In 2012, Local 49 of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUPE) endorsed a passel of Minnesota Republicans in their bids for the state legislature, as well as sitting freshman Tea Party Republican congressman Chip Cravaack.
But a December 9, 2013 post on the SW Metro Tea Party wall suggests that unions and GOP courtships are just wrong.
Update: A sharp-eyed friend emailed a note that the Winona County Republicans posted the article to their Facebook page without comment. It's a bit of irony in that their local Republican state senator, Jeremy Miller, was endorsed by the IUOE's 49ers in 2012. [end update]
This month, the SW Metro Tea Party Patriots posted its disgruntlement at both unions and the GOP, writing "Unions & GOP vs Tea Party, surprised?" above a December 9 shared link to a Breitbart.com article, Report: Unions Funding GOP Super PAC That Targets Tea Party.
Breitbart notes that the IUPE and the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) are aiding a Republican PAC:
On Monday, the National Journal reported that "documents filed by other groups show that two labor organizations, the International Union of Operating Engineers and the Laborers' International Union of North America, directed a combined $400,000 to the Republican group [the Defending Main Street super PAC] in September and October."
The Defending Main Street super PAC was organized at the end of 2012 by former Congressman Steve LaTourette (R-OH), and has very publicly declared war on the Tea Party. . . .
. . .earlier press reports indicate that it claims to have already raised $4 million of a planned $8 million to defeat Tea Party candidates in Republican primaries.
SW Metro Tea Party Patriot and freshman state representative Cindy Pugh doesn't seem to have had any trouble with the Republican Party before. A long time GOP activist, Pugh was endorsed over a sitting Republican legislator who later challenged her and lost in the 2012 primary. Perhaps she doesn't know about the anti-GOP post.
Or maybe challenging sitting Republican legislators is only bad when they're right-wing etremists, rather than part of the game-o of letting people elect their own leaders.
Nor do we recall any outcry from Minnesota's Tea Party chapters when Minnesota unions endorsed some of Pugh's colleagues in the last cycle.
Politics in Minnesota's Paul Demko reported in the July 2, 2012 article Operating engineers endorse bipartisan slate of candidates:
The Republican incumbents endorsed by the union are:
Sens. Bill Ingebrigtsen (SD 8), Jeremy Miller (SD 28) and Dave Senjem (SD 25)
Reps. Jim Abeler (HD 35A), Tony Cornish (HD 23B), Kurt Daudt (HD 31A), Pat Garofalo (HD 58B), Tom Hackbarth (HD 31B), Rod Hamilton (HD 22B), Joe Hoppe (HD 47B), Larry Howes (HD 5A), Denny McNamara (HD 54B), Tim O’Driscoll (HD 13B), Tim Sanders (HD 37B), Joe Schomacker (HD 22A) and Steve Smith (HD 33B)
Will Pugh and her Tea Party supporters demand that her colleagues repudiate their union ties now that the national union of the 49ers is supporting moderate Republicans over Tea Party darlings? Or will she insist on purity and leave the GOP?
Only Howes lost his bid last year, while Daudt emerged as minority leader after the dust settled. Hamilton essentially leads the rural Republicans in the House, while Cornish, a former union rep, is a guardian of gun rights who's fundraised for Pugh.
Does her base really loathe the IUPE? The GOP?
Screenshot: The SW Metro Tea Party post. Is SWMTP leader representative Pugh as hostile to her party?
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