Tim Johnson: the Clear Choice For South Dakota's Working Families

Throughout his 16 years in Congress — 10 in the U.S. House and the last six in the U.S. Senate — Tim Johnson has been a fighter for CWA members and South Dakota’s working families.

He is a leader in protecting Social Security, lowering the costs of college loans, supporting family farmers and cracking down on corporate corruption and irresponsibility. Of note, Johnson has introduced several bills to reduce the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs, such as the Rx Relief for Seniors Act, which would provide the elderly with a refundable tax credit to offset their prescription drug payments.

Despite compiling an impressive record of leadership and courage, Johnson faces a tough reelection contest against Rep. John Thune (R). Many national political analysts consider this to be the closest Senate race in the country. The outcome could very well determine control of the new Senate, which takes office next January.

While the margin of victory in this race will be narrow, the difference between these candidates could not be greater.

On issue after issue, Johnson takes on the same forces of Enron-style corporate greed that Thune defends. In 2001, Johnson sided with working families 94 percent of the time on key votes before the Senate, according to the AFL-CIO, while Thune did so just 33 percent of the time in the House. The Republican’s lifetime AFL-CIO voting record is a lamentable 14 percent.

On a host of critical issues affecting the lives of working families, Johnson and Thune take opposite sides.

• Johnson voted to protect workers from repetitive motion injuries by keeping the tough ergonomics standard which CWA worked more than a decade to win. However, in the House Thune voted not only to repeal it but to prohibit the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from issuing a similar rule. Thune’s action puts millions of workers, including many CWA members, at continued risk of painful, crippling injury.

• Johnson voted against a critical budget resolution that wiped out the old budget surplus to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and failed to invest in working families, but Thune voted for it.

• Johnson voted for a strong Patients’ Bill of Rights that would protect working families from managed care abuses and allow patients to sue their health plan if they suffer harm. By contrast, Thune voted to create special protections for HMOs and to make it harder for patients to sue them.

• While Johnson has been clear and consistent in opposing the corporate abuses that cost many workers their retirement savings, Thune voted for a bill that would allow mutual funds, banks and insurance companies to steer workers’ 401(k) assets into investment products in which these businesses earn a commission. This would permit a blatant conflict of interest, as workers would receive advice on where to invest their retirement savings based not on their best interests but on the investment company’s desire to make a profit.

As if these differences are not enough, Johnson also is the only candidate in the race to support a strong, comprehensive Medicare prescription drug benefit that is universal and affordable to all senior citizens.
While the contrasts between Johnson and Thune could not be greater, the significance of this race extends far beyond one vote in the Senate.

The extremist wing of the national Republican Party and a host of wealthy special interests are pouring money and resources into the Thune campaign, hoping that a Johnson defeat would embarrass South Dakota’s other senator — Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D). More important, the outcome of this election could well determine which party controls the Senate for the next two years, with major consequences on every policy and budget issue that matters to working families (see U.S. Senate: One Vote Makes All the Difference).

Time and again, Tim Johnson stands up for CWA members and South Dakota’s citizens. His support for our working families agenda has been constant and uncompromising. By his work in Washington, Tim Johnson has earned our respect and our support to make sure that he is reelected to another term in the U.S. Senate.

This portion of this website is paid for by the CWA Committee on Political Education - Political ontributions Committee, with voluntary contributions from union members and their families, and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.