Democratic gubernatorial candidate Pat Shea is batting 1,000 on big-name union endorsements.
This week he picked up an endorsement by the 72,000-member Utah AFL-CIO. Shea alone gets the labor union endorsement. He shared the endorsement of the Utah Public Employees Association, the largest government employee union, with Republican Mike Stewart and the endorsement of the Utah Education Association, the largest teacher union, with Republican candidate Mike Leavitt.The endorsements mean money, of course. Historically, the AFL-CIO, UPEA and UEA give tens of thousands of dollars in the governor's race.
But more importantly, endorsements from the "big three" mean manpower and organization.
The AFL-CIO usually backs just Democrats. The UPEA and UEA each decided to endorse both a Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidate this year.