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Primary Election August 10 No endorsement from Minnesota By Steve Share, Minneapolis Labor Review editor MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s Primary Election is Tuesday, August 10. Polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. across the state. Voters will be picking candidates for state and local office. One of the biggest unknowns: who will emerge the winner in the DFL Party’s primary in the race for governor? The Minnesota AFL-CIO screened candidates June 16 but, with unions divided, did not make an endorsement in the governor’s race. Individual unions, however, have made endorsements in the governor’s race and are working to turn out their members to support their endorsee. Margaret Anderson Kelliher, current speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, is running with DFL Party endorsement and with the greatest number of union endorsements. Former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton, however, also has gained the endorsement of several unions, including AFSCME Council 5. The other main candidate in the DFL primary race, former State Representative Matt Entenza, at press time had no labor endorsements. (See list of endorsements below). The DFLer who wins the gubernatorial primary likely will be endorsed quickly by the Minnesota AFL-CIO. In announcing the June 16 outcome that no candidate would be endorsed before the August 10 primary, the state AFL-CIO declared: “union members are united to defeat Tom Emmer.” Emmer, endorsed by the Republican Party for governor, has a ONE PERCENT voting record on working family issues tracked by the Minnesota AFL-CIO since he was elected to the Minnesota House in 2004. Of 86 key votes tracked through 2009, Emmer sided with the AFL-CIO only ONCE with his vote. “At every turn, Tom Emmer has opposed job creation, opposed investing in students, and opposed making health care affordable,” said Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson. Knutson said labor is united to elect a Governor who shares middle class values and priorities this November. She stressed that Minnesotans will have a clear choice this November. “Union members will work hard to elect a Governor who puts middle class families first,” she said. Tom Emmer, in recent days, showed his insensitivity to workers when he called for reducing the minimum wage for tipped employees, provoking a groundswell of protest. Commenting on the DFL primary contest between Dayton, Entenza and Kelliher, Minnesota AFL-CIO State Retiree Council president Martha Johnson wrote in the council’s latest newsletter that “all three candidates have a history as friends of labor, of working people generally, and of senior citizens.” Union endorsements Mark Dayton’s union endorsements include: AFSCME Council 5; the Minnesota Police & Peace Officers Association, Teamsters Joint Council 32, and the United Steelworkers. Margaret Anderson Kelliher’s union endorsements include: AFSCME Council 65, IBEW, Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, Minnesota Nurses Association, Operating Engineers Local 49, UNITE HERE. If you will be unable to vote in person August 10, absentee ballots now should be available at your local elections office. To Find Your Polling Place Anoka County 763-323-5275 Hennepin County 612-348-5151 Scott County 952-496-8161 Carver County 952-361-1910 McLeod County 320-864-1210 Meeker County 320-693-5212 Wright County 763-682-3900 Minnesota Secretary of State’s on-line pollfinder: Voting Information • Primary Election: Tuesday, August 10
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