The city’s AFSCME union hosted Democrats Jim King and Greg Fischer at their meeting Tuesday night. The two candidates are seeking an endorsement from the union, which recently settled a payment issue with the city. No endorsement was made on Tuesday, but AFSCME (which hosted a candidates’ forum in December) is interested in endorsing a candidate in the primary.
Here’s a statement from AFSCME Local 2629 President Greg Frazier:
There was a profound interest in our Union becoming involved in this campaign, but not before getting more exposure from other candidates. Our meeting was held the night of the filing deadline, and it was pointed out that several candidates had announced their candidacy after our December forum.
While we want to see what the other candidates have to offer as well, the general consensus seemed to be that our Local does not want to sit on the sidelines and watch as everyone else decides who will end up signing our checks. So, for now we will watch and learn, and encourage our members and affiliate groups to take advantage of any opportunity to go out and see and question the candidates as they can, whether at our meetings or other forums around the County. Then we will act, as some of our members already are, working for the candidates we believe are the best for us and our community. Finally, whether or not AFSCME makes any official endorsement, we will decide.
