By Anthony Man
June 8, 2016
Leaders of several labor union locals, a key Democratic Party constituency, said Wednesday they've lost confidence in U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and want to see her defeated in the August primary.
They said they're supporting her challenger, Tim Canova, on the grounds that he'd better represent the interests of working people. Wasserman Schultz, they said, caters too much to the interests of her corporate political donors.
"This is something that's been a slow progression to the negative," said Don Abicht, president of Communications Workers of America local 3122. He said Wasserman Schultz excels at making herself look good. "She's good at baking cakes for her constituents, but she's not good at getting the job done."
The central criticism from the labor leaders who appeared with Canova at his storefront campaign office in Hollywood was Wasserman Schultz's support of legislation that creates an expedited approval process for President Barack Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
"It's a terrible trade agreement," Canova said. He and the labor leaders said it would cost 70,000 Florida workers their jobs, make prescription drug prices higher by limiting generic drugs, and lessen environmental standards.
Canova, a professor of law and public finance at Nova Southeastern University, said he's not against all trade agreements, but "this is not the kind of trade agreement that we should be in."
Wasserman Schultz was the only Florida Democrat who voted for the TPP legislation last year. Politically it would have been difficult for her to oppose one of Obama's top priorities, as he handpicked her to be chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.
To Canova, that means Wasserman Schultz can't do both jobs at once; either she's loyal to the constituents she represents in Congress or she's loyal to Obama at the DNC.
"The people of this district deserve better than that. We shouldn't be sacrificing the needs and the interests of her constituents here on the altar of Debbie Wasserman Schultz's political ambitions," Canova said.
Dan Brennan, chairman of the grievance and political action committees for Transport Workers Union Local 568, transport workers' grievance and political action committees, said TPP is bad for workers.
John Moctezuma, president of CWA Local 3120, said union workers find TPP "to be horrendous. It's going to ship our jobs overseas."
Moctezuma, who lives in Hollywood, and Brennan, who lives in Pembroke Pines, said they've voted for Wasserman Schultz in the past. As their dissatisfaction has grown, especially after her support of the trade agreement, they said they'd vote and work for Canova in the Aug. 30 Democratic primary.
Even though Florida doesn't have the same levels of unionization as big, northern industrial states, labor can exercise political influence because unions have members who can be organized for door-to-door campaigning and phone banking on behalf of causes or candidates.
"[Canova] can win. We're not going to go out and get as public as we have and drop a ton of money in for a guy who can't win," Abicht said. "We're going to be boots on the ground."
Canova said that assistance would be a significant help to his campaign.
But he won't have across the board labor support. Ryan Banfill, spokesman for the Wasserman Schultz campaign, said by email that "the congresswoman is proud to have strong labor support with more than a dozen groups standing with her." He initially declined to identify any, saying they'd be revealed soon.
Three hours after Canova's event, the Wasserman Schultz campaign said she was endorsed Wednesday by the Broward County Council of Professional Fire Fighters, which includes eight locals of the International Association of Fire Fighters.
"We deeply appreciate Debbie's hard work for fire fighters and other first responders here in Broward and across the nation. Debbie's always been there for us and we're there for her," Walter Dix, the Broward fire fighters union president, said in a statement. "She is no Johnny come lately. Debbie has been a reliable friend of fire fighters for years."
Wasserman Schultz's April campaign money report, the most recent available, showed significant financial support from organized labor.
More than a quarter of her political action committee contributions came from unions: the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the United Transportation Union, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, the National Rural Letter Carriers Association, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, the American Federation of Teachers, the United Food and Commercial Workers.
On Tuesday night in South Florida, the United Association Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Pipefitters Local 725 endorsed Canova. Previously he's gotten support from the transport workers, from CWA locals and nationally, and from National Nurses United.
The Broward/Miami-Dade county district is overwhelmingly Democratic, and the primary winner is virtually certain to win the November election. Wasserman Schultz is seeking a seventh term.
Bernie Sanders
Canova, who is the most prominent South Florida supporter of Bernie Sanders' campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, wasn't ready Wednesday to concede that Hillary Clinton will be the party's presidential nominee. She scored big victories in Tuesday's primaries and has more than enough delegates to become the nominee.
"Bernie Sanders has said he's going to go on to the convention. And we'll see how the convention goes," Canova said.
Many Sanders supporters believe that Wasserman Schultz tipped the party scales toward Clinton in her role as national party chairwoman — something she denies. Sanders has been sharply critical of Wasserman Schultz, and he's endorsed Canova. Obama has endorsed Wasserman Schultz.
Canova declined to say whether he thinks Sanders should demand Wasserman Schultz's removal as DNC chairman as a condition for supporting Clinton.
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