When questioned about his unwillingness to use union labor on his own home in W. Mass, Deval Patrick’s campaign responded in today’s Globe by saying that, “all relevant laws were complied with”.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Reilly supporter. However, I’ve wrapped my arms around the notion that Deval is the likely nominee…I think he will lose, but if he’s the nominee I will support him.
But Patrick’s response is just awful. Perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but here goes…
He makes it clear he believes that the reason to use union labor is to comply with the law. It’s clear that he believes this based not only on his statement, but on his actions.
Simply put: This is not a Democratic Party position.
I think we would all agree that non-union building trade workers are much more likely to be without critical benefits such as health insurance and bona-fide apprenticeship programs than their unionized counterparts.
One would think the person hoping to be the standard bearer for the party would do the right thing even if it cost him money. He did not and has now defended this by saying he broke no laws…clearly missing the point. That is a weak defense and has me worried about his ability to handle the attacks he certainly will recieve should he become the nominee.
Finally, conservative dems (Like me) too often get referred to as “bad dems” by people on BMG. I would like to see some of these self-proclaimed “good dems” call out Patrick for making this clearly anti-union statement.
Where are we as a party if we walk away from the notion that building trade unions deserves our support and protecton? Deval has made it clear that if it costs you more, then it’s ok to go with non-union labor. Again, for the standard bearer of the party, that is a big deal.
in tomorrow’s papers, it won’t help Patrick on Tuesday. I’m not trying to be opportunistically alarmist – I’m serious. Some union members will be pissed.
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We’re not talking about adding a toilet in the basement. His home in the Berkshires is an expensive project.
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I’m sure that he saved some money in the short run, but a rather strange decision for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
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BTW, as just about everybody here knows, I’m a Reilly supporting and I’m not conceding squat! 😉
Perhaps I overstated it by saying he is the “likely” nominee, but I think we’d both admit it may be heavy lifting for Reilly.
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I hope the polls are wrong and the turnout is higher than Galvin expects. We’ll see in two days and I hope we’re right.
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I actually think the CBS4/Globe poll is absurd. 21%? My guess is it’s weighted poorly in terms of demographics. The guy who did the poll for them said that Deval’s support comes mostly from higher income, better educated and more liberal dems while Reilly and Gabrielli get most of thier support from working class dems.
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When support is so separated by demographics like that even a slight, inadvertent skewing of the poll could move things considerably.
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Again, I hope he pulls it out.
seem to be:
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If this hits the mainstream media Monday, it won’t be good for his candidacy. How do you explain that away to the labor supporters?
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That’s quite an accomplishment!!!
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Deval Patrick, “Together We Can…” lead the way for Massachusetts Non-Union Labor (TM)
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PS, sorry if I left anyone out of the list.
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PSS, I just picked up a rumor that one UPS truck driver delivered some supplies to the site, I’ll let you know if
I can confirm the sighting…
it was relegated to the Globe’s Trail Report.
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For the record, although a self-professed Reilly supporter wrote this diary and I ,too, am a Reilly supporter, it’s pretty clear from the story that the Gabrieli campaign pitched this piece.
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That being said, Tom Reilly is more likely to benefit from any fallout than Gabrieli.
Reminds me of the “Killer Coke” pitch.
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So, of course I’m biased, but I’d put my money on Reilly on this one…
in either the Boston Globe story or the diary above. Where are you getting that?
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The only union in the story that is specifically identified with a campaign is with Gabrieli.
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Not that it matters at all, but based on that reference and the appearance that Gabrieli is throwing everything at the wall, I’m still thinking it’s Gabber’s folks.
Sammy, welcome to BMG. You probably missed the discussion in August about how first-timers sometimes begin their BMG careers by attempting to fan the flames of nasty but groundless hyperbole.
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I may be wrong, but I believe that most people reading “I’m shocked and dismayed!” posts like this will come away with this conclusion: people who thought Reilly was an invincible front-runner are now desperate.
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I send my best wishes to both Mav Dem and Ren Man. I wish I could give you each a smooch at the unity party on Thurs., but I will be correcting 7th grade English essays and preparing a lesson plan on nouns, pronouns, and adjectives.
grading and preparing. You sound like a dedicated teacher, shack, which is one of the noblest professions.
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While the impact of this story is obviously debatable, it is hardly groundless, since it appears that Patrick’s home was built with non-union labor. Hyperbole? That’s a judgment call probably based on perspective. Groundless? No.
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While it may not be important to you – perhaps you are a non-union teacher – some in the construction trades may be dismayed.
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Heck, if a school was built with non-union labor, and you were a MTA or MFT member, you might very well picket in solidarity.
I’m sure you’re noble, too, but you need to do your homework. I hate to repeat myself, but I will share with you something I posted in response to an earlier diary:
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I have spoken with building trades guys out here in the Berkshires. I know they have been unhappy about this situation for many weeks – probably shortly after key operatives of the Carpenter’s union Local 108 jumped onto the Reilly bandwagon – and they don’t like the fact that there is nothing they can do about it except call attention to the fact that it could have been done differently. [Note: Although they have complained out here for many weeks, I guess they got the media interested in it just today. Neat timing, guys.]
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I give the guys credit for consistency – the building trades people in Berkshire County often make important points about OSHA issues, or publicize violations of the law in public contracts. Important work. They thought they saw an opportunity to make a point here about construction on a private home but – especially because I know the key instigator of this issue – I think it’s just an attempt to make a political mountain out of a non-existent molehill.
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On the other hand, another group that was made unhappy after working on the Richmond house includes the contractors and subcontractors who found that AG operatives showed up to go over their licenses and tax and payroll filings with a fine-toothed comb in the hope of finding anything amiss. It is my understanding that all paperwork was in order.
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Speaking from experience, I can safely say that labor may not be happy with elected officials 100% of the time. I just got my union card last week (thank you, United Educators of Pittsfield) but I’m not sure I would want a Governor who gives labor everything it wishes for, all the time.
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This is a situation where partisans of another candidate would like to create a problem. [Note: I know who the clique is that usually hangs out with the Carpenters, and some of them are with Gabrieli, so all the anti-Deval boys can get some credit for trying to create a tempest in a teapot here.] I have enormous respect for the IBEW, Laborers, Operating Engineers, Painters & Allied Trades, and other representatives of working families. I often respect our local Carpenters, but not when they are up to mischief.
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There is no basis to claim that the Patrick family acted insensitively or unfairly.
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Now, let’s set this aside and talk about that SEC investigation of Gabrieli. . . .Or about the AG claiming to write the whistle-blower law. . . .Or, better yet, about the Romney/Healey record on labor issues!
That’s the God’s honest truth. My compliment was 100% genuine. Teaching is a great and noble profession.
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Any citation on the “AG operative stuff?”
On this one, I would tend to agree with you, as I don’t see where the AG has jurisdiction.
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The Division of Professional Licensure and most all of the Boards of Registration are under Consumer Affairs, with the exception of those moved under DPH.
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That fact would tend to point towards the Romney Administration and then the question would be, who in the Romney Administration has an interest in this. Of course there is a remote chance that the inspectors “just happened to be in the neighborhood.” I tend to find that unlikely.
is if it were truly the case, the Patrick campaign would have broadcast it loudly.
until the General, assuming (and most polls tend to agree) they make it, and get a bigger lift, as LG Kerry Healey operatives probably have their fingerprints all over it…
Shack, I didnÂ’t exaggerate one bit. To my knowledge Deval has yet to dispute any part of the story. And as for my post being nastyÂ…I should remind you that I didnÂ’t come up with this. I read it over coffee while reading that notorious right-wing rag, the Boston Globe! I appreciate the welcome, though. I feel the warmth.
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Deval missed the point in defending it based on the law and now it seems that some of his supporters do as well.
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Anyone who thinks the a Democratic candidate for Governor spending $3 million on non-union labor is a “molehill” has some odd views as to what Democrats should stand for…
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This isnÂ’t just a political problem and itÂ’s not that anyone thinks he broke a lawÂ….itÂ’s that someone who wants the Democratic nomination for Governor built his house with NON-UNION Labor!!!
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It is funny to see how some in the “Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party” seems to be ok with using non-union building trade labor. The Prevailing Wage issue alone will kill him. He will be seen as someone who has different standards for his money and taxpayer money.
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I hear constantly that Pattrick’s candidacy is about “standing up” for Democratic values. Where does supporting good union jobs with benefits fit in? Last I checked, that was on the list.
and to many of the other 20K-plus members of the Mass. Nurses Association (MNA) (and to our families, friends, co-workers, etc…).
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That issue is Patrick’s anti-safe nurse staffing legislation comment made during the Wed. 9/13 debate. And the fact that his wife is a senior attorney with Ropes and Gray, LLP, who represent management during labor union contract negotiations. This is fact known to my husband, an SEIU member, and to me, an MNA member. Patients are losing their lives and families are losing loved ones because of unsafe staffing in many hospitals. High numbers of pereventable complications occur as well, but premature death is surely something to take every step to prevent. That’s what the safe RN staffing legislation aims to do and is why alomost 120 our of 140 state Reps voted in favor of the bill. Senate Pres. Travaglini would not let it be brought up for a Senate vote so the bill is dying this session.
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This RN staffing issue is not the only reason for the tens of thousands of preventable deaths that occur each year, as documented in a recent Institute of Medicine Report, but it is one of the real and documented reasons. Mountains of independent research data exist to confirm this fact, a fact that practicing nurses know all too well from “anecdotal experience”.
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If anyone has other light to shed on this, I’ll listen carefully. But I must say that my Patrick enthusiasm has waned a lot since We. evening…
I hear you. This was brought up by someone on Daily Kos as well. He got a response directly from Deval’s campaign. Deval has always been for the best solution for adequate staffing. Please check with the office before making a decision. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by his opinion. 😉 Thirty second soundbites can be very misleading.
If Deval has a new position, a changed position or a clarified position he should issue a press release or at least get it up on the web site.
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What does this mean:
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Like another candidate is in favor of the worst or the second best solution? Sounds like the nurses aren’t very happy with Deval’s curent position AND there is a potential conflict of interest with his wife working for the law firm defending management.
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Maybe the person that had a personal response from Deval’s campaign can post it here?
“In the wake of hundreds of phone calls and emails from nurses and other voters concerned about comments made by Deval Patrick at a televised debate Wednesday night, the Deval Patrick campaign today issued a statement to the State House News Service clarifying his position on legislation to set safe RN staffing limits in Massachusetts hospitals.
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In a statement emailed by his campaign Friday afternoon, Patrick said, “I did not support the original legislation because I did not believe that mandating staffing levels in an inherently fluid environment was a practical solution. I do support the compromise bill that won passage in the House, but failed to win passage in the Senate. I look forward to working with the Massachusetts Nurses Association, legislators and other to revive it.”
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To view the full Patrick statement and the positions of other candidates for Governor on this issue please visit the Mass. Nurses Association website.
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Whew. I am so glad to see that Patrick issued a somewhat clarifying statement, but I still have concerns about this. He may think the “compromise” bill moves away from setting enforcable ratios. It does not. I delays the implementation of such ratios by giving the state Dept of Public Health the authority to review the mounds of indipendent research data and set the appropriate staffing ratio nimbers. Implementing these ratios will save lives, improve quality of care, and will help address one of the underlying causes of our nursing shortage–unsafe work environments.
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I do still plan to vote for Patrick tomorrow and to re-start my vigorous outreach to others to vote for Patrick for Governor on 9/19 and in November!!
This “issue” of not using union labor to build a private residence is just totally out to lunch. I challenge you to find one residential contractor in Berkshire County who uses union labor. It is just not a choice that is available.
Why didn’t they instead say there were NO contractors in Berkshire County willing to build a $5,000,000 vacation estate?
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Then they could demonstrate how they went about their search.
If they did a search…. Did they do a search?
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——
This media advisory contradicts what you say. In fact it goes on to talk about anti-union supporters of Deval.
It’s hard to frame a house in Berkshire County without bumping into the Carpenters Union Local 108. At least, that’s the case with the several residential companies I’ve dealt with. I’d guess something like 75:25, union versus non-union framers of residential. Just a guess.
I meant 25:75, union versus non-union.
those 25% of the Union framers out there in Berkshire County, because “they don’t exist.”
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Maybe that’s why he couldn’t “find a connection” between the South American Bottling Plant and the Right Wing Military murder that killed the Union Leaders at the Coke bottling plant to keep the Union out. That’s right, Coke doesn’t own the plant itself, that is owned by some right wingnut.
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I guess I’m too stupid to see a pattern developing here, maybe someone else could help me out?
Our discussion won’t affect tomorrow’s election and, unless those polls are way off, I expect the nominee to be Deval Patrick (though I’m sure the election will be closer than that last poll indicated). So I post the following less to win the spin battle now than to open a conversation with–I’d like to think–future allies.
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Given that the story hit the papers (however obscurely) before primary Tuesday, I suppose you could say that his construction choice was impolitic, but is it a deep scandal, something that should give us pause for concern? I don’t think so.
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I consider myself more pro-union than the average Democratic primary voter. I’ve never crossed a picket line. I support buying union-made products. I grew up around union officials. My first summer job was with a county federatioin of labor. I’m also a former member of a building trades union (Laborers and Hod Carriers), and I sure appreciated the wages that union membership brought me–more, per hour, in real dollars, than I later made in my first year as an assistant professor at elite and very wealthy college. But we worked on large commercial projects, never on a residence. I believe that’s overwhelmingly typical.
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We’ve twice rennovated or added to our home, and neither time did we use a union crew. We used local contractors from my community, people who I knew, and who I knew paid their workers well and had progressive policies (health care, etc.). As best as I can tell, that’s what’s available in the Berkshires. I do not believe I know anybody who has had a union crew work on their house, and I’m not aware of one in at least my part of the Berkshires. I may be wrong on the availability. If their complaints are in good faith, the local building trades union people are obviously pissed at being overlooked. So I am open to being corrected. (I’d be interested to know: what percentage of local home construction crews are union, and what precentage of individual construction or rennovation projects use union crews?) So far, though, viewed in the context of my own experience of how things are done in the Berkshire, what the Patricks did is overwhelmingly typical. It’s certainly not the kind of thing that should keep us from rallying behind him if he indeed wins.
We are not talking about your average home repairs. My guess is you didn’t spend $3 million on renovations. If you did, I’m coming over for dinner….seriously.
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But, I really don’t think this was just bad for his campaign. I think it’s wrong for him to spend $3 million and never using one union contractor.
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The Democrat Nominee should have hight standards when it comes to union issues. He should lead by example.
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However, this will also end up being a political problem for him….with Healey.
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His position is now clear. Using non-union labor is OK as long as you don’t break the law.
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Healey will be all over him on this in contrast to his position on the prevailing wage…while not exactly the same, it will seem to the average voter that he has different standards for his money and our money….
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I’m not sure they would be wrong.
is anyone willing to do some research on Patick’s spouse as it realtes to this organized labor issue? The fact that she is a senior attorney for Hale and Dorr, LLP, is enough to make me very concerned about what kinds of values and positions related to workers’ rights and union representation permeate the Deval Patrick household.
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Like it or not, Deval is influenced by what his spouse thinks, how she acts on what she thinks, and how she earns her wages that help sustain their family. And those wages are helping to pay for that non-union built vacation home costing $3mil–or is it $5mil?–whatever, it’s far beyond the reach of almost every voter.
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I want Deval to win in Nov. and I want to feel enthusiastic about working on his campaign. But what’s more important is knowing the reality of his positions on important issues and what factors influence his positions and his likely actions as Governor. So if anyone undertakes the afore-mentioned research and will post the results on BMG I’ll be watching.