SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
fight corporate monopolies
'Billionaire Bully' for Big Business Defeated in Record-Setting Maryland Primary Race
Prince George's County executive Angela Alsobrooks wins Democratic nomination for open U.S. Senate seat over retail wine magnate David Trone, who self-funded his campaign with over $60 million.
May 15, 2024
Despite spending over $61 million of his own money in the Democratic Primary, wealthy business owner and state Rep. David Trone came up short in Maryland's Democratic primary race for an open U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday, bested by Angela Alsobrooks, executive of Prince George's County.
Due to the self-funding of Trone, co-owner of the Total Wine & More retail chain, the primary became the most expensive in state history. Despite polls showing Trone as the clear favorite leading up to Tuesday's vote, Alsobrooks won by a full 12 points. According to the Baltimore Sun, with 100% of precincts reporting, the final tally was 54% to 41.9%.
"For anyone who has ever felt counted out, overlooked, and underestimated, I hope you know that the impossible is still possible," Alsobrooks, who had the support of most major players in the Maryland Democratic Party apparatus, told supporters during a victory speech on Tuesday night.
She vowed to defeat the Republican nominee for the seat, former two-term governor Larry Hogan, and said the Democratic Party was "united in our focus to keep the Senate blue."
Political observers took note of the unexpected margin of victory as well as the dynamic of Trone's outsized spending.
"So…. Not a single poll had Alsobrooks winning by anywhere close to double digits, elections absolutely can break late, and campaigns matter," said Colin Seeberger, senior communications director for the Center for American Progress. "Feels like there are some lessons to be learned here for, I don't know, future elections."
Fight Corporate Monopolies, a progressive advocacy group opposed to concentrations of corporate power, opposed Trone based on his fealty to monopoly interests during the primary and called him "just another billionaire bully who thinks he can buy himself a Senate seat."
The group ran one ad comparing Trone to former president Donald Trump and documenting his attacks on rival small businesses and workers:
“I will f*#%ing end you. I will execute you!” - David Trone to a delivery worker.
That’s a billionaire bully for you. pic.twitter.com/cjyuJ3GAVq
— Fight Corporate Monopolies (@fightmonopolies) May 13, 2024
Following Tuesday's defeat, Faiz Shakir with Fight Corporate Monopolies, said: "I believe [our] ad against Trone—both in timing and in message—played a key role in changing the trajectory of the Senate race."
John Nichols, veteran political reporter for The Nation, said: "Maryland Democratic voters rejected mega-rich corporate monopolist David Trone in their Senate primary and instead chose highly qualified Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks to take on Republican Larry Hogan. Good move."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Fantastic News for the Country!' Biden Nominates Julie Su for Labor Secretary
"She's really been a champion her entire career for all workers, regardless of immigration status, regardless of economic status," said one advocate.
Feb 28, 2023
Progressives on Tuesday applauded as U.S. President Joe Biden nominated Julie Su to succeed outgoing Labor Secretary Marty Walsh—a choice the nation's largest federation of unions said will "continue the Department of Labor's historic legacy of pro-union leadership."
"Julie Su is a leader who stands up for dignity, safety, and fair pay for all working families including immigrant and marginalized communities," continued the AFL-CIO, calling on the U.S. Senate to promptly confirm Su, who is currently Biden's deputy labor secretary.
The president noted that before working in the Biden administration, Su "led the largest state labor department in the nation" as California's labor commissioner from 2011-18.
In that role, Su oversaw "a renaissance in enforcement activity" against employers who violated labor laws, according to the U.S. Labor Department. She launched a historic, multilingual "Wage Theft Is a Crime" campaign, using multimedia to reach low-wage workers, inform them about their rights, and encourage them to feel safe speaking out against abuses of labor law.
"Julie Su is the real deal and she will do everything in her power to put working people central to the agenda."
Years before leading California's Labor Department, in the mid-1990s as a recent law school graduate, Su helped defend more than 70 Thai undocumented immigrants who had been enslaved in a garment sweatshop in El Monte, California. The case is widely studied in law school classes and by advocates and rights organizers, NBC News reported in 2021 when Su was nominated to serve as deputy labor secretary.
"What an inspiring pick," Helen Brosnan of the advocacy group Fight Corporate Monopolies tweeted, noting Su's anti-slavery case.
Biden said Su has proven herself to be "a champion for workers" as she has "cracked down on wage theft, fought to protect trafficked workers, increased the minimum wage, created good-paying, high-quality jobs, and established and enforced workplace safety standards."
The president selected Su after reportedly being urged by House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to nominate former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chair Sean Patrick Maloney, who was a member of the corporate-friendly New Democrat Coalition before losing his reelection campaign last year and who has been blamed for allowing the Democrats to lose control of the U.S. House.
"Great to hear that we won't see Sean Patrick Maloney return to power anytime soon," said organizer Joshua Sauberman.
A number of progressives strongly urged Biden to nominate Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, to succeed Walsh, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) telling the president in a letter that Nelson "has been a leading voice for worker rights and is a very strong communicator of progressive values."
Nelson has been a vocal critic of a widening gap between CEO and worker pay and was a key negotiator of provisions in the pandemic-era CARES Act, which temporarily banned airline stock buybacks and capped executive compensation.
Despite his support for Nelson, Sanders was one of the first lawmakers to respond to the news of Su's nomination, expressing confidence that she "will be an excellent secretary of labor."
\u201cI\u2019m confident Julie Su will be an excellent Secretary of Labor. I look forward to working with her to protect workers\u2019 rights and build the trade union movement in this country.\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1677608523
Nelson also expressed strong support for Biden's choice, saying the nomination is "fantastic news for the country!"
\u201cFantastic news for the country! Julie Su is the real deal and she will do everything in her power to put working people central to the agenda! I am so proud of her work, her sisterhood and solidarity, her commitment to promote a labor movement for all working people! TY, @POTUS!\u201d— Sara Nelson (@Sara Nelson) 1677610265
Other labor advocates shared their hope that as secretary of labor, Su will push forward efforts to strengthen workers' rights in the fast-growing renewable energy sector.
"Renewables workers—and our planet—need someone like Su at the helm of the Department of Labor to push for and deliver on much-needed change. Right now, renewable energy jobs are scaling up across the country to meet the demand of the Inflation Reduction Act's unprecedented investment in clean energy," said Matthew Mayers, executive director of the Green Workers Alliance. "But the industry still relies on low-road subcontractors and temp agencies, who frequently short-change workers and promise jobs that never materialize."
"This industry—and many more across America—will need to fundamentally change," Mayers added. "Julie Su knows this from first-hand experience. She has been a fighter to win these changes, and we look forward to working with her as we demand more and better green jobs."
Immigrant rights groups have also pushed Biden to nominate Su, with the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) saying earlier this month that her "track record shows her commitment to protecting everyone's fundamental rights at work."
"She's really been a champion her entire career for all workers," Raha Wala of the NILC toldBloomberg Law Tuesday, "regardless of immigration status, regardless of economic status."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Break Up Ticketmaster' Coalition Applauds DOJ Probe of Online Ticketing Giant
"This is a day of optimism and hope for over 40,000 people who have called on the DOJ to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster, a corporation that has bent and broken the industry to its will since its entities merged in 2010."
Nov 18, 2022
A coalition of anti-monopoly advocates cheered Friday after reporting confirmed that the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an antitrust investigation into Live Nation, the owner of Ticketmaster.
"We are thrilled to see the Department of Justice Antitrust Division investigate Live Nation-Ticketmaster's ongoing monopoly abuse of fans, artists, venues, and live events professionals," the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition said in a statement.
The probe predates the debacle that began this week when Ticketmaster's website malfunctioned as millions of people attempted to purchase tickets for pop star Taylor Swift's upcoming concert tour, according toThe New York Times, which reported:
Members of the Antitrust Division's staff at the Justice Department have in recent months contacted music venues and players in the ticket market, asking about Live Nation's practices and the wider dynamics of the industry, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is sensitive. The inquiry appears to be broad, looking at whether the company maintains a monopoly over the industry, one of the people said.
Nevertheless, the bungled presale of Swift tickets drew fresh attention to the negative consequences of Live Nation's 2010 acquisition of Ticketmaster, a merger greenlighted by the Obama administration.
Earlier this week, as Common Dreams reported, Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), and other lawmakers called on the Biden administration to "break up Ticketmaster."
Prior to the intervention of progressive members of Congress, the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition launched a campaign last month to urge President Joe Biden's Justice Department to dismantle Live Nation's monopoly power. The effort quickly attracted tens of thousands of artists, fans, and policymakers.
"This is a day of optimism and hope for over 40,000 people who have called on the DOJ to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster, a corporation that has bent and broken the industry to its will since its entities merged in 2010," the coalition said Friday.
As the Times reported:
When the Justice Department approved the merger--over significant opposition from the music industry--it required the company to sell some parts of its business. It also reached a legal settlement with the company that forbade Live Nation to threaten concert venues with losing access to its tours if those venues decided to use ticketing providers other than Ticketmaster. Those terms were set to last for 10 years, until 2020.
In late 2019, after an investigation, the Justice Department found that Live Nation had repeatedly violated this provision of its decree. It extended the terms of the settlement by five years, to 2025, and adjusted some of the agreement's language to clarify what the company was allowed to do when negotiating ticketing deals with venues
Members of the Justice Department staff have asked whether Live Nation is complying with the agreement as part of their new inquiry, said one of the people with knowledge of the matter. Officials at the agency have grown increasingly wary of such settlements, believing the best way to settle antitrust concerns is through changes to a company's structure.
The Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition is made up of a wide range of groups, including the American Economic Liberties Project, Artist Rights Alliance, Demand Progress, Fight Corporate Monopolies, More Perfect Union, Music Workers Alliance, Sports Fans Coalition, and the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers.
The campaign "is bringing together a diverse array of sports and music fans, artists, unions, and independent venue owners for one common goal: restore competition to the live events marketplace," said the coalition. "This is an amazing moment and a crucial first step to achieving that goal."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular