Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) appears to be warning his membership that there is no lock on allegiance for Arlen Specter even though he has recently jumped the GOP ship for the Democrat Party.
On May 3, Stern used his twitter account to praise Congressman Joe Sestak, a possible 2010 opponent for Specter for the Democratic Party nomination for Penn. Senator.
The twitter message read:
Congressman Sestak impressive on CNN. Visiting him tomorrow.
Is this a shot over Specter’s bow? Is the president of the powerful SEIU warning Specter not to expect its fealty just because he is now a sudden Democrat?
Of course it is. After all Specter announced that he does not support a favorite union effort, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) — the much derided card check bill — and Stern is a leading proponent of that legislation.
However, don’t expect Specter to stay true to his word on the EFCA. It is likely that he’ll quietly switch from opposing the bill now that he is once again a Democrat as he was when he first entered politics in the 1960s.
Aaron Gardner
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta
Dan Spencer
Dan McLaughlin
Specter has shown
LibRick (Diary) Wednesday, May 6th at 8:24AM EST (link)he’ll do anything to be in the Senate so I wouldn’t put anything past him. He doesn’t care about his party or, more importantly, the people that put him in office. It’s all about Arlen all the time.
There may well be a Dem challenge to him and that would only help Toomey.
Seniority
Kayla Wednesday, May 6th at 8:33AM EST (link)Why haven’t you guys bl?ogged about how his news friends stripped his seniority
Dems Are Smart
Swamp_Yankee (Diary) Wednesday, May 6th at 12:45PM EST (link)They are going to put Specter on the fence and make him earn their support. Marching lock step with him now allows Specter the security and wiggle room to act as he wants evenif ti is not in Labor’s interest. Dumping him provides Specter no reason for following their agenda. Republicans should have played Specter like a fiddle until next year. That was the smart play.