RI AFL-CIO President Pat Crowley - Response to Aaron Guckian Calling for AFL-CIO to Rescind Support of Helena Foulkes

But that being said, uh, you wanted to say what about Aaron Gookin's demand and accusation, I guess, if you wanna call it an accusation, that you've been hoodwinked.

Yeah.

Let, let me start by trying to say something positive about at least one thing I agree with Mr. Gookin on, and that is that Ken Block is an absolute charlatan and is not being honest with the people of Rhode Island.

I mean, last week he stood in front of the AFL-CIO convention, like Aaron, and asked for our support.

A day later, when he didn't get our endorsement, he was criticizing Helena Foulkes for accepting our endorsement.

I mean, that just shows me that it's a say anything campaign that he's running.

Now, in terms of Aaron, we have conducted comprehensive interviews with Helena Foulkes, not once, but twice, and our leadership and our members and our delegates were satisfied with her answers.

So there's no hoodwinking going on here.

We understand her background.

We understand what she's promising to do for the state of Rhode Island.

And when we measure her rhetoric versus Aaron's and Ken's, Helena Foulkes is clearly the candidate that the labor movement is supporting.

All right.

I- is it, is it a situation where whoever the front runner is, you really have to throw the support to them? Because listen, the, the AFL-CIO, all of the big unions, it's about jobs.

It's about c- you know, continuity.

It's about being halfway through projects or, you know, programs, and she's the front runner as of today.

And obviously, when you threw her support, she had probably even had a, a greater lead.

Is that how it works?

No, not really.

I mean, the labor movement puts union members first, politicians second.

And we're not afraid to take on, you know, candidates that are fighting uphill in the polls.

We've done that in the past.

But in this case, what the Foulkes campaign is saying they'll do for Rhode Island, the things that matter to working class people that I represent, are the things that we're focusing on.

I mean, she's the candidate that is qualified to run the state of Rhode Island.

Aaron Gookin has no business trying to run the bureaucracy and the administration of this state.

Ken Block has no idea how the state government really works.

But that being said, uh, you wanted to say what about Aaron Gookin's demand and accusation, I guess, if you wanna call it an accusation, that you've been hoodwinked.

Yeah.

Let, let me start by trying to say something positive about at least one thing I agree with Mr. Gookin on, and that is that Ken Block is an absolute charlatan and is not being honest with the people of Rhode Island.

I mean, last week he stood in front of the AFL-CIO convention, like Aaron, and asked for our support.

A day later, when he didn't get our endorsement, he was criticizing Helena Foulkes for accepting our endorsement.

I mean, that just shows me that it's a say anything campaign that he's running.

Now, in terms of Aaron, we have conducted comprehensive interviews with Helena Foulkes, not once, but twice, and our leadership and our members and our delegates were satisfied with her answers.

So there's no hoodwinking going on here.

We understand her background.

We understand what she's promising to do for the state of Rhode Island.

And when we measure her rhetoric versus Aaron's and Ken's, Helena Foulkes is clearly the candidate that the labor movement is supporting.

All right.

I- is it, is it a situation where whoever the front runner is, you really have to throw the support to them? Because listen, the, the AFL-CIO, all of the big unions, it's about jobs.

It's about c- you know, continuity.

It's about being halfway through projects or, you know, programs, and she's the front runner as of today.

And obviously, when you threw her support, she had probably even had a, a greater lead.

Is that how it works?

No, not really.

I mean, the labor movement puts union members first, politicians second.

And we're not afraid to take on, you know, candidates that are fighting uphill in the polls.

We've done that in the past.

But in this case, what the Foulkes campaign is saying they'll do for Rhode Island, the things that matter to working class people that I represent, are the things that we're focusing on.

I mean, she's the candidate that is qualified to run the state of Rhode Island.

Aaron Gookin has no business trying to run the bureaucracy and the administration of this state.

Ken Block has no idea how the state government really works.