UNION CLAIMS KLOBUCHAR TAKING CREDIT FOR HER STAFF'S WORK
"She presents herself as a dedicated public servant ... when her only dedication is to her own self-promotion."
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Klobuchar's work with staff is focus of a union battle
In a letter, the local representing workers at the Hennepin County attorney's office sought to deny her AFSCME's Senate endorsement.
With the U.S. Senate field clear of all but one rival for the DFL Party's nomination, Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar is facing a new obstacle: The union local representing her staff is asking that she be denied the endorsement of its parent group, the powerful American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
In a letter this month to union leaders, local president Jim Appleby, an assistant Hennepin County attorney, said Klobuchar had denigrated office lawyers publicly and privately, taken credit for their work, damaged morale and "created a hostile work environment."
The local, AFSCME 2938, represents about half of the 400 employees in the office, including investigators and all 112 of its nonmanagement attorneys.
In response, Klobuchar said she has made many changes over the years that may have disturbed some staff members. "Has it made some people angry that I've done some things differently? Yes," she said. "My goal was to make the office more accountable to the community."
Klobuchar also said the "primary focus" of the discontent appeared to be last year's contract negotiations and the charge that she did not support the local's request for a wage increase.
The two-page union letter said Klobuchar's management style had resulted in increased grievances, and "qualified personnel from her own and other public offices have been rejected because her priority has been to choose [job] candidates who support her ambitions."
The letter also said that Klobuchar "has used the publicity from the many successfully prosecuted criminal cases to give the public the false impression that she was actively involved in those cases. She was not."
The letter continued: "She presents herself as a dedicated public servant ... when her only dedication is to her own self-promotion."
Pete Cahill, Klobuchar's chief deputy attorney, to whom Klobuchar initially deferred comment, said he was "a little shocked by the letter," which was circulated at an AFSCME Senate screening committee on Feb. 11, where several county attorney's office staff members also spoke.
Cahill said he had worked for years with the prosecutors and "had no idea they felt like this."
As chief deputy, he said, "I've worked very closely with her [Klobuchar], and I think she's a very effective leader. She never overstates her role."
Cahill said Klobuchar, who has held the office since 1999, "is more actively involved in decisionmaking than past county attorneys" he has worked for -- Mike Freeman and Tom Johnson.
"Has she solely prosecuted cases, taken it all the way through, made final arguments? I'm not sure," Cahill said. "She has participated in cases. ... She does not rush in and grab a case because doing that would be disrespectful to the lawyer who started it."
Cahill said there had been no uptick in grievances, that only "a couple of grievances a year" had made it to his level during the five years he had been Klobuchar's chief deputy.
Freeman, who is running to get his old job back, declined to comment on the accusations in the letter, but said that during his eight years as county attorney starting in 1991, only one labor grievance had been filed.
Freeman also said he was highly involved in cases and in addition had made oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court as well as three times before the Minnesota Supreme Court and numerous times in appellate courts.
Contract is an issue
Appleby said Hennepin County prosecutors, once the best paid in the state, had fallen behind Ramsey, Anoka and Dakota counties even though their workload was heavier. But he said the union's letter is "not about contract negotiations."
"It's about how our people are treated in the workplace," he said.
Klobuchar said attorneys had requested a 22 percent wage increase over two years. "They were angry they didn't get the 22 percent. But there were budget considerations here," she said.
Klobuchar said she did support an increase, and last Tuesday Hennepin County Board Chairman Randy Johnson sent a letter to AFSCME's top state officials saying, "It is very clear to us that County Attorney Klobuchar was sincerely advocating for a salary increase for her employees."
The union settled last month, with 97 percent of the local voting to accept a contract that gave attorneys a 10 to 15 percent increase over two years.
Appleby said he and the other attorneys stand by their letter.
Mike Furnstahl, a veteran prosecutor with the violent-crimes unit, said the purpose of the letter was "not to derail her [Klobuchar's] campaign. This isn't by any stretch of the imagination an anti-Amy campaign. This is about concerns investigators have had over the last seven years."
Furnstahl, who was among those who spoke at the Feb. 11 screening, said he did not want to detail those concerns publicly. "We'll let the letter speak for itself," he said.
Some of those concerns may stem from a significantly increased workload. "There is no doubt we've pushed people to do more trials, to be more accountable," Klobuchar said. "They've responded and been amazing team players."
Broader issues are in play
Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, said he was taking the local's concerns "very seriously" and planned to meet with members.
However, he said, there are larger issues in a U.S. Senate race than any employer-employee relationship. "We need a candidate who can beat someone who represents Bush/Rove values," Seide said. U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy, the Sixth District congressman has emerged as the GOP's presumptive nominee.
"The next U.S. senator will not be a direct employer of our people. But that person will make policy decisions on whether to invest or disinvest in health care, education, transportation, child care -- things Americans need," Seide said. DFL Senate candidate Ford Bell had also screened with AFSCME, Seide said.
It is rare for a DFL candidate to draw the ire of labor unions. Klobuchar has already been endorsed by several other unions, including Service Employees International Union and Education Minnesota, which represents the state's public school teachers.
Appleby said his local also asked that Klobuchar be denied endorsement in 2002, when she was running for re-election. That request was ignored, he said. Klobuchar ran unopposed.
Paul Scoggin, managing attorney of the violent-crimes division, said in a letter sent to AFSCME state officials after the screening that Klobuchar is "a terrific leader." He called the local union letter "mean-spirited and angry."
"There can be no question that Amy believes in taking responsibility for the work of the office," he said in an interview. "We really do speak with one voice on that. As the elected county attorney, she's that voice." Source: Star Tribune, February 19, 2006
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Klobuchar's work with staff is focus of a union battle
In a letter, the local representing workers at the Hennepin County attorney's office sought to deny her AFSCME's Senate endorsement.
With the U.S. Senate field clear of all but one rival for the DFL Party's nomination, Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar is facing a new obstacle: The union local representing her staff is asking that she be denied the endorsement of its parent group, the powerful American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
In a letter this month to union leaders, local president Jim Appleby, an assistant Hennepin County attorney, said Klobuchar had denigrated office lawyers publicly and privately, taken credit for their work, damaged morale and "created a hostile work environment."
The local, AFSCME 2938, represents about half of the 400 employees in the office, including investigators and all 112 of its nonmanagement attorneys.
In response, Klobuchar said she has made many changes over the years that may have disturbed some staff members. "Has it made some people angry that I've done some things differently? Yes," she said. "My goal was to make the office more accountable to the community."
Klobuchar also said the "primary focus" of the discontent appeared to be last year's contract negotiations and the charge that she did not support the local's request for a wage increase.
The two-page union letter said Klobuchar's management style had resulted in increased grievances, and "qualified personnel from her own and other public offices have been rejected because her priority has been to choose [job] candidates who support her ambitions."
The letter also said that Klobuchar "has used the publicity from the many successfully prosecuted criminal cases to give the public the false impression that she was actively involved in those cases. She was not."
The letter continued: "She presents herself as a dedicated public servant ... when her only dedication is to her own self-promotion."
Pete Cahill, Klobuchar's chief deputy attorney, to whom Klobuchar initially deferred comment, said he was "a little shocked by the letter," which was circulated at an AFSCME Senate screening committee on Feb. 11, where several county attorney's office staff members also spoke.
Cahill said he had worked for years with the prosecutors and "had no idea they felt like this."
As chief deputy, he said, "I've worked very closely with her [Klobuchar], and I think she's a very effective leader. She never overstates her role."
Cahill said Klobuchar, who has held the office since 1999, "is more actively involved in decisionmaking than past county attorneys" he has worked for -- Mike Freeman and Tom Johnson.
"Has she solely prosecuted cases, taken it all the way through, made final arguments? I'm not sure," Cahill said. "She has participated in cases. ... She does not rush in and grab a case because doing that would be disrespectful to the lawyer who started it."
Cahill said there had been no uptick in grievances, that only "a couple of grievances a year" had made it to his level during the five years he had been Klobuchar's chief deputy.
Freeman, who is running to get his old job back, declined to comment on the accusations in the letter, but said that during his eight years as county attorney starting in 1991, only one labor grievance had been filed.
Freeman also said he was highly involved in cases and in addition had made oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court as well as three times before the Minnesota Supreme Court and numerous times in appellate courts.
Contract is an issue
Appleby said Hennepin County prosecutors, once the best paid in the state, had fallen behind Ramsey, Anoka and Dakota counties even though their workload was heavier. But he said the union's letter is "not about contract negotiations."
"It's about how our people are treated in the workplace," he said.
Klobuchar said attorneys had requested a 22 percent wage increase over two years. "They were angry they didn't get the 22 percent. But there were budget considerations here," she said.
Klobuchar said she did support an increase, and last Tuesday Hennepin County Board Chairman Randy Johnson sent a letter to AFSCME's top state officials saying, "It is very clear to us that County Attorney Klobuchar was sincerely advocating for a salary increase for her employees."
The union settled last month, with 97 percent of the local voting to accept a contract that gave attorneys a 10 to 15 percent increase over two years.
Appleby said he and the other attorneys stand by their letter.
Mike Furnstahl, a veteran prosecutor with the violent-crimes unit, said the purpose of the letter was "not to derail her [Klobuchar's] campaign. This isn't by any stretch of the imagination an anti-Amy campaign. This is about concerns investigators have had over the last seven years."
Furnstahl, who was among those who spoke at the Feb. 11 screening, said he did not want to detail those concerns publicly. "We'll let the letter speak for itself," he said.
Some of those concerns may stem from a significantly increased workload. "There is no doubt we've pushed people to do more trials, to be more accountable," Klobuchar said. "They've responded and been amazing team players."
Broader issues are in play
Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, said he was taking the local's concerns "very seriously" and planned to meet with members.
However, he said, there are larger issues in a U.S. Senate race than any employer-employee relationship. "We need a candidate who can beat someone who represents Bush/Rove values," Seide said. U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy, the Sixth District congressman has emerged as the GOP's presumptive nominee.
"The next U.S. senator will not be a direct employer of our people. But that person will make policy decisions on whether to invest or disinvest in health care, education, transportation, child care -- things Americans need," Seide said. DFL Senate candidate Ford Bell had also screened with AFSCME, Seide said.
It is rare for a DFL candidate to draw the ire of labor unions. Klobuchar has already been endorsed by several other unions, including Service Employees International Union and Education Minnesota, which represents the state's public school teachers.
Appleby said his local also asked that Klobuchar be denied endorsement in 2002, when she was running for re-election. That request was ignored, he said. Klobuchar ran unopposed.
Paul Scoggin, managing attorney of the violent-crimes division, said in a letter sent to AFSCME state officials after the screening that Klobuchar is "a terrific leader." He called the local union letter "mean-spirited and angry."
"There can be no question that Amy believes in taking responsibility for the work of the office," he said in an interview. "We really do speak with one voice on that. As the elected county attorney, she's that voice." Source: Star Tribune, February 19, 2006
2 Comments:
Unions...keeping 19th century socialism alive in the 21st century.
Why do public employees need a union for anyway? They get far better benefits and pensions then people who work in the private sector for the most part.
I wish all the worst for Klobuchar. But in this instance, it sounds like a bunch of surly high-paid bureaucrats who are upset they didn't get a 22 percent pay raise!!! Not a lot of sympathy here. I think they may have created their own "hostile work environment" with their outrageous demands.
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