August 25, 2003

Labor unions begin phone campaign against recall

By LEAH ETLING
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Steve Weiner knows that when labor union members vote, they usually vote Democrat, and they often vote in droves.

So Saturday morning, the executive secretary of the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Building and Construction Trades Council was training volunteers in how to get out that vote: on the phone.

In the next six weeks, volunteers will be dialing for ballots -- against the recall of Gov. Gray Davis. Union-organized phone bank efforts started Sunday in Santa Barbara.

"We're going to do this until October 7, and then we're going to go and welcome Gray Davis back to the governorship," Mr. Weiner said.

Volunteer Vivian Weeks, a retiree, had already made dozens of calls to registered Democrats and union members Sunday afternoon, asking them to come to the polls on election day.

"I think we have to stand up and say, 'No, we can't have people destroying our voting system in the United States that has worked for so long,'Ê" Ms. Weeks said of her reasons for opposing the recall. "What happens when we elect a president for a second term and then people decide they don't like him? You can't just get rid of him."

If the people who answered the phone said they couldn't make it to the polls, Ms. Weeks offered to mail them an absentee ballot.

If no one was home, she left a message asking the resident to vote.

Mr. Weiner said that getting the phone bank going -- a second local bank is planned for Buellton and one is already open in Ventura -- demonstrates that political activists are starting to get down to the real business of the recall.

"All the Gary Colemans and Terminators and everyone else. . .it's a lot more serious than just a movie star thing," he said of the election. "People are starting to realize it's serious now."

For the most part, people were treating the callers well on their first round of rings. Voters who weren't home will get calls back, Mr. Weiner said, until volunteers have spoken to everyone on their lists.

The call center in the Trades Council Building at 415 Chapala St. will operate six days a week through election day, Oct. 7.

Sunday afternoon, new volunteers wandered in to start training while three women talked on the phone. Talking points included the high costs of the recall, its partisan nature, and a warning that not voting might allow a minority of the state's citizens to make a political choice for everyone.

"The next governor could be elected by 20 percent of the vote, or even less," the callers read from scripts.

Phone bank organizers hope to increase that turnout.

And if the people on the other end of the phone wanted to vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace Gov. Davis?

"Well, we all have our fallacies," Ms. Weeks said. "They were polite and charming. It's OK if we all go out and vote the way we like."

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