criticized by the AFL-CIO in Arkansas for advertising the state as a low-wage state when trying to lure overseas investment.
In addition, Arkansas has a poor worker-safety record, and Clinton backs negotiating a free-trade pact with Mexico. Labor strongly opposes the free-trade agreement, fearing it will result in the loss of U.S. citizens' jobs to Mexico.
Clinton's problems with labor prompted many locals, such as United Auto Workers in Michigan and the Teamsters union in New York, to back Brown.
Union leaders who sided with Clinton have been pushing for a full-fledged AFL-CIO endorsement, arguing that it would weaken Brown's claim to labor support and enable the labor movement to make a difference in the Democratic presidential race.
Labor leaders call new limit on contributions ineffective
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Bush's order limiting some union political spending — most of which supports Democrats — probably would not have much impact except to create a bookkeeping headache, labor leaders said yesterday.
The AFL-CIO is exploring a possible legal challenge to the order, said AFL-CIO President, Lane Kirkland. Bush's action was a political gesture and would have little or no effect on the way the 14.2 million-member labor federation and its 90 unions conduct political business.he added.
It applies to what unions call "agency fee payers," or non-union workers who are required to pay uniform dues to cover the union's costs of negotiating new contracts and filing worker grievances. These are workers in what are frequently called agency shops.
Bush's order only covers nonunion workers employed by federal contractors. Workers in right-to-work states are not affected because they may refuse to join unions or to pay any dues.
The order also has no effect on labor's monetary contributions to candidates, because federal law
already prohibits dues from being used for that purpose. Instead, direct contributions come from political action funds financed by voluntary worker checkoff donations and other means.
The order stemmed from a 1988 Supreme Court decision that said non-union employees could not be forced to pay the equivalent of union dues if some of that money went to activities unrelated to collective bargaining, contract administration, or grievance adjustment.
Carl Frankel, the Steelworkers attorney, and other labor officials said the Bush order alone should have little impact because since the court's decision, unions had been notifying those who paid the fees that they did not have to help cover political costs.
The Bush administration said an estimated 3 million non-union employees working under labor contracts were in union or agency shops where they must pay union fees. The White House said about $2.4 billion was paid out each year in union dues.
Kirkland said labor attorneys were exploring whether Bush could legally issue an executive order on matters covered by the National Labor Relations Act.
Protesters criticize Clinton's incineration policy
The Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE. Ark. — When
Jacksonville becomes her city,
she shall be brightness.
Bill Clinton might be tempted to do the same.
For as long as he's been governor, Clinton has been caught in a bitter struggle over tons of toxic remains from a chemical plant that produced much of the Agent Orange herbicide sprayed during the Vietnam War.
State and federal agencies are cooperating in the destruction of 30,000 barrels of chemicals. Many are laced with dioxin, a compound so toxic it prompted the town of Times Beach, Mo., to be abandoned.
ment at all," said Golgan, 43, a leader of local protest groups.
Indeed, the dioxin concentrations in chemicals being burned here are
But even as the incinerator here burns night and day, Golan and other environmentalists are trying to stop the government — and the Arkansas governor who is campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"We're mad at Clinton because he has never taken a stand except for incineration," said Ruby Brown, a 60-year-old widow who is president of People Against A Chemically Contaminated Environment. "I take no pleasure in saying I feel like Jacksonville is a dumping ground."
"He has no regard to the environ-
Critics argue that unburned dioxin escapes into the air during the incineration process. They say the waste material instead should be stored or exported — or perhaps destroyed with some new chemical technology.
Kenneth L. Smith, Clinton's special assistant for natural and cultural resources, said the governor backed incineration because it was the only disposal method the Environmental Protection Agency would permit.
A dense, white smoke shoots up from the incinerator's short stack, barely 300 yards from scores of homes. It is one of the few visible signs of what worries this town next door to Little Rock Air Force Base.
The town is one of only a handful of places where dioxin has been incinerated, and federal officials say more of it may be found elsewhere than anywhere else in the country.
Three sites covered under the feder-
Chemicals and herbicides were produced at the plant under various owners dating to the 1940s, including much for the military.
Local environmental groups say contamination has caused cancers, miscarriages, birth defects and infant deaths. State and local officials say there is no scientific evidence to back that up.
"I'm not aware of any massive health problems in the city of Jacksonville." said Mavor Tomvor Swaim.
No one doubts that pollution has spread from the site. Fishing and swimming have been banned in Lake Dupree at a nearby city park. Wells and property also were contaminated. And dixin from the plant found its
way into Bayou Meto, prompting the state to ban commercial fishing for 100 miles downstream to the Arkansas River. The bayou, once a source of catfish, will be contaminated for hundreds of years, officials acknowledge
John Wicklund, a consultant to EPA on the project, said that once the thick toxic stew inside the yellow plastic drums is destroyed the plant's soil and buildings themselves are to be incinerated. Waste once dumped freely in the landfills will be dig up and burned.
The state learned of the dioxin in Jacksonville in 1979, the year after Clinton was first elected governor.
He eventually sided with the EPA in agreeing that incineration was the best way to get rid of it. The state took responsibility and found a contractor.
Since then, Clinton has become the target of opponents of incineration.
Twoyearsago, Golgan led a group of grotesquely costumed protesters who attempted to present Clinton with a "Mutant Award" — a one-eyed happy face. More recently, protesters
denounced Clinton in the state capitol, and questions about Jacksonville have been hurled by environmentalists as he campaigned outside the state.
With data from air monitors, opponents recently forced the state and EPA to acknowledge that test burns did not destroy dioxin to target levels. But EPA dismissed the findings as meaningless.
"What they're doing is scientifically and morally reprehensible," said Pat Costner, toxic research director for the environmental group Greenepace. "They're proceeding in just flagrant disregard for public health."
Clinton pushed for the burning despite a 2-1 vote against it in a 1986 city referendum. A state court later overruled a city ordinance banning incineration.
"Believe me, incinerators are controversial," said Allyn M. Davis, EPA hazardous waste director. "I would very much like not to use incineration on the Jacksonville site. Unfortunately, it is the only proven answer."
Growth of voting age population
Total U.S. population age 18 and over, in millions:
Age groups in 1992
45-64 years
SOURCE: Census Bureau
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