Unions are promising payback, but it is unclear how much they can retaliate against Democrats in November Watch video
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TRENTON — It felt like a bad breakup, complete with angry tirades and tearful pleading.
New Jersey Democrats have spent years locked arm-in-arm with unions, but the historical alliance frayed last week as the Democrats who control the Legislature pushed through a plan to cut public worker benefits.
Now unions, like scorned lovers, are promising payback at the ballot box.
"You screw us today, we’ll screw you in November!" one union member shouted during last Thursday’s Statehouse protest, the first of three that drew thousands to Trenton.
But it’s unclear what, if anything, unions can do to retaliate against Democrats this fall, when all 120 seats in the Legislature are up for election. After spending generations as a feared political force in Trenton, they may be only a paper tiger come election time.
"There’s certainly no incentive for the labor unions to come out in support of the Democratic leadership. The problem they face is, where else are they going to go?" said David Redlawsk, a Rutgers University political science professor.
This year’s primaries are already over, so unions can’t back pro-labor candidates over incumbent Democrats.
Most Democrats who voted for the benefit cuts are protected by regional power brokers and are in safe districts where Republicans stand little chance of winning.
And labor leaders realize anything they do to hurt Democrats would help Republicans, who are even more unfriendly to unions.
"We certainly couldn’t afford to do that," said Edward Brannigan, president of the New Jersey Fraternal Order of Police. "We’d be biting off our nose to spite our face."
Unions still have some weapons at their disposal. They can urge their members to stay home on Election Day. They can also continue to choke off donations to fundraising committees controlled by Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex), who backed the benefit cuts.
New Jersey AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech said unions are wrestling with how to respond to their historic setback.
"We’re cognizant of the fact that this could be a double-edged sword," he said. "If we lose or jeopardize the (Democratic) majority, that would enable the whole Karl Rove, right-wing agenda to run."
But having Democrats holding majorities in the Senate and the Assembly did not stop Christie’s drive to force 500,000 public workers to pay more for their pensions and health benefits. The governor partnered with Sweeney and Oliver to rally enough votes to push the bill through the Legislature last week. Christie is expected to sign it on Tuesday.
Since the majority of Democrats voted against the bill, some union leaders said the real problem isn’t the party, but the leaders in the Legislature. That’s where Bill Lavin, president of the state Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association, said unions should seek a change. Some dissident Democrats have already floated the possibility of ousting Oliver as Assembly speaker during an internal leadership election.
"The people posting the bills are compromised by political bosses," Lavin said. "The votes are coming from George Norcross and Joe DiVincenzo," referring to the power brokers from South and North Jersey.
Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), the state party chairman who voted against the bill, joked about his party’s disunity by paraphrasing humorist Will Rogers: "I’m not the chairman of any organized political party. I’m a Democrat."
He insisted the relationship between Democrats and unions remains strong.
"What we have to focus on is there’s a long history between the Democratic Party and organized labor," he said. "We have far more in common than what divides us."
Still, there’s no doubt that union disgust with some Democrats has become palpable, especially during a series of raucous protests outside the Statehouse.
"Right now my father is rolling in his grave over what’s happening to the Democratic Party," said Irvington teacher Debbie Ellis on Thursday.
At a previous protest, John Lowden, an AFL-CIO member, said Democrats had betrayed workers. "This is worse than Wisconsin," he said. "Because in Wisconsin, Democrats stood up for the people."
Redlawsk said Democrats may have shot themselves in the foot by backing the bill because union members have often served as loyal foot soldiers in election campaigns. "We’re a few months away from the elections where the Democratic leadership has done everything they can to demobilize their own side," he said. "It strikes me as an odd choice."
Some Democrats have quietly insisted that working with Christie was the best political strategy. Republicans won’t be able to berate the Democratic Party for not overhauling public worker benefits, while the majority of Democrats can still maintain union support because they voted against the bill.
However, while unions criticize Democrats who voted for the bill, Republicans are sharpening their attacks for those who voted against it.
Rick Gorka, spokesman for the Republican State Committee, said the GOP is targeting two Democratic districts in particular: the 27th, with Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex), and the 38th, with Sen. Robert Gordon (D-Bergen).
"To vote against a bill that’s going to save taxpayers over $120 billion over 30 years doesn’t seem to align with their constituents," Gorka said. "They’re going to have an awful hard time explaining to voters why they passed on those kinds of savings."
By:Chris Megerian and Matt Friedman/The Star Ledger