Democrats urge union members' support (Gibbons bad for labor, Titus warns

[Omaha Steve]

FULL story: http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Aug-25-Fri-2006/news/9257761.html

Democrats urge union members' support

Gibbons bad for labor, Titus warns

By MOLLY BALL
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Democratic state and local candidates lined up to court labor unions Thursday, emphasizing their need for the unions' support in what in many cases are uphill battles to election in November.

"We have got to work together if we're going to have victory in November," Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dina Titus told the 50th annual Nevada AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention at the Luxor. "Let us all join forces to take our government back."
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Titus' plea for unity seemed to be an allusion to her hard-fought primary against Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson. Because of uncertainty about who would be the Democratic nominee, the coalition of unions did not make an endorsement for governor before last week's primary.

But Thursday, Titus, a state senator, stood triumphantly on stage as union representatives lined up to hand her contribution checks. Her campaign said she left the convention with about $50,000 and pledges for more.

Titus told the unions her Republican opponent, Rep. Jim Gibbons, would be bad for labor.

"There is no doubt that he will attempt to roll back all the gains made by organized labor in Nevada in the last five decades," she said. "He will always side with capital over the interests of labor; you can count on that."

Titus emphasized her support of gun owners' rights and said union members need not feel they were voting for someone too socially liberal for their tastes. And she criticized Gibbons for his failure to achieve the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee, a job he said he would have foregone running for governor to take.