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Senators Sweeney and Norcross and 20 other legislative Democrats punished for raising cost of benefits

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The politically powerful state AFL-CIO, a coalition of 40 unions, has voted not to endorse the 8 Democratic state senators and 14 Assembly members, and a lower house Republican, who sided with the GOP in June to hike the cost of health and pension benefits for 550,000 state and local public employees.

The Democrats who have fallen from favor include Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Sen. Donald Norcross (D-Camden), both union activists.

The vote not to endorse the so-called Christecrats came at the urging of leaders of the Communications Workers of America and AFSCME who vowed to cause trouble for the 22 Democrats’ re-election efforts after they sided with the Gov. Chris Christie and legislative Republicans to boost the benefits’ costs.

Losing endorsement means those legislators are not likely receive campaign funds direct from the state AFL-CIO’s political fund and any campaign help from coordinated labor volunteers.

Sweeney and Norcross built their political careers as labor activists. They stood together a Trenton hotel meeting room as the endorsement votes were cast on Thursday. But how significant the loss of the endorsement means for them and the other South Jersey Democrats remains to be seen.

Last month, Sweeney, Norcross and the other South Jersey Democratic legislators who were not endorsed by the state AFL-CIO, received the endorsement of the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO Central Labor Council in a move designed to head off any statewide union action against them.

The Southern New Jersey council’s political committee is comprised of representatives from a cross-section of organized labor, including the public employees, healthcare, industrial, commercial and building trades sectors and endorses candidates from Camden, Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland counties.

The vote not to endorse the 22 Democrats caused half of the some 600 delegates, many of them building and trade union members, storm out of a Trenton hotel conference room, shouting their disapproval.

“I believe I’ve earned the AFL-CIO’s support over 10 years of service,” Sweeney told The Star-ledger before the vote. He reminded the delegates the coalition had endorsed governors who failed to pay into state pension funds, bringing them close to collapse.

“We got a governor who hates many of the people in this room to agree to make a pension payment,” he said.

Rae Raeder, head of CWA Local 1033, asked the delegated to oppose a Sweeney endorsement. Turning toward Sweeney she said, “I’m turning round to look at the person who stabbed us in the back.”

Hetty Rosenstein, CWA area director, told The Star-Ledger she preferred to view the vote as a positive endorsement of every lawmaker who voted against the pensions and health changes. “It shows it makes a difference to us, what they do,” she said. “Collective bargaining is a red line.”

The state AFL-CIO is comprised of 140 locals from the 40 public employee and private industry unions.

Besides Sweeney and Norcross, the state AFL-CIO did not endorse Senators Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May), Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic), Fred H. Madden (D-Camden), James Beach (D-Camden), M. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), and Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson).