If you were paying attention when Scott Peters announced his bid to unseat City Attorney, you no doubt noticed his comment to a Union-Tribune reporter that he’d been urged to run by folks in the labor, environmental and business communities. Looks like he wasn’t just whistlin’ Dixie, at least not when it comes to labor.
Today, the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, which represents 119 local unions, announced that it had endorsed Peters, along with District 1 City Council candidate Sherri Lighter and school board candidates Shelia Jackson, an incumbent, and Richard Barrera.
The labor council punted when it came to the hotly contested Council District 3 race, opting for a triple endorsement of Todd Gloria, John Hartley and Stephen Whitburn, which allows individual unions to endorse specific candidates, if they so choose.
No endorsements were announced in Districts 5 and 7.
The Peters endorsement once and for all severs ties between Aguirre and labor. It’s been well known that the public employee unions hate him, but now the private unions have sided with their city-employee counterparts. This is significant because Aguirre and labor had been two peas in a pod before he launched his quest to overturn certain city employee benefits.
Update: I just heard back from a spokesperson for the Labor Council, who noted that the group endorsed Marti Emerald in District 7 back in December. No endorsement has been made in District 5. He also noted that Aguirre filled out a questionnaire but did not do an in-person interview.
February 28, 2008 - 12:59 pm at 12:59 pm
Funny, just read the just-released (VOSD) council transcript concerning Peters and the pension litigation… Muni Labor, sure he’s your guy. But real-world worker Labor? You really want to back a weasel like Peters? Disappointing.
February 28, 2008 - 6:50 pm at 6:50 pm
You mean the guy who voted to stop Wal-Mart and stood up and fought a tyrant who lives out his Bobby Kennedy fantasy by destroying the reputation of unions? Yeah, he’s our man!
March 27, 2008 - 9:34 pm at 9:34 pm
I don’t know…it looks like Aguirre’s gonna lose and it would be nice to see a SENSIBLE Democrat take his place. I would endorse PETERS too. Think about it, it’s not like Aguirre actually DOES anything. Peters is a smart man, he knows the environment like the back of his hand and he worked for the Environmental Protection Agency. He’s got my vote.
The only thing I think the union didn’t do well was that they should have come out for TODD GLORIA in CD3 exclusively. I know Todd quite well and he’s a GREAT dude. Really easy to get along with and knows a hell of a lot of public policy. I would endorse Todd.