Clarksville-Montgomery County “League Of Voter Empowerment” (L.O.V.E.)

The League’s mission statement says the group “will endorse and vote for the candidates that we believe best support our agenda and we will work to vote out the elected officials that we know do not have the best interest of their constituents in mind.

During the last election season, nine candidates on the ballot endorsed by L.O.V.E. won their races and are still representing their constituency today. The League encourages everyone to cast your their vote on Election Day; “your vote is your voice!”

The League Of Voter Empowerment endorsements are:

• President of the United Sates: Barack Obama
• United States Senate: Robert D. Tuke
• United States House Of Representatives 7th congressional district: Randy G. Morris
• United States House Of Representatives 8th congressional district: John Tanner
• Tennessee Senate 22nd senatorial district: Tim Barnes
• Tennessee House Of Representatives 67th representative district: Joe Pitts
• Tennessee House Of Representatives 78th representative district: David W. Davidson
• City Judge: Charles Smith
• City Council Ward 3: Vincent S. Kruk
• City Council Ward 4: Edward Fowler
• City Council Ward 5: Candy Johnson
• City Council Ward 8: David Cutting
• City Council Ward 9: Joel Wallace
• City Council Ward 12: Jeff Burkhart

The League Of Voter Empowerment does not support the following referendum question:

REFERENDUM: Shall Resolution 08-7-2, which increases the local Motor Vehicle Privilege Tax for Education from Thirty Dollars ($30.00) to Fifty Dollars ($50.00) to be appropriated to the Clarksville Montgomery County School System’s Transportation Fund be approved?

And, unlike Wurzelbacher, he’s a licensed plumber.

Joe Moenck, a plumber in Zumbrota, Minn., is a member of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA) Local 6—which, like all building and construction trades unions, has high professional standards for its members—such as making sure they hold a license to practice their craft.

Moenck was dismayed to see McCain repeatedly trot out “Joe the Plumber” during this week’s presidential debate with Sen. Barack Obama. Says Moenck:

“I felt that when John McCain was talking about Joe the Plumber, I didn’t feel that that was sincere. He didn’t mention the middle class in the last two debates at all. It upset me that he brought this up strictly because he had to, because his ratings are low among the middle class. I don’t think he believes what he said, but he knows his support is low there and said that strictly for the ratings, as a campaign strategy.”

When “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher met Obama in Toledo on Sunday, Wurzelbacher expressed concern about being taxed on earnings of $280,000 per year should he ever start a small plumbing business.

But, as Moenck can tell you, hard workers like him in the building trades aren’t paid anywhere near $250,000 a year. For Moenck—and even for Wurzelbacher, who right now makes far less than his dream salary—Obama’s tax plan would mean a decrease in taxes by more than $1,200 a year—more than under McCain’s tax plan. And should Wurzelbacher ever pull in $250,000, he’d only pay a few hundred dollar more in taxes under Obama’s plan. Not a deal-breaker for a guy thinking of starting a small business.

Wurzelbacher also has a bit of an agenda. He’s a member of the Associated Builders & Contractors, a nonunion trade group that has endorsed McCain.

So, in addition to Moenck, we’d like to introduce McCain to a few other real Joe the plumbers.

There’s Joe Gutzwiller, a licensed plumber in Indianapolis and member of UA Local 440. Gutzwiller shares a lot in common with Moenck, including seeing through McCain’s pretensions of support for America’s middle class.

“I heard the one about health care, where McCain wants to tax our benefits, and I just think he’s looking out for bigger businesses and corporations leaving middle class people out of the whole picture.

“I think Obama is actually trying to help out middle class people who are feeling the effect of our economy. From what I’ve seen in the debates, he’s trying to prevent future problems and give the middle class a tax break to help stimulate the economy.”

And then there’s Joe Tatum in Virginia, who’s been a licensed plumber for 35 years after apprenticing with UA Local 10.

“McCain thinks we make over $200,000. I don’t make anywhere close to that. If I did, I could retire now instead of waiting ’til I’m 62.”

Over in Colorado, Joe Martinez, a plumber and member of UA Local 3, has this to say:

“John McCain doesn’t understand working families and I don’t understand how any plumber can vote for John McCain. He’s just not in touch with the working man at all.”

And there’s Joe Vicena, a member of UA Local 75 in Milwaukee, who sees McCain as continuing the same disastrous economic policies as George W. Bush.

“Our jobs are being sent overseas, people are losing their pensions and their 401(k)s, and the stock market is tanking. We need change in a positive manner. McCain is not the person to do it.  He is absolutely not the person.  Me and my family can’t take four more minutes, much less four more years, of the missteps and mis-policies we’ve had the past eight.”

Moenck, Gutzwiller, Tatum, Martinez and Vicena agree with their union that Obama is the best choice for America’s plumbers—and all middle-class workers—because, as under Bush, McCain’s economic policy would benefit the wealthiest and flush the rest of us down the tank. As Moenck puts it:

“If the middle class doesn’t have money to call Joe the Plumber, Joe the Plumber’s not gonna be in business very long.”

About the Author

This is a cross-post from the Firedoglake blog in partnership with the author Tula Connell, AFL-CIO managing editor. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly known as the AFL-CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States made up of 56 national and international unions including Canadian together representing more than 10 million workers. This organization gave Barack Obama one of his biggest Union endorsements.

City Mayor: Charles Smith
City Council Ward 1: Barbara Johnson
City Council Ward 2: Deanna Mclaughlin
City Council Ward 3: Keith Svadba
City Council Ward 6: Marc Harris
City Council  Ward 7: Mary Nell Wooten
City Council Ward 10: Bill Summers
City Council Ward 11: Lisa Dotson
Governor: Phil Bredesen
U.S. Senate: Harold Ford Jr.
U.S. House of Representatives 7th Congressional District: Bill Morrison
U.S. House of Representatives 8th Congressional District: John Tanner
Tennessee House of Representatives District 67: Joe Pitts
Tennessee House of Representatives District 68: Tim Barnes
Tennessee House of Representatives District 78: Bruce Gibbs

We will endorse and vote for the candidates that we believe best support our agenda and we will work to vote out the elected officials that we know do not have the best interest of their constituents in mind.

The endorsement list you are about to read is the first installment of many that will come out of the membership free, Voters Club (L.O.V.E.).

There’s nothing quite like sprinkling ( L.O.V.E. ) on a community that can change the political and economic struggle of a people.