49ers back Kelliher
The Operating Engineers Local 49 are backing DFLer Margaret Anderson Kelliher for governor. The union, which screened earlier this week, is backing Kelliher because they say she has a proven track record of "creating jobs, expanding health care and protecting middle-class Minnesotans."
The union also praised Kelliher for passing a transportation funding package and then getting the votes to override Gov. Pawlenty's veto.
"We need to get the economy working again in Minnesota. Margaret is a proven leader who has been fighting for the issues and values of our state's working men and women for years," Local 49 business manager Glen Johnson said in a news release. "The transportation bill override was the largest job-creating bill in decades, and Margaret made it happen."
The Local 49, known as the 49ers, have 13,000 members, representing Operating Engineers in Minnesota, North and South Dakota. 12,000 of those members are in Minnesota.
This is the second union endorsement for Kelliher. The Minnesota Association of Professional Employees endorsed her earlier this month.
The two unions that everyone is still wondering about (because they have the biggest political muscles of the unions that haven't yet endorsed) are the teacher's union, Education Minnesota, and SEIU.
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