AFL-CIO targets Smith in latest mailers

The Oregon chapter of the AFL-CIO sent out a mailer Monday morning, targeting U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith as a friend of President Bush, instead of a friend of working voters.

According to AFL-CIO spokeswoman Rachele Huennekens, the mailers will be sent out to Oregon’s 29,000 members in the AFL-CIO as well as Working America members. These mailers are part of the union’s efforts to convince working class undecided voters that Smith has been more concerned about his connection to George W. Bush than he has been about the issues they are facing in the poor economy. A big picture of Smith next to the outgoing president dominates the front of the mailer.

“Throughout his two terms as U.S. senator, Gordon Smith has demonstrated again and again that he stands against Oregon working families,” Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain said. “Before union members and working people go to the polls in November, we're going to make sure they have all the facts about his abysmal record, beginning with this mail piece explaining his votes against tax relief for middle class families and reining in Big Oil speculators."

Huennekens said that this mailing was the first step in a final push toward getting their members out to vote in November. She also said that AFL-CIO members would be taking part in political organizing activities, including staffing phone banks and canvassing neighborhoods in all parts of the Beaver State.

Calls to Gordon Smith’s campaign office were not returned.

AFL-CIO Smith mailer Sept. 9, 2008: Front side of a two-sided mailer AFL-CIO will send to 29,000 Oregon households.