Capitol Report: Unions busy behind the scenes vetting candidates to take on Walker
The hunt for a union-friendly, Democratic candidate committed to restoring collective bargaining rights to pre-Gov. Scott Walker status is under way, with the state's largest unions — reportedly to a much greater extent than ever before — working together on plans to throw their collective weight behind one candidate.
"Right now, there is communication occurring between unions to coalesce around one candidate, much more so than has ever been done in the past," says Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin and a lieutenant with the Madison Fire Department. "In the past, unions have independently talked to their members and then made endorsements. But this time, the unions will endorse who they think is the best … a candidate that will restore collective bargaining rights." While Mitchell's name was floated for some time as a possible candidate for governor, he said Monday he is more inclined to run for lieutenant governor. Along with Walker, organizers also gathered signatures to recall Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch as well as a number of Republican state senators.
Marty Beil, executive director of the state's largest public employees union, says the unions are "looking for someone who will champion the fight … and the fight is to restore dignity and respect to Wisconsin's workers and to return Wisconsin to the people. We need someone with a spine, a backbone, who will take the lead in championing the rights of workers in this state and the interests of the middle class."
With an election on the horizon, all that's missing is a candidate. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett; former U.S. Rep. David Obey; state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton; state Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville; former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and state Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, are on the short list of names being floated as possible candidates. To whittle down the list in an effort to make an endorsement, Beil says he and other union leaders have been meeting with possible candidates for weeks. That included a large meeting in December between Beil, Mary Bell, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state's largest teachers union, plus building trade, steel worker and service employee unions.
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