Dodd, Kucinich meet with union leaders during July meeting

As part of the AFT’s endorsement process for the 2008 presidential election, the executive council heard from two more candidates at its July meeting in Washington, D.C.

Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio addressed the group and answered questions posed by AFT vice presidents.

The union has invited all of the major Democratic and Republican candidates to appear but, so far, none of the Republican contenders have accepted the AFT’s offer. Five Democratic candidates met with union leaders during the council’s May meeting.

Excerpts of the candidates’ remarks can be viewed at www.aft.org/youdecide.

SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD
Bipartisanship key to getting the job done

Sen. Dodd, who has represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate for 26 years, emphasized his long history of working with the AFT on labor and education issues.

If elected president, the first thing he would do: “restore the Constitution of the United States.”

“It’s not enough just to complain about things,” he said, outlining a number of issues he plans to address, including workers’ rights, foreign policy and healthcare.

But the single most important issue is education, Dodd said. “If the education system fails for a decade, the country will fail for a century.”

We can handle every other issue if we “get public education right,” he said, noting that more needs to be done to better support families so parents can be more involved in their child’s education. Many parents, he said, are “holding more than one job and the children are paying the price for it.”

Like most of the contenders, Dodd also has a plan to expand health insurance to ensure universal coverage. His plan would mirror the Federal Employees Health Benefits program, which covers federal employees nationwide and members of Congress.

“There’s no reason why every American can’t have the same plan that members of Congress have,” he said.

“What’s missing here is will. The will to sit down and get this done,” Dodd said, noting that no one political party will write healthcare reform, and that all stakeholders, including providers and consumers, must be involved in deciding what the plan looks like.

“It’s not just a healthcare issue. It’s an economic issue of significant proportions,” he said. “It is consuming 16 percent of [gross national product].”

Another issue of significant proportions is the war in Iraq. Dodd said he would make the case that the United States is less secure and more vulnerable today as a result. He said he would redeploy American troops from Iraq “tonight if I could,” noting, however, that getting U.S. troops out of Iraq will not quell the civil war, and diplomacy is needed to restore stability to the region.

Whether addressing a domestic issue or an international one, Dodd said it would be his job as president “to get the job done, and to find people on the other side who can make things happen.” A president should, he noted, “work with a lot of people to get the job done.”

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH
Lifting people begins with education

Rep. Kucinich wants voters to make the connections: The war in Iraq is diverting money from domestic priorities; trade has driven down wages, weakened unions—and cost American jobs; privatization of public services is eroding government’s role as an equalizer in society; healthcare costs are “sinking” families.

“The whole economy,” Kucinich told the AFT executive council, “has gone upside down.”

Kucinich, a former Cleveland mayor who has served in Congress since 1996, said his campaign is built around transposing the paradigm of “peace through strength” to “strength through peace.” For Kucinich, a consistent critic of the Iraq war, that translates into a plan to cut the defense budget by 15 percent and put that money into education, healthcare and other domestic programs.

More funding for pre-kindergarten through college education, universal healthcare, fair trade, and policies that improve working conditions and rights for workers are among the policy areas Kucinich said he would promptly address if elected president.

Kucinich emphasized that he would “go back to trade conditioned on workers’ rights, human rights and environmental quality principles.”

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), he noted, has driven down wages, benefits—and unions by helping break unions’ negotiating power because employers are “saying if you don’t like what we’re giving you then we are going to leave” the country.

“The way you facilitate the commerce of America is by protecting collective bargaining,” he said.

Describing healthcare as “a defining purpose in this election,” Kucinich said voters should be wary of candidates who support maintaining a private system of premiums, co-pays and deductibles.

“We absolutely have to have a national healthcare plan.”

Kucinich is co-author of Medicare for All legislation (H.R. 676), which he said would put money back in the pockets of every American by virtue of the fact they wouldn’t have to pay it to private insurers anymore.

“There are so many things I know that can help lift up this society but it begins with education,” said Kucinich, noting that quality education includes making sure children have food, shelter and healthcare.

“It’s time for a president to elevate the purpose of nationhood to its highest expression,” he said. “If you go back to the preamble of the Constitution, promoting the general welfare is an essential purpose of the country; and in that is education, health, job creation, housing.”