NFIB

Business Lobbyists Speak in Defense of Tim Hutchinson
09/23/2002

by Michael Rowett
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A small-business lobbying group on Wednesday defended U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson on workplace safety, criticizing as "deceptive" labor union ads that accuse the senator of voting against tougher standards.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which has donated $9,000 to Hutchinson's campaign according to the latest available data, contended in a news release that Hutchinson has a "strong record" on the issue.

The AFL-CIO stood by the ad, which accuses Hutchinson, a Republican, of voting "with the big corporations" against strengthening rules to protect workers from such repetitive stress injuries as carpal tunnel syndrome.

Political action committees affiliated with the AFL-CIO have donated $10,000 to the campaign of Hutchinson's Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Mark Pryor.

The ad features a woman with her arms in splints who worries aloud that she will "lose my house" and "everything I've worked so hard for" because of injuries that are "never going to go away."

These ads debuted last week and will continue through the end of this week and into next week, AFL-CIO spokesman Kathy Roeder said. She declined to disclose how much they cost in Arkansas or in the case of other Senate candidates targeted by the ad.

Dan Danner, senior vice president of the NFIB, in the news release called the ads "nothing more than a cynical political attack" by "Big Labor bosses in Washington" who favor "the heavy hand of strict, one-size-fits-all government mandates."

"Sen. Hutchinson understands that a cooperative approach is a much more effective way to accomplish that goal," Danner said.

Roeder responded: "This is not a cynical political attack; it's an ad that talks about the senator's record and how he voted."

The ad cites a March 6, 2001, Hutchinson vote to repeal a Clinton administration rule aimed at combating workplace injuries caused by repetitive motion. Arkansas' other senator, Blanche Lincoln, was one of six Democrats who voted with the Senate's 50 Republicans. President Bush backed the repeal, as did the Republican-controlled House, and Bush signed a bill repealing the rules.

The regulations were issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in January 2001, four days before former President Clinton left office. Businesses had until October 2001 to comply.

The agency estimated that the rules would prevent 4.6 million musculoskeletal disorders and cost businesses $4.5 billion a year to comply. Republicans and business organizations countered that the regulations would impose far higher costs, as much as $100 billion a year.

Roeder challenged the NFIB to cite specific votes by Hutchinson that demonstrate a "strong record" on workplace safety.

NFIB spokesman Susan Eckerly responded by citing an April 29, 1999, vote by Hutchinson in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for a bill that would have allowed businesses to hire their own "third-party" nongovernment inspectors to audit workplace safety compliance. The bill passed the committee but never was voted on by the full Senate.

Participation would have been voluntary. Once a third-party inspection determined that an employer was in compliance with safety regulations, that employer would be exempted from civil penalties for one year. Eckerly said the bill would have worked because "90 percent of employers want to obey the law."

The measure's approach "would help employers develop a safe workplace instead of taking the approach that employers will never help employees, and we have to force them to do so," Eckerly said.

Roeder scoffed at the notion that voluntary compliance would help prevent worker injuries. She noted a page on NFIB's Web site that boasts of a "Stop Ergo-Nonsense Campaign."

Also Wednesday, Hutchinson's campaign tweaked Pryor for declining recently to debate Hutchinson on the Washington, D.C.-based Meet the Press talk show, while taking time this week to attend a fund-raiser in the nation's capital.

"Mark Pryor is a reluctant warrior when it comes to debating Sen. Hutchinson in Washington, but he couldn't wait to get back there to raise more liberal money," said Hutchinson campaign spokesman Anthony Hulen.

The attorney general's campaign has said Pryor declined to appear because he wanted to take questions from Arkansas journalists familiar with Arkansas issues.

Pryor campaign spokesman Michael Teague said Hutchinson's camp has no standing to criticize Pryor for attending fund-raisers at ritzy restaurants out of state. Hutchinson "showed his hypocrisy" this month by attending a fund-raiser at The Palm restaurant in Dallas, part of the same franchise as the restaurant based in Washington, Teague said.