Members Turn to Politics
Even though
national elections were nearly a year away, Union members joined other activists
at a political meeting in our union hall on November 5. Brother Joe Scarlett
(pictured) was among those who sat in with an organization primarily concerned
with elections in our Southwest corner of Dallas County.
State
Representative Terri Hodge was a special speaker. She was one of the Democrats
who fought hard against the redistricting power grab that book place during
three special sessions of the last Texas State Legislature. She said that the
“Killer D’s” were famous all over the nation. To back it up, she told about an
admirer who had asked for her autograph in a restaurant in Des Moines, Iowa!
Another important
speaker was the new State Democratic Party Chairman, Charles Soechting.
Soechting spoke at length about the importance of unions in America’s political
process, past and present. He said that President Emmett Sheppard of the State
AFL-CIO made phone calls in his behalf, although they took no official
position. Soechting said, "If Democrats will just get out there and vote,
the Republicans will never win again in Texas… I think George Bush is beatable.
If people vote their pocketbook, their minds and their decency, there is no
chance that George Bush will be elected."