STOP
TERROR
STOP
TORTURE
OUT
OF IRAQ
 
 

Thursday, March 03, 2005

And Why Are You Receiving Phone Calls From J. Edgar Hoover?

I am so bloody pissed right now, it makes my head hurt. And it might not even be justified... but I think it is.

Got a phone call. Caller ID said "Minnesota call". Not having any idea who might be calling me from Minnesota but fearing a solicitation of some type, I picked up the phone.

It's the Michigan Democratic Party.

Who contracts their phone work to Minnesota.

Quite frankly, I hung up on the Minnesota call, and then called the Michigan Dems. Nice young woman answers. I asked to speak to someone regarding telephone fund raising. She said that would be Jodi, who wasn't there right now. Explained why I would not leave a voice message, because I didn't want to melt their equipment. She said that, until yesterday when someone else called about the same thing, no one had ever complained about the Michigan Dems farming the fundraising out of state.

I asked why it was farmed out of state.

She said, from her understanding, the Minnesota company was the only telemarketer that was union.

I told her that wasn't good enough. I can be a little more direct here; that isn't fucking good enough.

The party leadership still understands nothing. No. Thing.

We need jobs here. We need grassroots movements here. Why should I volunteer to help the Michigan Democratic Party when they can't be bothered to employ people in Michigan?

And don't give me that "union" crap. Start a telemarketing program here and unionize it if you need to. Or say fuck the unions and just do what you're supposed to do anyway. The carefully-managed appearance of propriety is almost as offensive as acting like a robber baron, y'know? Do what's right first, and then you won't have to worry about it or explain it later.

Obviously, I have nothing against Minnesota or Minnesotans. I have nothing against the telemarketing firm they hired that I don't have against all telemarketing firms.

But we have lost so many jobs in Michigan that I'm not even bothering to look for one that'll pay the bills anymore -- I'm trying, with some success, to make it on my music -- and now I find out that my ostensible political leaders are sending jobs to Minnesota!?

You jokers prove you can do one thing for Michigan. Then maybe I'll listen to you.

Comments:
Easier said than done. The unions control the Democratic Party lke a puppet. Even if the Dems had the balls to go with a non-union shop that was in-state, the unions (CWA, AFL-CIO, Teamsters, UAW, et al) will likely play their "Withhold Contribution and/or Support" card. To the Dems, that's considered fatal. So that's why they kiss up to the unions.

Which is why we need more parties in the system, other than the Big Two, who have colluded and conspired to keep everyone else out for years.
 
Poltr1, The unions do not control the Democratic party. They're an important constituency, sure. And why not? Unions did a lot of good work in the last election in GOTV & in protecting the vote: I saw this with my own eyes in Pennsylvania. Unions are still pretty damn necessary, I'm in a union myself, and while it ain't perfect, it's pretty goddamn important to me because without it there's no way we could've fought back the insane healthcare payment jack during the last contract fight.

That said, Tom, I think you have a point. Why the state party is wasting $ on telemarketing at all if they have to go out of state is a question. And what's funny is that unions, esp. in a state like Michigan, are actually pretty good at running phone banks. They could have gotten close to what they wanted I'm sure with some creativity & volunteers.
 
Good rant!
We need jobs here. We need grassroots movements here. Why should I volunteer to help the Michigan Democratic Party when they can't be bothered to employ people in Michigan?Exactly. They're paying someone in Minnesota, why shouldn't they pay someone in Michigan, instead!
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?