ELECTION DAY
Tuesday, November 6, 2018

 

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LOCAL ELECTIONS

 

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Be a part of history and get your ballot in (editorial) — Voter turnout is expected to reach 75 percent or better for today’s election. Be a part of it.

ALSO at The Stand — It’s Election Day. Your voice matters. VOTE! — If you haven’t yet cast your ballot, check out labor’s endorsements, fill it out and make sure it’s postmarked today (no postage necessary) or returned to a county drop box by 8 p.m. Log in to MyVote to find a drop box near you.

► MUST-READ in today’s USA Today — Vote out Donald Trump’s lap dogs in the Senate and the House (editorial) — The current GOP-controlled House and Senate, however, have been little but obedient lap dogs to President Donald Trump. This would be troubling under any circumstances. But it is especially so now with a president who careens from gross incompetence to troubling executive overreach; who tolerates, even encourages, corrupt behavior; and who tries to govern through a toxic mix of self-adulation, divisive rhetoric, fearmongering, outright lies and juvenile name-calling. It is not healthy for the country, or the institution, when Congress abets Trump’s politicized attacks on his own Justice Department and on the free press. Nor is it healthy when Trump’s fellow Republicans remain mostly silent when he incites hate groups with incendiary language, or when he veers erratically from threatening nuclear war with North Korea to declaring himself “in love” with dictator Kim Jong Un… The current House and Senate have failed miserably at their duty to conduct oversight hearings and to put guardrails around a reckless president whose own aides have questioned his fitness. It is time to elect a Congress that will do better.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Dino Rossi is included in the graphic above not because he has been Trump’s “lap dog,” but because he most certainly would be, if elected to Congress. Rossi was a Trump delegate at the 2016 Republican National Convention and has refused to criticize Trump on the campaign trail. But the reason the labor movement opposes Rossi is because he is about as radical an anti-worker, anti-union extremist as you can find among politicians here in Washington state. Learn more about Dino.

► From KING 5 — Rossi, Schrier hit the streets — Includes footage of Saturday’s Labor Neighbor GOTV efforts for Dr. Kim Scrier, the WSLC’s endorsed candidate for Congress in the 8th CD, at the IAM Hall in Auburn.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Another election year, another record high for corporate spending on Washington’s initiatives (by Shawn Vestal) — It arrives here by the tens of millions, and it flows to consultants in Massachusetts, researchers in Pennsylvania, communications analysts in Michigan and advertising production companies in California. It’s the seemingly bottomless well of corporate money, purchasing a seemingly endless firehose of political advertisements in initiative campaigns. Corporations are “speaking” louder than any other entity in this election – louder than any candidate or citizens committee – and it’s not even close.

 

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NATIONAL ELECTIONS

 

► From Vox — Many working-class Trump voters in Ohio are casting ballots for Democrats in 2018 — If Democrats win in the state of Ohio on Election Day, they will have union workers to thank. Canvassers for the OHIO AFL-CIO have spoken to thousands of union workers who backed Trump in 2016 and are now planning to vote for Democrats in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

► In today’s NY Times — Fox News personalities embrace Trump at his final rally before the election — As President Trump wrapped up the midterm election cycle with a late-night rally in southwest Missouri on Monday, he was joined by a trio of conservative media rock stars — Rush Limbaugh and two Fox News personalities, Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro — who delivered short speeches in support of the president.

► In today’s Washington Post — Without evidence, Trump and Sessions warn of voter fraud — Accusations of voter fraud and voter suppression have roared to the forefront in several closely fought races this year, raising the possibility of recounts and disputed results among dozens of contests.

► In today’s Tri-City Herald– Washington, Oregon watching as California votes on daylight saving time — A California ballot measure, Proposition 7, would pave the way to put the Golden State on permanent daylight saving time and potentially take the rest of the West Coast, including Washington and Oregon, with it.

 

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BOEING

 

► From Reuters — Boeing’s China plant to start operations in December — The Boeing Co. will start operations at its 737 completion plant in China next month and Air China will take delivery of the first plane produced there, the U.S. planemaker said. Boeing invested $33 million last year in a joint venture with the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) to oversee the plant, taking a majority stake. The plant, in the eastern city of Zhoushan, will install interiors and paint liveries. Boeing China President John Bruns was quoted as saying that the factory will deliver only one aircraft in 2018 and then gradually increase output until it hits a delivery target of 100 planes a year.

 

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LOCAL

 

► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — WestRock/KapStone merger approved — When the merger was first announced in January, union leaders for the Longview mill said it was “very unlikely” the local mill would close under the deal because KapStone had made significant investments in it and WestRock was looking to expand its presence on the West Coast. AWPPW Local 153 represents about 800 workers at the mill.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Federal judge questions whether Seattle police-union contract in keeping with ‘spirit’ of reforms — Mayor Jenny Durkan said the city expected U.S. District Judge James Robart to hold its feet to the fire and is confident it will be able to show that the proposed contract is consistent with court-ordered reforms.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Mayor Condon submits balanced budget sustaining police and firefighter hires — Spokane Mayor David Condon submitted a balanced budget last week with some small spending cuts yet increased funding for homelessness services following projections of higher revenue collections.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff in line for 11 percent pay boost — to $364,000 a year — Rogoff, now finishing his third year at the agency, survived an investigation into complaints about abrasive management style, profanity and sexism that led to the loss of his 2017 performance bonus.

EDITOR’S NOTE — He already gets double what the governor earns. It’s not like he’s a football coach or something.

► In today’s News Tribune — QFC has about 200 positions it wants to fill for the holidays — Grocer QFC sent notification last week that it will be hiring about 200 workers before the holidays. Many of the jobs are in the Seattle area, but some are southward (Tacoma, Lacey and Belfair). The openings are for both full- and part-time positions. They include customer service, e-commerce, merchandising, operations and pharmacy.

 

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NATIONAL

 

► In today’s Boston Globe — Marriott strike over in Detroit; Boston still talking — The job action in Boston is still ongoing, but “we’re making progress,” said Brian Lang, president of UNITE HERE Local 26, which has 1,500 workers at seven Boston hotels involved in the work stoppage. In both Oakland and Detroit, only a single Marriott-run hotel was on strike.

ALSO at The Stand — Marriott strike settled in Oakland, Detroit; continues in 6 cities

► From KTVH — Imerys employees headed back to work after three-month lockout — Workers at Imerys Talc America Inc. headed back into work on Monday for the first time in three months. The workers union met with the mill executives on October 25 to renegotiate. During the three-month lockout, employees protested every day outside of the plant until an agreement was reached.

► In today’s Milwaukee J-S — Long-time Wisconsin labor leader Phil Neuenfeldt dies after battling cancer — Phil Neuenfeldt, who retired in September as president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, died Sunday at his home, the labor group said Monday. Neuenfeldt, who was given the title president emeritus by the union, had been battling cancer. He was 67.

 

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TODAY’S MUST-READ

 

► From TPM — How changing the census clears the way for a major GOP power grab — If the Trump administration wins its fight to add a citizenship question to the census, it will clear the way for Republicans to execute a major power grab they’ve sought for years that could entrench their electoral advantage with rural whites while undermining the representation of urban and diverse populations. While the legal battle over adding the citizenship question, now underway in a federal courtroom in New York City, is burrowing into statistical methodologies and sound survey practices, the practical political impact could be enormous, studies have shown. On the horizon, if the citizenship question is allowed to stay on the 2020 census, is a giant legal battle over whether states can then use the data it produces to draw legislative districts based on the number of citizens rather than total population. It sounds like a wonky distinction, but it’s one with huge consequences for how Republicans in certain states will be able to consolidate their political power, while diminishing the voting power of communities with significant numbers of non-citizens.

 

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The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.