Trumka, Indiana AFL-CIO Slam Trump's Pick of Pence for Republican VP Slot
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Indiana AFL-CIO President Brett Voorhies are slamming Donald Trump’s selection of incumbent Gov. Mike Pence, R-Ind., as the Republican vice presidential nominee this year. Trumka called Pence “the second-worst vice presidential pick in history.” He didn’t say who was first.
Trump announced the Pence pick in a tweet just before the GOP convention opened in Cleveland, then held a public press conference – which the business mogul dominated – on July 16. That event became awkward both because Trump left his running mate in the background, and then fumbled an answer on issues the two disagree upon.
The Pence pick proves Trump “does not stand with working families,” since Pence took strong anti-worker stands as governor and before that in Congress, Trumka said.
They included favoring jobs-losing “free trade” pacts, favoring Indiana’s enactment of a so-called “right to work” law, opposition to raising the minimum wage and campaigning to repeal Indiana’s prevailing wage for construction workers.
“Everything Donald Trump says shows he is desperate to be working people’s friend, but everything Donald Trump does proves he is our enemy...Mike Pence might be the right choice for Donald Trump, but he’s the wrong choice for America. We need leaders who will bring us together, not tear us apart,” Trumka said.
Pence became nationally notorious for pushing a law discriminating against lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender people through the GOP-dominated legislature. After public uproar and business pressure, he partially backtracked. But the law made his pick by Trump attractive to so-called social conservatives.
By running with Trump, Pence had to give up his run for re-election to a second term in the GOP-leaning Hoosier State. The GOP state central committee will name a replacement, since the state primary has already passed. Voorhies was not sorry to see Pence go.
“Mike Pence is running away from the people of Indiana and into the arms of Donald Trump, and the pair could not be more perfect for each other. Trump and Pence are both driven by a divisive political agenda that focuses more on ideologies than actual practical solutions to the issues plaguing working people. Governor Pence has failed Hoosiers, so it’s no wonder he’s made such a desperate attempt to escape the race,” Voorhies said.
Voorhies used Pence’s exist to tout labor-endorsed Democratic nominee John Gregg, a former state lawmaker and House speaker who narrowly lost to Pence four years ago.
“Luckily, we have a leader in this race who is not running away,” Voorhies commented. “John Gregg has the experience needed to pick up the pieces and clean up the mess Mike Pence has left behind. John Gregg still stands with working Hoosiers just as he always has.
“Now it is up to the people of Indiana to decide whether they want to elect a leader who has stood by them or someone who will follow in the footsteps of Mike Pence. Let’s open a new chapter for the working families of Indiana and elect John Gregg as our next governor.”
