More than 60,000 union members living in the North Bay are expected to receive a slate mailer in the coming weeks bearing recommendations for who they should vote for in the June primary.
A candidate endorsed by the North Bay Labor Council, in turn, can benefit from hundreds of volunteers manning phone banks, walking precincts and performing other campaign duties.
However, the council is taking what may be an unprecedented pass on endorsing in the 10th Assembly District primary, featuring incumbent Assemblyman Marc Levine, Santa Rosa Councilwoman Erin Carlstrom and Marin college trustee Diana Conti.
The more than 60 labor groups represented by the council are splintered over which of the candidates to back for the Assembly seat, which covers Santa Rosa south of College Avenue, Petaluma and Marin County.
"It's not where we want to be," Jack Buckhorn, the labor council's president, said of the divisions in the race.
Observers attribute the situation to redrawn political boundaries, the fairly new top-two primary system and to the candidates, who have varying degrees of labor support — as well as opposition.
"To live in an area where Democrats and working people have choices amongst friendlies, so to speak, that certainly makes for more interesting politics," said Tim Aboudara, president of Santa Rosa Firefighters Local 1401, which has endorsed Carlstrom.
The list of labor groups endorsing Levine, D-San Rafael, includes unions representing building trades, police officers, nurses and government workers. Labor groups so far have contributed $47,350 to Levine's re-election campaign, finance records show.
Carlstrom's endorsements include unions representing nurses, teachers and firefighters. Her take from labor so far: $28,900.
Conti, whose labor support includes the Service Employees International Union, has taken in $8,200 from the organization.
Lisa Maldonado, executive director of the North Bay Labor Council, said having more than one labor-friendly candidate in the race "is not the worst problem in the world to have."
But the inability of labor organizers to coalesce around one candidate after they met in Santa Rosa in late February to consider endorsements could have ramifications on election day, and ultimately, on getting their agenda put forward.
"They're going to remember who supported them because that's human nature," said Michael Weinberg, political director of SEIU Local 1021, which is one of the region's largest public employee unions.
Weinberg said SEIU plans to devote less attention to the 10th Assembly District race "because there is less bang for the buck. We are working against ourselves and against other working men and women."
Buckhorn, as well, said the labor council will focus its resources on other races, at least for the primary. He specifically cited the race for Sonoma County's 4th supervisorial district seat, in which the council has endorsed Debora Fudge.
"There's an argument we'll be more effective in the supervisor's race because we'll have more resources to devote to that race," Buckhorn said.
Longtime labor leaders cannot recall another time when the labor council failed to reach consensus on endorsing a candidate for statewide office. The last time they recall any major disagreement at all was in 2004, when the council endorsed Jim Leddy for Assembly in what was then the 7th District. Some labor affiliates backed out of the endorsement after Noreen Evans entered the contest. She ultimately prevailed.
Buckhorn said that after that election the council adopted a loose policy of not endorsing candidates until after the candidate filing deadline. He said the the group is reconsidering that policy and endorsing earlier to discourage two or more labor-friendly candidates from squaring off against each other in the primary.
"One way to do that is to go early and get everybody on board," he said. "That would send a message to other candidates that they can get in, but labor has already done their endorsements."
Having labor's support does not guarantee victory, however. In 2012, Michael Allen lost his bid for a second term in the Assembly to Levine despite Allen, a former nine-term president of the North Bay Labor Council, having a virtual lock on labor support and an almost 6-to-1 financial advantage in the contest.
Allen received more votes than Levine in the primary that year, which under the old system, would have made him a shoo-in for re-election against a heavily out-gunned Republican opponent. He also was in the odd position of being an incumbent politician who was forced to introduce himself to voters in Marin County in the newly reconstituted 10th Assembly District.
"We were the poster children of what happens with redistricting and top-two (primaries)," Allen said Wednesday. "I was running, quote, as an incumbent, in a district that was entirely new to me."
Levine's victory shifted the balance of power in the 10th Assembly District to Marin County. It also signified new clout for the business and agricultural interests that backed him. Those same groups are now supporting his re-election campaign.
Allen expressed concerns that a lack of unity among labor groups could dilute their influence in the political process. But he made the case that all interest groups are facing the same problem.
"Frankly, I don't think labor, business or any other group has adjusted to the new system. It's going to take awhile," Allen said.
Given voter demographics in the 10th Assembly District, odds are that two of the three Democrats entered in the race will come out of the primary on top. Gregory Allen, who lives in Novato and owns an employment staffing firm, is the lone Republican entered in the contest.
If Democrats prevail in the primary, the question then will be whether North Bay labor groups will be able to rally around a single candidate.
"There's going to be another bite at this apple," Buckhorn said. "When it comes to a general election, we're hoping we build consensus."
(You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.)
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