It’s only class warfare when we fight back

Not being a twitter type I missed the beginnings of this battle but . . .apparently Scott Lehigh has an issue with being called out about anti-union bias in his columns. His stuff as well as the Globe and Herald coverage of the Boston Mayor’s race rankled many of us card-carrying union members. And we (along with some here at BMG) were vocal about the situation. So much so that Lehigh responded in a recent column.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/11/08/unions-need-retire-tired-tropes/qD1l6aHR6xFdYaTpUGFT3H/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw

My father told me not to get in fights with people who buy ink by the barrel, you can’t win. Well social media has changed the dynamic enough that we can fight back. We no longer have to rely on a letter-to-the-editor that can be edited (for length so they tell us).

Mass Building Trades Council President Frank Callahan responded to Lehigh’s column with a post from his own website:

http://massbuildingtrades.org/boston-globe%2C-scot-lehigh-reveal-true-anti-union-colors-election-coverage

Among the Callahan post highlights – –

Last week, The Boston Globe published a provocative Scot Lehigh column, “Unions Need To Retire Tired Tropes,” in which he criticizes unions for objecting to the way they are portrayed in the media. He called the article his “post election thoughts on silly rhetoric.”
–@ScotLehigh: Unions need to retire tired tropes ‪http://b.globe.com/16Ltsy8 via ‪@BostonGlobe My post-election thoughts on silly rhetoric.

Via Twitter, I responded to Scot, pointing to the election results:
–@FrankMBTC: ‪@GlobeScotLehigh voters did see your silly anti-union rhetoric 4 what it is & rejected it handily ‪@bluemassgroup ‪#mapoli ‪#1u ‪@marty_walsh

–@FrankMBTC: ‪@GlobeScotLehigh The media threw the kitchen sink ‪@Marty_Walsh & lost, get over it ‪@bluemassgroup ‪#mapoli ‪#1u ‪#bospoli ‪@massaflcio ‪#bosmayor

Cynically, Lehigh then challenged me to show examples of the union bashing he and other members of the Boston media have made famous. The Globe itself published a column by Joan Vennocchi — “Why The Union Bashing?” [10/17/13] — which highlights these types of attacks, but that is not what I was referring to.

and

Walsh’s union career is fair game for journalists, no question. What isn’t fair (or responsible) is the way the media attempted to turn a well-rounded candidate like Walsh into a one-dimensional puppet defined by a single issue. The same can be said of their treatment of John Connolly’s education focus. The difference is that one (labor) was framed as a negative while the other (education) was framed as a positive.

It’s ridiculous for Lehigh to suggest that unions are forbidden from calling these obvious biases into question.
The unbalanced approach was compounded by the media’s refusal to address Connolly’s 18-year career as a corporate attorney. He was never challenged on his contributions from developers, financiers and big law firms. Compare that to the media scavenger hunt for a video of Walsh speaking at a union rally, offered as one of the countless pieces of ‘proof’ that his prospective mayorship would be riddled by union favors.

The Herald went so far as to make an ‘anybody but Walsh’ anti-endorsement because of his career as a laborer. And Lehigh? He gracefully compared the Boston Teachers Union to a vampire bite.http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/05/30/john-connolly-better-off-without-boston-teachers-union-endorsement/ud7ew2otBpacP9GAJwVRIN/story.html

And my favorite:

I’ll put it another way: It’s only class warfare when we fight back.

The media’s treatment of business candidates presents a glaring contrast. When have they ever challenged a business candidate for his ties to “big business” or asserted that he will give away the public treasury to businesses via tax breaks and contracts? A case in point is a comparison of two columns by the Globe’s Shirley Leung. Her July 24 column, “Businesses Watching Mayoral Race From Sidelines,” lamented the fact that Boston’s business elites, “after failing to put up one of their own,” are simply “sitting on the sidelines in the…mayoral election.” She practically begged these “business elites” to play “kingmaker,” open their wallets, put bumper stickers on their BMWs and swoop in to save our city. Contrast that with her September 11 column, “Can Marty Walsh Be Tough On Unions?,” the premise of which was to question Walsh’s integrity because he received contributions from unions and supported labor at the statehouse.

It’s okay for Boston’s wealthiest to play “kingmaker” and pick the next Mayor, but when middle class workers, who live in Boston’s neighborhoods, pool their resources to support a candidate they believe in? Automatic ridicule and scandalization.

And finally:

Labor unions and their members do not fit neatly into the negative broad stroke stereotypes that the media likes to portray. We are insulted when you attempt to paint us that way and we are not going to cede the public debate and go quietly away. Union members and their leaders are highly trained, hard working, committed individuals who go to work every day, pay their taxes, raise their families and give back to their communities in countless ways. That’s where Marty Walsh comes from and why he’ll make a great mayor. We’re damn proud of him and the citizens of Boston will be too…if you’d just let them get to know him better.

My Thanks to Frank Callahan for saying what I was thinking. I expect columnists to have opinions. Fine, have at. But please don’t tell me I’m too dumb to recognize when you’re pissing on me. Don’t tell me to sit quietly on the sidelines of my government while you define my candidate or the next Mayor-elect’s four years to come.

We have our own barrel of ink now!