Recent polling by Public Policy Polling in Raleigh shows that none of the four candidates in the Democratic primary for state labor commissioner have broken out of the pack, and more than half of voters remain undecided. Currently, former Labor Commissioner John C. Brooks and Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation program officer Mary Fant Donnan are tied with 12 percent, while political newcomers Robin Anderson and Ty Richardson trail with 11 and 9 percent, respectively.
Despite its under-the-radar status, it’s an interesting race in that it pits Brooks, a former labor commissioner, against Donnan, a former research director under another former labor commissioner, Harry Payne. Meanwhile, Anderson has emerged as a feisty advocate for workers’ rights.
My March 26 story on the race elicited an e-mail from Mary Wendy Roberts, a former state labor commissioner in Oregon, who expressed her admiration for Brooks.
Since it appears that YES! Weekly will not publish it in our letters section before the May 6 primary, I offer it here. The e-mail is dated April 9.
[Dear editor,]
I met John C. Brooks first at a labor commissioners meeting (National Association of Government Labor Officials). I had just been elected to my first term as the labor commissioner of the state of Oregon. I have to say that upon first meeting, I found him ***very*** impressive in his knowledge of the law, his advocacy and his intelligence as well as his meticulous tracking of what was being down at the national level both in Congress and in federal agencies and departments that could affect the safety and wage protections for the workers of his beloved North Carolina. My high opinion of him was only enhanced over the years I served as my state's labor commissioner.
John and I were at one point competitors for the Presidency of NAGLO — he won that year and I succeeded him in that office — and it was my great honor to get to know him over the years through that organization as well as our working on issues of concern in child labor, wage and hour and other areas.
I particularly remember his advocacy for increased inspections for safety violations and for stronger enforcement of safety standards. It was John who lobbied and fought long and hard to get the manpower for inspections to prevent tragedies, and his pain and anger when his worst fears were realized when the 1991 Hamlet fire occurred — the kind of thing he had long warned about happening while the anti-labor administration in Washington callously disregarded his urgent requests and expert analysis. He was a Democrat, elected, and a powerful voice and under a different president, I have no doubt that he would have prevailed. It was indeed ironic that then lost his reelection.
I confess I am not familiar with the other candidates running for labor commissioner in North Carolina. I have not talked with John in years but when I saw in your paper, via the internet, that he was running for labor commissioner again, I felt impelled to write about him to you.
John is one of the bravest, most dedicated advocates for the rule and protection of laws for workers I have ever met and at the same time always had a reputation for fairness. With a near photographic memory, attention to detail, he also carries the institutional memory of the development of laws and regulations that gives him the ability to understand the intricacies of government to the benefit of the public whose service he has given so much of his life.
The people of North Carolina would be well advised to return him to the job he loves and knows so well.
Mary Wendy Roberts
Portland, Ore.
The writer is also a former Democratic state senator in Oregon.
1 comment:
Why worry about why other people are voting for Obama or McCaine just do your own voting if spend your time wondering why and what other people are doing you will not have time to do anything for yourself but be left out in the cold worring about somebody else.
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