**Update: The first Brown poll of candidates for Congress in the first district has David Segal at just 5.7%, dead last.
The Rhode Island affiliate of the AFT made two significant endorsements this week. For governor, RIFT is backing an heir to a family fortune who’s father was an esteemed governor and senator. And for the congressional seat left open by Patrick Kennedy, a man born into wealth who never had a job, the union is backing another man born into wealth, who apparently hasn’t had a full time job since graduating from Brown. The two candidates are, respectively, Lincoln Chafee and David Segal.
Perhaps the union leadership has spent too much time at the State House and socializing on the East Side.
Anthony Gemma, another Democrat candidate, is a plumber who worked his way through college and law school. He them helped to continue the success of his family’s plumbing business as it grew into one of the largest in the state.
It’s not labor, but the politics of labor, that determines the endorsement. Who stands the farthest left.
Incidentally, RIFT head Marcia Reback explained last week that she didn’t interview all candidates for governor because “electability” must be a factor when determining endorsements. Can it be assumed that she believes Segal is electable? Segal is in last in fundraising, some $100,000 less than Gemma, the next highest candidate in the field. Segal’s raised $300,000 less than Republican John Loughlin, and barely a tenth of frontrunner David Cicilline’s $1.1 million. By all accounts, the young Segal is the least known in the district, although no official polls have yet been made public. It would be interesting to know how Reback defines “electability”.
