On July 31, Sen. Barack Obama addressed (via videoconference) your AFSCME brothers and sisters at the San Francisco convention. (Photo by Jim West)

Palpable Change That's Gonna Come:
Barack Obama Will Keep Our Issues
Front and Center
(9/4/08)

    There’s nothing like change — as in real change — waiting to happen. You could feel the anticipation beginning to take shape this past fall and through the holiday season. It manifested itself during the Iowa Caucuses and an initial wave of momentum crested during the presidential primary season this spring. AFSCME, of course, was there, helping to ensure that the issues of working families were part of the discourse.


    Now, back-to-school, last-bits-of-summer days are upon us. The Democratic National Convention’s just around the corner. The presumptive nominees for president already are slugging it out on the stump and in the media. The anticipation sensation’s welling up again. That feeling — that change is gonna come out of all this — is palpable. It’s very, very real. But only if we make it so.

    And we can. As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president who AFSCME originally endorsed, put it July 31 during your union’s 38th international convention in San Francisco (see page 4): Work your heart out to elect Barack Obama, the only working-family-friendly candidate, as the next president of the United States.

    Heart, Sen. Clinton knows, is something we’ve got.

    “We completely agree with Senator Clinton that ‘the way to continue our fight now — to accomplish the goals for which we stand — is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States,’” said AFSCME International President Gerald McEntee when he announced in June that your union’s executive board had unanimously endorsed the Illinois senator for president. “Barack Obama has mobilized a historic movement to reclaim the greatness of America. With his leadership, our nation will rise up to rebuild the middle class at home and restore America’s reputation in the world.”

    Read the rest of the story ...

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Have questions about your financial future?
    Contact Bob Johnston, a financial advisor and financial services representative with Next Level Planning & Wealth Management (an office of MetLife). Johnston can be reached at 414-615-4912 or via email at rjohnston1@metlife.com.

Sept. 9 primary results:
Colon, Pasch, Sinicki, Staskunas,
Toles, Williams & Young advance
(9/10/08)

    Seven working family advocates won their respective Assembly primary elections yesterday.

    Two of those advocates -- Sandy Pasch and State Rep. Tony Staskunas -- will face challengers in the Nov. 4 general election.

    The other five? They're incumbents, all. Rep. Pedro Colon, Christine Sinicki, Rep. Barbara Toles, Rep. Annette Polly Williams and Rep. Leon Young — who had been challenged by decidedly non-Democratic opponents in the Democratic primary –- effectively re-won their seats because they don’t have any Republican opponents.

    All seven candidates were endorsed by AFSCME District Council 48 and the 4th Congressional District PEOPLE committee.

    Thanks to all of you who worked the phone banks on their behalf in recent weeks. And there’s plenty of work yet to do. To find out how you can help, call AFSCME Take Back America Project Organizer Ryan Neibauer at 414-344-6868 (ext. 240) or 414-333-1606 (cell); or email him at rneibauer@wiafscme.org.

DC 48 endorses Sandy Pasch for the Assembly District 22 seat.

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Need to express your opinion? Our contact lists can help.

Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors

Milwaukee-area state legislators

Wisconsin members of US Congress

City of Milwaukee Common Council


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© 2008 AFSCME District Council 48
3427 W. St. Paul Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53208
Phone: (414) 344-6868 Your e-mail feedback is welcome!

Attention fellow activists:
Please join us on October 15
for a Milwaukee County budget rally

    Attention all AFSCME members. Your presence is requested at the following event:

    On Wednesday, Oct. 15, your Union needs your help. Milwaukee County jobs are on the verge of being eliminated; more privatization (courtesy of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker) is planned. Public services are being cut. Walker already has cut the workforce 23 percent since become County Exec, and if you don't stand up for yourselves (and your brothers and sisters), the percentage will rise even higher.

    So: Join our rally on the 15th at 5 p.m. at Clas Plaza on North 10th and West Wells streets on the south end of the Courthouse.

    Buses will transport from worksites and park-and-ride lots due to limited parking. Bus 1 will leave the House of Corrections, 8885 S. 68th St., Franklin, at 4:40 p.m.

    Bus 2: The bus will leave the first stop, Behavior Health Division (BHD), 9455 W. Watertown Plank Road, at 3:30 p.m., 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., with stops at the Wauwatosa Park & Ride, south side of Watertown Plank Road, west of U.S. 45; Children's Court Center, 10201 W. Watertown Plank Road; Fleet Management, 10320 W. Watertown Plank Road; and the Zoo, 10001 W. Bluemound Road.

    Bus 3: The bus will leave the first stop, the Airport - South Shop, 5800 S. Howell Ave., at 3:30 p.m. and 4:15 p.m., with stops at the College Avenue Park & Ride on the north side of College Avenue and the east side of I-94; and the Ryan Road Park & Ride on the north side of Ryan Road and the east side of I-94.

    Bus 4: The bus leaves the first stop, the Loomis Road Park & Ride on the east side of Loomis Road, at 3:30 p.m. and 4:15 p.m., with stops at the Holt Avenue Park & Ride on the north side of Holt Avenue and the west side of 1-43/94; and Robles Center, 1673 S. 9th St.

    Bus 5: The bus leaves the first stop, City Campus at 2711 W. Wells St., at 4:10 p.m. and 4:40 p.m., with stops at the Coggs Center, 1220 W. Vliet St., and the Reuss Building, 310 W. Wisconsin Ave.

    Bus 6: The bus leaves the first stop, the North Shop at 6270 N. Hopkins St., at 3:30 p.m. and 4:15 p.m., with a stop at Schoenecker Park, 6237 N. Hopkins St.

    Together, we can get the message to our County Supervisors as well as the public: "Save our quality public services provided by qualified public employees ... and no more cuts!"

    More rallies are in the offing this election/budget season. Stay tuned.

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Recent News & Notes

    Direct Talk from District Council 48 Executive Director Rich Abelson: Securing Our Future -- Customer Service in the Public Service (8/08)

    Primary concerns: Why the Sept. 9 primary elections are so important (8/08)

    Child care providers ratify historic three-year pact with the state of Wisconsin (6/23/08)

    Read (and participate in) The Greenline, AFSCME International's Weblog (i.e., "blog")

    Spring election recap: Lost a few, but won more (4/7/08)

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