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BIRMINGHAM BREAKS OUT
Labor force
BY SETH GITELL

The tank columns are in place, and the armored divisions are ready to roll out. Four weeks after state gubernatorial rivals Warren Tolman, Robert Reich, Shannon O’Brien, and Mitt Romney sounded off on corporate responsibility, Senate president Tom Birmingham is finally unleashing the heavy artillery. On Sunday, Birmingham announced his sponsorship of legislation that would extend prison time for corporate malefactors. And on Wednesday, he was expected to showcase a major AFL-CIO event on corporate responsibility at Faneuil Hall.

Birmingham’s handling of the corporate-accountability issue — the subject of Robert Reich’s best new television ad — reflects the differences between the Reich and Birmingham campaigns. While the poorly funded Reich campaign has generated press by attacking relevant issues in a timely fashion, Birmingham has hung back. Only a month ago, the Senate president’s aides explained their candidate’s relative silence on corporate accountability by saying his whole career has been built on holding corporations accountable. But now they’re putting the issue front and center. " In this time of corporate scandals and corporate fraud, it’s time to stand up and say ‘enough,’  " says Birmingham spokesman Paul Wingle. And now that Birmingham has finally taken on the issue, he’s rolling it out in a bigger way than any of his opponents could.

As a labor lawyer who’s been endorsed by the local AFL-CIO, Birmingham planned to bring out the big guns on Wednesday. His corporate-accountability event will coincide with the national labor movement’s three-day push on the issue this week. The AFL’s campaign, marked by Tuesday’s rally on Wall Street, merited a story in the New York Times. Furthermore, both AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard Trumka and Unite international president Bruce Raynor were slated to appear by the candidate’s side at Faneuil Hall. With less than six weeks to go until the September 17 Democratic primary, Birmingham is signaling he still has important allies.

His strategy rests on the assumption that the primary will be a low-turnout affair, in which get-out-the-vote efforts and labor support will prevail. This analysis seems to reflect a misreading of the current angry electorate. But on the off chance that it’s correct, Birmingham may still be in the game. And that’s right where Big Labor wants him.

Issue Date: August 1 - 8, 2002
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