An Alaska GOP governor candidate is getting a boost from organized labor
A newly formed group will spend “six figures” to support former state senator Click Bishop.
One of the nearly 20 candidates in the race for Alaska’s governorship is getting a significant boost from the state’s organized labor movement.
Four union officials are helping to lead a newly formed political group that will boost the candidacy of Republican Click Bishop, a former state senator from Fairbanks with a long background in the labor movement.
The group will have a six-figure budget to spend on Bishop and running mate Greta Schuerch as campaigning gears up for the mid-August primary, according to Joelle Hall, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO.
Hall is one of the deputy treasurers of the pro-Bishop independent expenditure group — Alaska’s state-level equivalent to the big-spending super PACs that participate in federal elections.
In a twist on the state’s popular “Pick.Click.Give” program, which allows Alaskans to divert a share of their annual oil checks to charities, the new group is called “Pick Click and Greta for Alaska.” It was registered Monday.
The group's efforts could prove crucial for Bishop, as the dozen Republicans in the field seek to distinguish themselves and vie for a finite amount of financial support.
Hall’s labor group, the AFL-CIO, is an umbrella organization and hasn’t issued a formal endorsement in the race. But many AFL-CIO members are eager to support Bishop, she added, and officials from two unions — representing carpenters and heavy equipment operators — are also registered as deputy treasurers of the pro-Bishop group.
Hall said there are several other candidates in the field who “really care about working people.”
But, she added, “Click’s just not a politician to us. He is us.”
Bishop has been a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers 302 and worked on construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline when; he's also been a state labor commissioner.
A campaign spokesperson said Bishop was not immediately available for comment.
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