Dear Local 3393 Members:
This Tuesday, there is an opportunity for North Carolina Union Fire Fighters to show this state that we have the drive to become a political force. The IAFF and the PFFPNC have endorsed Kay Hagan for US Senate and we will hold a press conference to show our support to the public in a big way. The IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger (GP) is coming to travel with Kay through Charlotte, Winston-Salem, and Raleigh. He is coming here because he knows how important this race is to moving firefighter legislation through the US Senate. He has also sent a grassroots political organizer, Tom McEachin, to work in our state until the election is over. Elizabeth Dole has not been a supporter and reneged on a promise to support firefighters just a few short months ago, when it mattered most, when our collective bargaining bill was hanging in the balance.
The GP does not travel around with these candidates just for the heck of it, hoping the candidate might be supportive. He does it because he knows that the candidate has our best interests at heart. When he does it, he needs to see that the Firefighters, Locals and the State Association are vested in their own destiny. That we really do want to work politically to make gains for ourselves just like our brothers and sisters in other parts of the country have done for years. We have worked hard for many years trying to keep our collective bargaining issue on the front burner with the IAFF. Other IAFF leaders, those who already enjoy collective bargaining, have worked equally hard to give us a hand, to pull us up from the burning basement of the non-collective bargaining inferno. We're at the edge of the floor now, with the IAFF brotherhood's help, now we have to get our arms under us and push up to help ourselves.
Our turnout at the press conferences this Tuesday will be a referendum on how serious we are about improving our own circumstances. Why is your Local limited in what we can do for you? Because we don't enjoy collective bargaining rights. Is collective bargaining the panacea? No, we will still have to work politically to maintain relationships with our elected officials and help them understand why we bargain for certain things. A good turnout at the conferences Tuesday will show the media, the candidates and the public that Union Fire Fighters are important members of the community and we want our voices heard. It will show the leadership of the IAFF that we do want to help ourselves, to kick that front door in and face the uncertainties of political activity.
So Local 3393 members, I am asking you to join us on Tuesday to make a statement. We will leave Concord around 08:00 and arrive at the Charlotte Union hall by 08:45. Call me if you would like to car pool and save some gas money. I will have Gold/Black Firefighters for Hagan t-shirts for all of you. GP Schaitberger will make some comments, introduce Kay Hagan, and she will make some comments. That’s all there is to it. It’s nothing radical, and yet it will make a big statement. Then they’re off to Winston Salem and we're done.
While we are discussing this function, I know there have been many questions about your union’s political activity this season. However, very few of you actually call or speak to me directly about your concerns. Let me clear up a few areas:
· Not 1 penny of your dues money goes to support any candidate. It is illegal. The IAFF can only give money to campaigns what has been accumulated through voluntary contributions to FirePac. That includes any mailers, portions of magazines, and any other indirect cost of supporting a candidate.
· When the IAFF picks a candidate to support, it is based solely on the candidate’s stand on fire fighter issues. If you have any question why the IAFF has endorsed Senator Obama, you can see why at http://www.firefightersforobama.com Look at the videos there, particularly the video of GP Schaitberger discussing the endorsement process. · The IAFF supports more Republican candidates than any other union, because more Republicans support our issues than, say, Teamsters union issues.
You elected me to represent this Local as your Local President. You asked me to lead this brotherhood (inclusive of brothers AND sisters; black, white and Hispanic). I think you all know, that I have committed a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears into this Local. I’ll say it again, I am as patriotic a person as you will ever meet. I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America, under God, with Liberty and Justice for ALL!!! I don’t want your guns taken away. I get a tear in my eye whenever I think back to that fateful event on 9/11/2001 and what it must have been like for those fire fighters in those towers. So I, like you, believe in kicking some terrorists’ asses. More than a few of you are now asking me, “Who do we need to vote for?” What I will tell you is that I have paid attention to politics for a long time. I support Barack Obama, because I truly believe he will continue to support us and will do what is right for this country.
I have been forwarded many of the negative e-mails. I don’t believe most of what has been written in the e-mails about either candidate. This has been the most emotional election season in my memory, so attacks have gone way beyond reason in many cases. (I recently read that 80 cars at the Obama rally in Fayetteville last weekend had their tires slashed. Now that’s some old-school terrorism.) I have had the Fire Fighters for Obama sign stolen out of my yard too! Many of the attacks that paint Obama as un-Godly or un-American are answered at http://www.matthew25.org/ .
I also watched a talk show last night that had a guest that admitted that he was convicted of, and spent the last several years in jail, for altering the elections in 2000 and 2004. You’ll never guess who he was working for. I can safely tell you that it was not a Democrat. He admitted on TV that he was paid by the Republican Party to alter the elections. Anyone remember what happened in the 2000 election? I’m not one to believe too much in the conspiracy theories but I was appalled to hear this confession on national TV.
So if you’re wondering, here is how I would/will vote in this year’s election. Beyond the Presidential race, I support:
Beverly Perdue, Governor
Walter Dalton, Lt. Governor
Kay Hagan, US Senate
Larry Kissell, US House
Mel Watt, US House
Mary Fant Donnan, Labor Commissioner
Wayne Goodwin, Insurance Commissioner
Roy Cooper, Attorney General
Janet Cowell, Treasurer
Elaine Marshall, Secretary of State
Fletcher Hartsell, NC Senate D-36
Barry Richards, NC House D-83
Wayne Troutman, NC House D-82
Supreme Court, Suzanne Reynolds (Edmunds seat)
Court of Appeals:
John C. Martin (Martin seat)
Jim Wynn (Wynn seat)
Kristin Ruth (Tyson seat)
Cheri Beasley (McCullough seat)
Linda Stephens (Stephens seat)
John Arrowood (Arrowood seat)
I’ve tried to handle this election with kid gloves, but with the questions I’m getting about the election, it’s time I did what you elected me to do. Often, as a Union leader, you take a stand and do what you think is right for the membership at large. It’s not always popular and rarely ever universally accepted. In the long run I feel that this Local, the PFFPNC and the IAFF have all worked and improved conditions for our firefighters on the job. I hope you understand and support, or come to a meeting to voice your thoughts.
I look forward to seeing you Tuesday,
Lester Cragan, President
IAFF Local 3393
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