Blog Post by SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger
September 17, 2007

At today’s Member Political Action Conference, we heard from five candidates for President of the United States, but unquestionably, the stars of the day were our members.

I was proud to see members who participated in our Walk A Day in My Shoes program welcome the candidates to our conference.  Each of our Walk A Day members generously opened his or her workplace and home to a presidential candidate, and from the way they spoke about it today, I know that every experience was a success.

Especially in an atmosphere of endless politicking, it’s remarkable that so many candidates were willing to take an entire day off from the campaigning and spend it with a worker.  SEIU is the only organization in the country to make that kind of challenge.  And because candidates know that our members are serious about politics, six of them accepted it.

Too often the presidential campaign is about sound bites and talking heads, but with the Walk A Day In Our Shoes program, our members were the ones calling the shots. 

People like Elaine Ellis, who brought Senator John Edwards along to her job as a certified nursing assistant in New York.  Or Mark Fitzgerald, who showed Governor Bill Richardson what it’s like to be a family services worker in Las Vegas.  Pauline Beck, who invited Senator Barack Obama walk in her shoes as a home health care worker in Almeda, California.  Michelle Estrada, who showed Senator Hillary Clinton her life as a registered nurse in Nevada.  And Marshall Clemmons, who took Senator Joe Biden to his elementary school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to work as a custodian.

By sharing their lives with the candidates, these SEIU members had a real effect on the candidates and on the presidential race.  And when they spoke at MPAC today, they had a real effect on all of us.

Because of the energy, commitment, and strength of our members, SEIU has become one of the most powerful forces in Washington.  And nowhere was that more apparent than at our conference today.

There’s still a lot of time before Election Day, and we’re sure to face twists and turns that none of us can envision.  But judging from the excitement and force our members exhibited today, 2008 will be the year in which we create a new American Dream for all working people.