Union members take to the streets for Assembly hopeful
PEF activists boost Gunther campaign to victory

By DENYCE DUNCAN LACY
Dozens of PEF members got out the vote for the union’s candidate in a state Assembly race in November, helping her win election to the seat formerly held by her late husband.

Union activists from Regions 5, 7, and 8 traveled to Monticello on November 1 to help fellow members in Region 9 knock on doors, speak to registered voters and pass out campaign materials for Democrat Aileen Gunther.

“We had a great turnout — nearly 100 PEF members and staff were in town to campaign door-to-door for Aileen, and we covered most of the households of registered Democrats in the area,” said Matt Watson, PEF’s political organizer. The canvassing effort covered 12 election districts reaching more than 2,400 households.

The union endorsed Gunther in October to succeed her husband Assembly Member Jacob “Jake” E. Gunther III, who died in June.

Gunther faced a stiff challenge from Republican-Conservative Alan Sorenson, the Sullivan County planning commissioner, in her race for the seat in the 98th Assembly District. The 98th AD consists of all of Sullivan County’s 15 towns and six villages, western Orange County, and the Orange County cites of Middletown and Port Jervis, as well as the towns of Deerpark, Minisink, Greenville and Wawayanda.

Pounding the pavement
Working out of Gunther’s Monticello campaign office, the PEF volunteers were assigned to groups of three or four, and each group was given lists of names and addresses of dozens of registered Democrats throughout the city. Clad in bright yellow PEF tee shirts and blue and white stickers that read “PEF supports Aileen Gunther for state Assembly,” the members spent the sunny Saturday pounding the pavement for the candidate, ringing residents’ doorbells and telling them why they should vote for her.

“Aileen Gunther has pledged to carry on her husband’s tradition of supporting working families,” PEF President Roger Benson told residents he met. “Jake Gunther was by our side when we fought to keep the doors to Middletown Psychiatric Center open and Aileen Gunther will stand by our side if that facility is threatened by budget cuts again.

“She has also vowed to stand up for the issues important to working families, including quality, affordable health care, top-notch education and first-rate jobs for our families.”

Grateful candidate
“I want you to know how much I appreciate your coming here to help me get the message out,” Gunther told Benson, Region 9 Coordinator Neila Cardus and all the volunteers at the end of the day. “I can’t win this fight without you, and when I’m in Albany I can’t do my job as an Assembly member without you, either. I’m going to be looking to you for guidance and input.”

Gunther handily defeated Sorenson four days later, winning by a vote of 19,284 to 10,867.

Besides the big campaign push on November 1, PEF members also staffed phone banks for Gunther in October.

Gunther is a registered nurse with nearly 30 years of experience in health care, including service in the surgery, obstetrics, mental health, and emergency room departments.

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Features
PEF activists boost Gunther campaign
Join campaign to defeat Bush
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Members In Action: Fight back thanks
PEF Membership Benefits &Travel Corp

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