BOO!
Republican Rick Saccone defended so-called “right-to-work” laws three days before a special election in a Western Pennsylvania district with a high rate of union membership.
Saccone, the GOP nominee in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, took reporters’ questions at a small campaign event in the offices of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County on Friday evening.
Asked whether he would support a national right-to-work law, Saccone would not answer directly.
However, he justified right-to-work legislation, arguing that it would not be a hindrance to unions if they were “willing to compete.”
“The right-to-work thing is always a tricky thing, because look, when I talk to union members, they tell me they’re willing to compete,” Saccone said. “The leadership doesn’t like right-to-work because they don’t want to compete.”
“But every union member I know, they’re not afraid to compete,” he continued. “They’ve got a lot to sell, and I’m their biggest salesman.”
Saccone went on to deliver a lengthy paean to the quality of union work, specifically when it comes to construction.
“It costs a little more to hire a union person sometimes,” he said. “But you know what, when you want quality, you pay a little more.”
Asked again at the end of his answer whether that meant that he in fact supported a national right-to-work law, Saccone called on another reporter.
Right-to-work legislation bars unions from mandating any form of dues payment from workers they represent in collective bargaining. Advocates of right-to-work laws argue that they protect workers’ right to refuse to contribute to an organization against their will.
But the laws enable workers who have benefited from the union’s representation and resources to effectively freeload by shirking dues payments. Labor unions bitterly fight attempts to implement right-to-work laws at the state level, deriding them as “right to work for less” and “freedom to freeload.”
But unions are the key to Conor Lamb’s success:
Unions have gone all-in for charismatic Democratic newcomer Conor Lamb, a 33-year-old former Marine officer and federal prosecutor, who has been running roughly even in the polls. Pennsylvania’s 18th District has not been held by a Democrat since 2002 and went for Donald Trump by nearly 20 points in 2016.
“The unions were the first ones to believe in me,” Lamb says. “Most of my initial fundraising was from the unions.”
The district’s previous congressman, Tim Murphy, who resigned in October amid an adultery scandal, was one of the rare Republicans on the Hill on cordial terms with labor. Democrats did not even bother to run anyone against him in 2014 and 2016.
In next Tuesday’s election, however, the unions have found their ultimate bogeyman in four-term state legislator Rick Saccone, 60 , who has opposed them on just about every big question. He has supported right-to-work legislation that would allow workers to opt out of paying fees to unions that bargain on their behalf in the workplace and opposed requirements that public infrastructure projects be built by union labor.
Panicked Republican strategists say privately that Saccone has been a disaster as a candidate, holding few public events and exhibiting a brusque manner that women in particular find off-putting.
Oh, and this clown came into town:
President Donald Trump got business out of the way quickly Saturday night – urging voters to elect Republican congressional candidate Rick Saccone, who’s locked in an unexpectedly tough special election battle in Pennsylvania – before turning to the main subject of the night: himself.
Returning to top campaign form, Trump made fun of Washington and congratulated himself for maintaining his iconoclastic style in office, despite critics who have called for him to take his job more seriously—including in a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal called out by Trump. “I’m very presidential,” he said at one point, lowering his voice and standing artificially straight as he mocked usual political addresses.
“Don’t forget, this got us elected,” he went on, relaxing into his conversational, riffy style. “If I came like a stiff, you guys wouldn’t come here tonight.”
The crowd, in an airplane hangar, cheered. One person shouted: “You're one of us!”
Trump touted his tax reform plan, his new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and his newly announced plan to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, while slamming the news media – including calling NBC host Chuck Todd a “son of a bitch.” The president also talked about his desire to impose capital punishment on drug dealers, describing a discussion with Singapore's president about that country's hardline approach.
He also talked about the size of the crowd, thanking the fire marshal—a vintage campaign line—and recounted how Pennsylvania sealed his 2016 victory. He also unveiled his own new slogan for the 2020 campaign: “Keep America Great!”
“Is there anything more fun than a Trump rally?” he asked at one point.
Saccone needed Trump’s help because his own record is under scrutiny:
The Republican candidate for a vacant House seat in Pennsylvania, Rick Saccone, is facing questions over his description of working as a diplomat in North Korea.
Saccone's experience during his time in North Korea would have been as “more of an observer," a former U.S. diplomat, David Lambertson, told The Guardian. Lambertson said he held the same position as Saccone at the Korea Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO).
“Rick was the American representative for the Korea Peninsula Energy Development Organization inside North Korea from December 2000 to December 2001,” a spokesman for Saccone told the publication, pushing back on the claims.
The spokesman said that Saccone “interacted daily with the North Koreans regarding the implementation of the agreed framework” and “served in a diplomatic capacity for KEDO.”
Saccone has said he lived in North Korea for a year as part of the negotiations but Kim Joong-keun, a South Korean representative who also worked with Saccone on the project, told The Guardian that Saccone’s position was shared with two or three people who each rotated in for, at most, six weeks.
He also claimed that Saccone did not meet with any important North Koreans as most of the contact during the talks was between North and South Koreans.
“Of all the Americans I worked with, I would rank Saccone at the bottom,” Kim said.
But gambling on Trump being the sole aspect to save his campaign may not be enough:
There is no sign of Republican congressional candidate Rick Saccone on Sherwood Drive.
Days before a special U.S. House election in western Pennsylvania, Saccone’s campaign told some residents that he might be knocking on doors that morning. It’s almost 11 a.m. They’re waiting.
“He was supposed to stop by today,” 68-year-old Republican John Debich says, scanning the empty streets of suburban Greensburg from his front porch. “It’s the second time we’ve been avoided.”
Saccone may be President Donald Trump’s strong favorite in a conservative region, but he’s leaning seemingly exclusively on that and struggling with the basics of modern-day politics.
Tuesday’s race will hinge on voter turnout, and the 60-year-old state lawmaker has little organization of his own — at least compared with Democrat Conor Lamb, a 33-year-old former Marine and federal prosecutor who has never before run for office.
Saccone indirectly admitted as much Saturday ahead of the president’s arrival.
“The president’s support is key to attaining victory,” he roared to several thousand backers gathered near the Pittsburgh airport. “There’s no one that I would rather have in my corner that President Trump. Are you with me on that?”
Whereas Lamb has been out meeting with voters face to face:
Conor Lamb spent Saturday wrapping up his campaign for Congress one voter at a time.
The Democrat running for the vacant 18th District seat knocked on doors in Jefferson Hills, reminding people to vote Tuesday and asking them to vote for him.
“Tuesday's a big day,” Lamb told Loretta Gobbie, 60, who answered her door in her bathrobe and slippers.
“I'll be there. I've told everyone,” she replied. “You've had my vote right from the start. We need some new, young blood in there.”
Lamb, 33, a former federal prosecutor from Mt. Lebanon and a retired Marine, is running in a special election against Republican Rick Saccone, a state representative from Elizabeth and an Air Force veteran. They seek to fill the U.S. House of Representative seat left open when Tim Murphy resigned in October amid a marital scandal.
President Trump is expected to stump for Saccone on Saturday during a rally at the Pittsburgh International Airport.
Lamb started his Saturday inside a supporter's home in Pleasant Hills. Volunteers crammed into the basement and living room. Campaign staff handed out postcards, door hangers and packets with addresses of voters likely to support Lamb. Benny, an energetic beagle, wore a “We Want Conor Lamb” bandana as he greeted everyone.
“We are right where we want to be,” Lamb told the volunteers. “The polls say one thing, but we know from being out there that what matters now is getting to our people and turning them out on Tuesday. That means our destiny is in our own hands. If we work hard enough in the next three days, we're going to get this thing done.”
One way you can help get out the vote is to sign up with the Pennsylvania Democratic Party to help make calls to get out the vote:
THREE days. That’s all the time we have to help elect Conor Lamb to Congress in the special election on March 13.
While the GOP focuses on promoting their divisive agenda that helps to enrich the top one percent while leaving middle class Pennsylvanians behind, we need Democrats like you to help bring Conor over the finish line.
That’s why we’re asking you to call for Conor today. Visit PADems.com/call-for-conor today!
The people of PA-18 deserve a representative who will fight for good jobs, better infrastructure, and quality, affordable health care. Conor can’t do this without you. Help him win on Tuesday by visiting PADems.com/call-for-conor.
And click here to chip in and help elect Democrats in 2018!
Thank you!
Sinceré Harris
Executive Director
Pennsylvania Democratic Party
Click here to sign up to make calls.
Click here to donate and get involved with Lamb’s campaign.