In the ongoing discussion over alcohol reform, one continuing refrain is that MCGEO (the union that represents Department of Liquor Control employees within the county government) had a terrible year in 2014 in terms of endorsements, especially when compared to the teachers union (MCEA). While I’m not sure what such a comparison has to do with the alcohol question, I decided to take a look at the record. You know, actual facts. Compiled from here and here.
Legislative District 15: MCGEO endorsed David Fraser-Hidalgo for delegate, while MCEA endorsed challenger Bennett Rushkoff. Edge to MCGEO.
Legislative District 16: MCEA endorsed Hrant Jamgochian for delegate, who was not elected. MCGEO only endorsed one candidate for Delegate, Bill Frick, who was reelected. Edge to MCGEO (half point).
Legislative District 17: MCGEO endorsed Luiz Simmons for Senate, who lost to Cheryl Kagan. MCEA made no endorsement in that race. Half point to MCEA.
Legislative District 18: MCEA endorsed the four incumbents, all of whom prevailed. MCGEO endorsed against three of the incumbents. Two points to MCEA.
Legislative District 19: MCGEO endorsed Marice Morales for delegate. She won. MCEA made no endorsement. One point to MCGEO.
Legislative District 20: MCGEO endorsed Will Jawando, MCEA endorsed Will Smith. Point to MCEA.
Total margin for state legislative races: one point edge for MCEA.
County Executive: MCEA endorsed Ike Leggett. MCGEO made no endorsement. Point to MCEA.
Council District 1: MCEA endorsed Roger Berliner. MCGEO endorsed Duchy Trachtenberg. Point to MCEA.
Council District 3: Both MCEA and MCGEO endorsed Ryan Spiegel, who lost to Sid Katz. No points.
Council District 5: MCEA endorsed Chris Barclay, and later pulled the endorsement, but made no new one. MCGEO endorsed Tom Hucker, who won. Point and a half to MCGEO (MCEA missing on the second bite of the apple (pun intended) is worth a half point).
County Council At Large: MCEA endorsed Marc Elrich and Hans Riemer. MCGEO endorsed Elrich and Beth Daly. One point to MCEA.
School Board: both in 2012 and again in 2014, the teachers union choice for at large school board were defeated. In 2012, Rebecca Smondrowski defeated MCEA-endorsed Fred Evans. In 2014, Jill Ortman-Fouse defeated Shebra Evans, who had received the MCEA endorsement. MCGEO endorsed Ortman-Fouse. Primarily because school board races are central to MCEA, and just a little because they’ve now lost two in a row, I’m assigning two points to this race to MCGEO.
Total margin for county races: half point edge to MCGEO.
Total margin: half point edge to MCEA.
Conclusion: If that makes MCGEO “incredibly ineffective,” as I’ve read, then MCEA is right there as well.
Second point: I’m not beating up on either union. Both had notable hits and misses in 2014. But I support labor, which can’t be said for some of those making the arguments I’ve debunked here. I’d submit that labor is far better off working together than at cross purposes. But pitting one union against another is bad politics for both unions, for labor generally, and for progressive politics in the larger sense. Read such commentary with a critical eye.
