The SEIU’s bid to get Barack Obama back on board their campaign to prevent the state of California from slashing home health workers wages continues today in the Los Angeles Times.
The group has purchased ad space in the paper, and used it to run a letter from Pauline Beck to President Barack Obama. “Mr. President, I had hoped your stimulus bill, which is bringing billions of dollars to California, would help protect home care,” the letter reads. “Unfortunately, it seems that the money is being used for other things.”
Beck has become the figurehead of SEIU’s campaign. During the Democratic primary, Obama held an event at Beck’s home, and later invited her to speak at the party’s convention in Denver, CO. Now, she’s become the face of California’s home health workers who are facing a significant pay cut as the state deals with catastrophic fiscal issues.
The White House originally said it would withhold billions of dollars in stimulus funds if Sacramento went through with its plans, but ultimately backed off the threat. That angered the SEIU, which has responded with a series of attacks on the California legislature and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and some fairly gentle public relations events aimed at getting the administration back in the game. Today’s letter slightly raises the temperature on Obama, who will appear at a DNC fundraiser in Los Angeles tonight.
SEIU is a key Obama ally on issues like health reform, but will need the administration on its side as it works to usher it’s flagship issue–Employee Free Choice–through some hostile opposition in Congress.
