Party loyalists throw support to labor lawyer

Labor leaders haven't forgotten about Tom Sawyer's support for NAFTA.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic forces including unions, an abortion-rights group and the party's national campaign committee are voicing support for a labor lawyer running against an ex-congressman from Ohio for a key open U.S. House seat.
Betty Sutton, a former state representative in Barberton, is drawing support from party heavyweights -- some of them critical of former Rep. Tom Sawyer -- for the seat that Rep. Sherrod Brown is leaving to run for U.S. Senate.
Ohio labor groups quietly supported the Republican redrawing of Sawyer's former district after he angered them with his vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement.
With the strongly pro-union Mahoning Valley added to his district, Sawyer's 16-year congressional tenure was halted in 2002 by a Democrat from that area, Tim Ryan of Niles.
"People in many districts, including in Lorain County, were victimized by the Republican redistricting," Sawyer said. "There's no point in getting bitter, but I have to say it was not in the interest of the communities of Ohio."
Labor support
Although the state AFL-CIO has yet to make an official endorsement in the increasingly crowded race, the top union official in Cleveland, John Ryan, says labor support in 2006 could mean more than ever.
"I have not seen this much focus and attention [from unions] to statewide races since [former Gov.] Dick Celeste and the AFL-CIO-backed candidates swept the state in 1982," he said.
Union endorsement means campaign funding and activism, services also provided by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which isn't picking sides yet in races involving multiple Democrats. The committee has made Brown's district a target in 2006.
"Sutton ... will be an outstanding candidate," said DCCC spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod.
Sawyer said he still has plenty of friends in the DCCC. He said he plans to meet with union officials to remind them about his "well over 90-percent labor voting record" over his congressional career.
John Ryan promised his union brethren would not forget how hard northeast Ohio manufacturing was hit in the 1980s and early 1990s, Sawyer's NAFTA vote in 1993 or how he did it. He said Sawyer told him and other labor leaders he would vote with them and against NAFTA, then "turned his back on us."
"Having an honest dialogue and disagreement is better than to be told one thing, then have him sign on with interests outside the district is really insulting," the union leader said.
Sawyer would stand to have a better chance in the district just a stone's throw from his home. It contains more of Akron, where he was mayor in the 1980s, and the Summit County portion of his old district.
Before entering the state Legislature, Sutton was elected to the Barberton City Council and the Summit County Council.
Candidate recruited
EMILY's List, a group that supports and recruits women who support abortion rights for congressional races, actively recruited Sutton but has not yet made a formal endorsement.
"She has a profile that fits this seat rather well, and she's never lost a race," said Chris Esposito, a candidate recruiter and adviser with EMILY's List. "Tom Sawyer, his best asset is name recognition, and labor despises him."
EMILY's List's support is significant because its 100,000 members nationwide raise more money than any other political action committee.
Sawyer disputed Esposito's take on his qualifications.
"This is not just about name recognition, but about a record over the last 30 years that an awful lot of people are proud of," Sawyer said.
But it is also a strongly blue-collar district. Brown, of Lorain, has counted on strong union support there since he was elected in 1992.
Now that he's leaving to run for Republican Mike DeWine's U.S. Senate seat, it is Sutton who promises to follow in his footsteps and fight against free trade policies that continue to pass through the Republican Congress.
"I've looked into the eyes of many people who've been laid off and lost their jobs with plants closing, or municipal jobs because cities don't have funding for programs," Sutton said. "What gets lost so often is the unintended consequences of federal policies when they reach ground zero here."