SEIU-backed candidate wins bid for ballot spot
The fastest-growing labor union in the nation wants a voice on Allegheny County Council.
An election board ruling Friday puts them one step closer to realizing that goal.
The Service Employees International Union, whose Pittsburgh-based Local 585 represents an estimated 8,000 public- and private-sector workers in the county, hopes to win a council seat for a local union member in the Nov. 4 election.
Union leaders make no apology about the push to elect one of their own, including backing the effort with big campaign money. The top issue on SEIU's agenda is increased health-care benefits for its members, although the union also has been a strong backer of living-wage legislation.
"The vision really is to ensure a strong voice for working people in Allegheny County," said Neal Bisno, vice president of SEIU District 1199P, in Harrisburg. "Access to quality, affordable health care for everyone in the community is extremely important to SEIU members."
The SEIU represents 1,404 of the county's nearly 7,000 employees, according to county figures. It represents more county employees than any union.
Tom Hoffman, an SEIU spokesman in Pittsburgh, said that "if you look at having actual members of the union in there making decisions on policy matters that affect all working people, we feel that's a much better way to go."
The SEIU's chances improved Friday, when Joan Cleary, a registered nurse and SEIU member from Brentwood, was certified by the county Board of Elections as the Democratic nominee in Council District 6.
Cleary beat Dominic C. Serapiglia, of Jefferson Hills, by 290 votes in the May primary. Serapiglia contested the outcome, alleging vote-counting irregularities. After the Board of Elections ruled in Cleary's favor, Serapiglia said he wouldn't challenge the decision.
The union pumped more than $200,000 into two council races in the Democratic primary, supporting Cleary and Marlene Russell, also a health-care worker and SEIU member. Russell, of the Hill District, lost the Democratic nomination in the District 10 race to former state Rep. Bill Robinson.
Cleary says she welcomes the support of her union, but insists that as a councilwoman she will be an independent voice. "I'm my own person," she said.
Serapiglia says his campaign was steamrolled by the union. "I didn't run against an individual candidate, but a special interest group," he said Friday.
Cleary received $138,171 in in-kind contributions from the union, most of it spent on a direct mail campaign to voters in District 6, which includes 10 municipalities in the South Hills. She raised about $2,000 from other donors, campaign finance records show.
Serapiglia, who had the endorsement of the Democratic Committee, raised about $20,000.
Cleary faces Republican Linda Book, of Whitehall, in the Nov. 4 election. Book says she plans to raise $140,000 for the fall campaign. She'll probably need that to match the union's effort.
Asked if Cleary can expect a similar level of SEIU financial backing in the general election, Hoffman said: "Absolutely. No question."
A County Council post is a part-time position that pays $9,000 annually.
The SEIU, recognized as the nation's largest union in the AFL-CIO, touts a membership of 1.5 million workers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. It represents a wide range of service-industry employees, from janitors to doctors. In Pennsylvania, the union represents about 60,000 public- and private-sector employees in 15 locals.
"They are one of the more politically active unions around, and they vigorously represent their interests," said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Millersville University in Lancaster County.
In last year's elections, the union was a top contributor to state Attorney General Bob Casey Jr.'s bid for governor, sinking about a half-million dollars into his Democratic primary campaign. After Casey lost to now-Gov. Ed Rendell, the SEIU gave Rendell $50,000 for his inauguration festivities.
The union contributes mostly to Democrats.
According to the public interest watchdog Common Cause, the SEIU contributed nearly $10 million to candidates between January 2000 and December 2002. Of that, $9.2 million went to Democrats and $56,622 went to Republicans.
In the race for county chief executive, the SEIU has contributed $15,000 to Democratic nominee Dan Onorato, the county controller running against Chief Executive Jim Roddey, a Republican seeking a second four-year term. The SEIU hasn't contributed to Roddey.
SEIU's aggressive pursuit of a County Council seat surprised political observers.
"It's really an unexpected turn of events," said Joseph Sabino Mistick, a political analyst based in Pittsburgh. "Unless you have a lot of extra money these days, it seems odd they would be investing in those races."
