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A coalition of labor unions convened by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council have set up a political action committee aimed at electing labor-friendly candidates to the 12-member Portland City Council in the November election.
In a Wednesday morning statement announcing the new PAC, Working for a Better Portland, the unions wrote that the committee is “composed of labor unions and allied groups that have independently considered the 87 candidates who have emerged over the past 12 months.”
“They have joined together to help voters sort through the long list of candidates in each of the four new council districts,” the statement read. “The group has thoroughly vetted candidates to ensure that they will be effective in moving Portland forward. Because the new council will have a policy focus instead of bureau management duties, Working for a Better Portland has paid close attention to the depth of understanding and innovative ideas each candidate will bring to the work.”
The PAC is led by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, which under its umbrella includes dozens of labor unions. (The council hosts the Labor Day Picnic each September.)
Laurie Wimmer, the council’s executive secretary-treasurer, provided a list of participating labor unions to WW, but said she expects the list to grow.
Unions participating in the new political action committee, according to Wimmer, include: AFSCME Local 189, SEIU Locals 49 and 503, Ironworkers Local 29, the Portland Association of Teachers, LiUNA, the Portland Fire Fighters Association, and UFCW Local 555.
According to the PAC’s statement, it is seeking both business and nonprofit groups to join, including social and racial justice nonprofits. Whether business or nonprofit groups join or contribute to the PAC is yet to be seen, though the labor council’s endorsements, which it made in June, show the council endorsed a mix of both more moderate and more progressive candidates.
The list of participating unions provided by Wimmer would suggest, however, that there could be clashes over which candidates the new PAC will spend money to support. The Portland Fire Fighters Association, for instance, endorsed a number of candidates that have emphasized the need for more police officers and a crackdown on public drug use and camping in public rights of way. Meanwhile, the Portland Association of Teachers endorsed a very different slate of candidates that have emphasized social justice and police accountability in their campaigns. There was minimal overlap between the two unions’ endorsement lists.
Wimmer declined to elaborate on how the PAC would decide which candidates to spend money on in the lead-up to the November election.
“We are not disclosing our strategy because we are carefully following Oregon law as it relates to independent expenditures,” Wimmer said. “I can verify that there is strong agreement about the goal of ensuring that Portland’s next City Council should be a broad range of experienced leaders whose pro-worker values guide decision making and return our city to the thriving place voters yearn for.”
In June, the Northwest Oregon Labor Council endorsed the following candidates:
District 1, Portland east of I-205: Steph Routh, Candace Avalos, Jamie Dunphy
District 2, North and Northeast Portland: Jonathan Tasini, Dan Ryan, Elana Pirtle-Guiney
District 3, Southeast Portland west of I-205: Steve Novick, Tiffany Koyama Lane, Chris Flanary
District 4, west of the Willamette River and some of Southeast: Tony Morse, Olivia Clark, Eric Zimmerman