Saturday workers ...
Teachers Sue to Block Hotel Workers' Union Vote in Nevada Caucus
By Steve Friess
The New York Times
"LAS VEGAS - Nevada’s state teachers union and six Las Vegas area residents filed a lawsuit late Friday that could make it harder for many members of the state’s huge hotel workers union to vote in the hotly contested Jan. 19 Democratic caucus in Nevada.
"The 13-page lawsuit in federal district court here comes two days after the 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union Local 226 in Nevada endorsed Senator Barack Obama, a blow to Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Obama addressed the Culinary Union at their hall earlier Friday.
"The lawsuit argues that the Nevada Democratic Party’s decision, decided late last year, to create at-large precincts inside nine Las Vegas resorts on caucus day violates the state’s election laws and creates a system in which voters at the at-large precincts can elect more delegates than voters at other precincts. The lawsuit employs a complex mathematical formula to show that voters at the other 1,754 precincts would have less influence with their votes.
"The at-large precincts are being established because thousands of hotel workers cannot leave work to participate in the midday caucuses in their home precincts. The Nevada State Education Association has said it would not endorse any Democrat, but some of its top officials have endorsed Mrs. Clinton. The association’s deputy executive director, Debbie Cahill, for instance, was a founding member of Senator Clinton’s Nevada Women’s Leadership Council.
"Nobody from the either union could be reached for comment late Friday. One plaintiff, Vicky Birkhead of North Las Vegas referred questions to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, who also could not be reached.
"'This could shut down those precincts in the casinos and keep culinary members from voting,' said Jon Ralston, a political pundit with The Las Vegas Sun, who broke the story on his blog. Mr. Ralston said it is unclear whether there are ties between the lawsuit and the Clinton campaign but, he predicted, 'Even if they’re Hillary supporters, the campaign’s going to say they had nothing to do with it.It is unclear when the court will hear the matter.'"
Of course, this is saddening.
Not because I'm a conspiracy theorist or that I'm any overtly huge supporter of labor unions (which, I am, just not an active one) but I mean ... come on.
A. The NSEA hasn't officially backed anyone, but this really doesn't look good for Sen. Clinton's campaign here in Nevada, any way you slice it.
B. Nevada has never had a primary caucus this early, none of the precincts are organized by the state party the way they are in Iowa, where they've had decades to get the math correct and averaged out. This is a first time, so there are going to be larger voting blocks in the at-large precincts. And, by the way, the at-large precincts are divided up based on location, so it's not just one, huge, enormous voting bloc that will hold sway, it's all dependent upon who shows up to caucus, if they're allowed to show up at all.
C. The Democratic Party, the last time I checked, has never been about exclusion. If there's a ruling in favor of the plaintiff or an injunction, that's what's going to happen, Saturday workers aren't going to be allowed to caucus, period.
D. This sends an elitist message from the teacher's union: we don't have to work on Saturday, but you do, so pay the price for being a Blue Collar.
No good will come of this, why is this even being pursued?