Hoosiers are fighting to take back the government and repeal the right-to-work-for-less law that took effect in March. The largest class ever of union members is now running for state senate and representative. Four of the 55 are Teamsters.
We've introduced Jim Kincaid and Jim Cahill to you. Now we'd like you to meet Brad Thompson, president of Local 1070 and candidate for Indiana state Senate from District 7. Here's his website and here's his Facebook page. You know what to do!
"The guy I'm running against, he's got a crappy record and lots of money," Brad told us last week. "What's nice is that this seat was held by Democrats." Brad's rural roots go deep in his rural district, as his grandparents farmed there and he has years of experience working for corn and soybean processors.
Here's why he's running:
...its time the citizens of the 7th district have a working class Senator. The system is broke and we can't depend on career politicians to look out for the concerns of the working middle class. Indiana legislature is set up to meet only two months of the year setting it up to be a citizens legislature. So its time to send one of our own to Indianapolis to look out for the working class interest.Brad said he went to the anti-RTW4Less rallies in Indianapolis over the winter and wasn't impressed with the quality of Indiana's representatives. "They talked down to us, acted arrogant. The atmosphere right now is great for me to run and we've got a lot of mad union voters. Get people energized and anything can happen."
He anticipates a busy summer of knocking on doors to counter his opponent's financial advantage. He has two daughters, one a UAW member and one who wants to be a labor lawyer. (Good parenting, Brad!) They're helping him with the Facebook and the Twitter.
"We're doing it for our kids," he said. "This is the first generation that can't expect to do better than their parents."
Oh, and he'll vote to repeal right-to-work-for-less all right if he's elected.
Wondering who the fourth Teamster is? It's Jerrod Warnock, business agent for Local 135. He's running for state representative in South Bend. We'll be featuring him soon.
