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California Labor Federation Launches Massive Grassroots Campaign to Expose Meg Whitman’s Wall Street Agenda

California Labor Federation Launches Massive Grassroots Campaign to Expose Meg Whitman's Wall Street Agenda

New website with information on Whitman's Wall Street agenda goes live today at www.WallStreetWhitman.com

 

SACRAMENTO– California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski announced today the launch of a massive grassroots campaign that will expose Meg Whitman's Wall Street agenda and her support of corporate economic policies that have harmed California's families.

Because combating Meg's avalanche of TV ads and estimated $150 million campaign war chest can only be done with a broad-based campaign that reaches voters not only on the airwaves but also one-on-one where they live and work, Pulaski said the “Wall Street Whitman” campaign will mobilize union members statewide to engage their neighbors and co-workers, and will make use of innovative and precise voter contact technology.

“The more we learn about Meg Whitman's past and her proposals for our future, the more clear it becomes that Meg Whitman is running for Governor to do Wall Street's bidding. Whitman's plan is for Wall Street and corporate CEOs to get the cake while the rest of us fight for the crumbs,” said Pulaski. “This campaign will reach millions of Californians whose dreams of good jobs, quality, affordable healthcare, first-class schools and a decent retirement are directly threatened by Meg Whitman.”

On a teleconference with reporters, Pulaski laid out the California Labor Federation's multi-million dollar campaign to get out the truth about Whitman's record and let voters know exactly where Whitman stands on the issues they care about, including jobs, the budget, health care, education, and workers' rights.

Pulaski said the campaign's voter contact would begin immediately and be sustained through the November election, reaching millions of voters through a multi-pronged member communications program and independent expenditures, focusing heavily on person-to-person contact, including:

  • An army of 25,000 volunteers who will help spread the message of Whitman's dangerous agenda and Jerry Brown's record of fighting for working families.
  • A member-led worksite information blitz that will reach 150,000 union workers with informational flyers in the coming weeks and hundreds of thousands more between now and the election;
  • Phone calls, door knocking, union letters and mail to union voters, who make up about 1 in 5 voters statewide on Election Day
  • The launch of a brand-new website, www.WallStreetWhitman.com, which will serve as one-stop shopping for families seeking information on Whitman's positions on economic issues and what her Wall Street agenda will mean for their families. The website will also serve as a hub allowing worker activists to engage others in the campaign through extensive use of email and social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter.
  • Sustained public actions between now and November to ensure that everywhere Whitman goes, working people will be there to tell the truth about her Wall Street agenda for California;
  • The most cutting-edge and targeted voter communication program ever used in California to ensure working families receive the information they want and need on the candidates and issues they care about;
  • A large, targeted independent expenditure program to reach millions of non-union voters in-person, through the mail and on the air.

Joining Pulaski today were several union members who discussed the impact Whitman's proposals would have on their families, and their plans to participate in the campaign to educate other workers about what Whitman's policies would mean for issues they care about.

“Millions of California workers like me know firsthand what Wall Street's agenda has done to our families. Meg and her corporate cronies became billionaires by chewing up companies and spitting out their workers. I'll be encouraging other workers like me to visit www.WallStreetWhitman.com to learn more about how Meg's plans to downsize and corporatize California will cost more families their jobs, their homes, and their retirement,” said Kevin Gorman, a journeyman electrician and member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 569 in San Diego who is currently unemployed.

Martha Kuhl, RN, a pediatric oncology nurse from Oakland and treasurer of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, added, “The health of the patients we care about depends on defeating Meg Whitman this fall. Whitman wants to roll back sensible consumer protections to benefit her board room buddies on Wall Street, but her plans to loosen regulations and fire 40,000 workers will increase nurse-to-patient ratios and cost lives.

“We've seen what happens when Wall Street gets its greedy grip on our mortgages and our retirement savings, so nurses will be talking to our co-workers and neighbors to make sure Meg doesn't get a stranglehold on our healthcare.”

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Paid for by the California Labor Federation.
Not authorized by a candidate or committee controlled by a candidate.

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