AFL-CIO Threatens Action If Bartlett Doesn’t Stop Touting Their Endorsement of Christiansen
Mayor Dewey Bartlett’s campaign warned by AFL-CIO on endorsement claims
By ZACK STOYCOFF World Staff Writer on Jun 1, 2013
A national association of labor unions is demanding that Mayor Dewey Bartlett’s campaign stop distributing material claiming that it has endorsed challenger Bill Christiansen.
Jimmy Curry, president of Oklahoma’s chapter of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, told the Tulsa World he was recently shown a mailer from Bartlett’s campaign that uses his organization’s name and logo in asserting that it has endorsed the former city councilor in the mayoral race.
In a cease and desist letter addressed to Bartlett’s campaign and dated Friday, Curry threatens to turn the matter over to “legal counsel” if the campaign continues “any unauthorized use of the AFL-CIO name and logo.”
The organization does not endorse local candidates because it wants its local affiliates to make their own decisions, Curry said. He said he has received numerous calls from members who wondered after receiving Bartlett’s mailer why the organization had changed its policy.