Teamsters Endorse Obama in Exchange for Less Oversight
Sen. Barack Obama’s “new politics” takes another hit. The Wall Street Journal reports the Illinois Senator got the Teamsters endorsement in exchange for getting rid of the union’s federal oversight board:
Neither Sen. Obama nor Teamsters President James P. Hoffa has spoken publicly about easing up federal oversight, a top priority for Mr. Hoffa since he became union president in 1999. On the campaign trail, Mr. Hoffa stresses Sen. Obama’s criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement as the big factor in winning the 1.4-million member union’s support.
But John Coli, vice president for the Teamsters central region, who brokered the Teamsters endorsement, said Sen. Obama was “pretty definitive that the time had come to start the beginning of the end” of the three-member independent review board that investigates suspect activity in the union. Mr. Coli said that Sen. Obama conveyed that view in a series of phone conversations and meetings with Teamsters officials last year.
Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor confirmed the candidate’s position in a statement to The Wall Street Journal, saying that Sen. Obama believes that the board “has run its course,” because “organized crime influence in the union has drastically declined.” Mr. Vietor said Sen. Obama took that position last year.
The paper reports neither President Clinton, Vice President AlGore, or Sen. John Kerry offered the union such a tantalizing gift.
The paper also notes Obama won the union’s endorsement event though he disagrees with them on ANWR and immigration. Yet an Teamsters’ spokesman insisted there wasn’t a quid pro quo. Er…ok.
While the Teamsters have long been known to have ties to organized crime the oversight board has only been in existence since 1989. Ten years later, Teamsters president James Hoffa hired an internal lawyer to “root out mob ties.” He gave up in 2004.
Ed Morrissey found the Senator felt a little uncomfortable answering questions about the deal, but stood by it. Such equivocation.
The Obama campaign sent Greg Sargent a news clip from 2004 sort of indicating Obama was for dropping the oversight board then [via Tom Maguire]. The story’s about a GOP opponent with only a paragraph about Obama’s position. It’s murky and doesn’t explain Obama’s discomfort on Good Morning America this morning.
For Obama this looks a lot like the politics played in Chicago, not the “new politics” he preaches on the campaign trail. The post-partisan brand continues to crack.
“Obama Says Teamsters Need Less Oversight” [via The ChamberPost]
