When the Illinois State AFL-CIO meets Friday in Rosemont to consider endorsements in the upcoming Democratic primary, the outcome will say as much about labor’s loyalty to House Speaker Michael Madigan as it does about its preference for any candidate.
Don Johnson, the state AFL-CIO’s president, said he believes the decision has come down to whether to endorse U.S. Rep. Glenn Poshard or not endorse any of the four major Democratic candidates for governor.
Madigan, the powerful Democrat from Chicago’s Southwest Side, has quietly been lobbying on Poshard’s behalf. As a result, two of Poshard’s rivals for governor–John Schmidt and Jim Burns–acknowledge that as much as they covet the labor endorsement, they are unlikely to get it.
“I suppose, realistically, if the speaker is using all of his clout and leverage in support of Glenn, that gives him an enormous advantage,” Schmidt said.
For his part, Schmidt on Thursday sought to exploit what he believes is a Poshard weakness among women voters by proposing tougher penalties for repeat offenders in domestic battery cases.
Poshard’s challengers believe his opposition to abortion and support of gun rights will cost him votes among Democratic women and more liberal unions.
Burns on Thursday proposed legislation that would ban lawmakers from holding a second governmental job. The ban on “double dipping” was a extension of Burns’ efforts to promote himself as a corruption fighter, dating to his days as U.S. attorney.
The fourth major Democratic contender, Roland Burris, has maintained he still believes he has a shot at the AFL-CIO endorsement.
Madigan aides have sought to stress that the speaker’s help for Poshard is limited only to the AFL-CIO endorsement and was done in exchange for the gubernatorial candidate’s help in fielding Downstate legislative candidates. It was not a blanket statement of support for the congressman from Marion, the aides said.
In acknowledging he had been called by Madigan, the AFL-CIO’s Johnson said the speaker “felt that Glenn Poshard could help him to elect Democrats in Downstate Illinois.”
Union leaders said privately that a major factor in deciding whether to endorse Poshard is the concern over keeping the House in Democratic hands. In their minds, that overshadows the question of whether Poshard is the Democrats’ best hope to take on presumptive Republican gubernatorial nominee George Ryan in November.
In the two years that Republicans controlled the Illinois House, Senate and governor’s office, the GOP pushed several initiatives that unions considered to be anti-labor.
Madigan’s push for a Downstate Democrat also is surprising given the allegations that the speaker is behind a challenge to the candidacy petitions of state Sen. Penny Severns, a Decatur Democrat running for secretary of state against Orland Park Police Chief Tim McCarthy and Cook County Recorder Jesse White.
Madigan aides have denied they are behind the challenge to help McCarthy as part of an effort to win south suburban House seats.
Even with Madigan’s involvement, there is no guarantee that the AFL-CIO endorsement will go to Poshard.
Some unions allied with other candidates have switched to a neutral position instead shifting over to Poshard, the most conservative of the four Democrats seeking the nomination.
Though Johnson did not want to say anything that might influence the vote, he acknowledged that a decision not to endorse any candidate was possible.
