Are Arkansas Dems at Odds with Senator Lincoln?

April 7, 2009

FYI, a version of the release below went out to the following districts: Marion Berry (AR-01); Vic Snyder (AR-02) and Mike Ross (AR-04).

Is Ross at Odds with Senator Lincoln?

Blanche Lincoln Will Not Support Card Check, Mike Ross Still Silent on Where He Stands

Washington- Yesterday’s announcement by Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln that she will not support Card Check is one of the first indications that some Washington lawmakers are finally coming to grips with this boon to Big Labor. Now the question remains: Where does Arkansas Congressman Mike Ross stand?

“Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) said Monday she will vote against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), marking a major Democratic defection to the effort to pass the highly-prized union bill.

“ I cannot support that bill,’ Lincoln said during a speech before the Little Rock Political Animals Club, according to the Arkansas Business News. ‘Cannot support that bill in its current form. Cannot support and will not support moving it forward in its current form.’” (Michael O’Brien, “Sen. Lincoln Will Not Support ‘Card Check,’” The Hill, April 6, 2009)

Local experts in Arkansas are warning that Card Check would deliver a devastating blow to area workers and businesses, yet Mike Ross has yet to take a position:

“Meantime, Little Rock labor attorney Bruce Cross says the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act would be devastating to both employers and employees.

“Cross says, ‘In the past 50 years, there hasn’t been a piece of legislation that’s labor related that is this potentially dangerous to employees and employers and the general public as much as this piece of legislation is.’

“Cross has been studying this measure for several years and has traveled to Washington many times to speak against it. Regardless of how he feels about it, Cross is already preparing dozens of employers just in case it passes….

“We did not hear back from Congressmen Snyder or Ross.” (Melissa Dunbar-Gates, “Rally At State Capitol For Employee Free Choice Act,” KTHV Little Rock, March 16, 2009)

Last Congress, Mike Ross co-sponsored the Card Check bill and voted in the House to strip away a union workers democratic right to a secret ballot (House Roll Call 118, March 1, 2007). But with Pelosi and Democrats promising to push this undemocratic, worker-intimidation bill through Congress, Mike Ross must answer whether he’ll follow the lead of Senator Blanche Lincoln, to side with workers in Arkansas, or if he will continue to toe the line for Nancy Pelosi and his Big Labor friends – who have already given him $1,147,250 for his re-election.

“With families in Arkansas already struggling to makes ends meet in a flailing economy, Mike Ross’ support for Card Check could deliver a devastating blow to middle-class families and businesses in his district,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “Senator Lincoln has already admitted that she cannot support this anti-worker bill, and now Mike Ross’ constituents deserve to know where he stands.”

(Source: CQMoneyline.com, accessed 4/7/09)

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