Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Labor Forum: Will Leschke Show?

Tonight, AFSCME Locals 48 and 579 along with the Winnebago County Labor Council and Wisconsin State Employees Union are sponsoring a candidates' forum. The event is at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Jackson St. and starts at 7 p.m.

54th assembly district Democratic candidate Gordon Hintz will participate, but it is still not clear if Republican front runner Julie Pung-Leschke will. I emailed her last week to ask if she would be participating, and her response was that "I have been trying to get a hold of Steve Dedow about that - we've been playing phone tag, back and forth several times." Steve Dedow is the President of the Winnebago County Labor Council.

It's not clear to me exactly what Leschke would need to talk to Dedow about before accepting the invitation. Two years ago Republican Gregg Underheim did not attend the same event, which upset even the anti-union Gannett press in town.

Leschke turned down an invitation to appear on "Eye on Oshkosh," a program that reaches out to the working people of the 54th. Should she be a no-show at the Labor Forum tonight, she will have established that she is either not yet ready, willing, or able to discuss the crucial issues that face workers.

1 comment:

Ron said...

Tony,

I heard late last night that both Leshke and Dick Spanbauer will be there. Carol Owens will be a no-show.