WASHINGTON (AP) -- Union leaders and other supporters of the Democratic Party are being asked to contribute to a new tax-exempt group trying to raise more than $20 million to teach voters about issues.þþThe yet-unnamed group will also try to build voter participation among women and minorities in a dozen battleground states. AFL-CIO political director Steve Rosenthal, who is credited with restoring political muscle to a weakened labor movement, is leaving his post of seven years to start the project.þþRosenthal is staying on as a consultant to the labor federation for a few months. He would not discuss details of the new operation, which he said is still in the works.þþ``I've been in the labor movement 22 years and anything I do is going to be aimed at trying to help strengthen and improve workers' rights,'' he said.þþOrganized labor faces some big challenges as 2004 nears: a Republican president whom union leaders view as hostile; a Democratic Party looking for a new leader and a new political message; and new campaign finance laws that restrict the unlimited donations known as soft money from individuals, unions and corporations.þþIn 2000, labor gave $79 million to Democrats and $4.8 million to Republicans. The AFL-CIO says union members made up more than 25 percent of all voters in that year's presidential race and as much as 40 percent in some states.þþKaren Ackerman, who had been the AFL-CIO's deputy political director since 1997, will replace Rosenthal. She said the labor federation's political program won't change much.þþ``The basics of the program will stay the same -- we'll continue to reach out to union members and their families and give them information about the candidates and where they stand on issues important to working families,'' she said.þþ
Source: NY Times
