February 24, 2010 11:05 PM UTC

SEIU 105 Endorses Bennet

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• by: Colorado Pols

This just in from the principal Service Employees International Union (SEIU) local for Colorado, they’ve endorsed Sen. Michael Bennet in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Full release follows–says Local 105 executive board member Dee Ann Blaine, “There are 2,500 Colorado healthcare workers in Local 105, making us the largest healthcare union in the state. We know Senator Bennet won’t stop fighting until we have meaningful healthcare reform that lowers costs and ends the insurance industry’s stranglehold on our healthcare system.”

SEIU’s endorsement is one of the most important for a Democrat to receive because of their financial and field resources, so this is significant news. Because of the resources available, this was one of those handful of endorsements that Andrew Romanoff really needed if he was ever going to beat Bennet; this is a big endorsement for Bennet as much for what it does for him as for what it takes off the table for Romanoff.

U.S. Senator Bennet Earns Support of Colorado Working Families

SEIU Members Endorse Michael Bennet

DENVER, CO – Today, healthcare workers, janitors, security officers, property service workers the other hardworking members of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 105, united in endorsing Senator Michael Bennet for the U.S. Senate.

“Senator Bennet is standing up for healthcare reform and the public option,” said Dee Ann Blaine, a radiographer from Broomfield and member of the Local 105 Executive Board. “”There are 2,500 Colorado healthcare workers in Local 105, making us the largest healthcare union in the state. We know Senator Bennet won’t stop fighting until we have meaningful healthcare reform that lowers costs and ends the insurance industry’s stranglehold on our healthcare system.”

“Everyone knows that there’s a lot left to do in Washington,” said Orville Bryant, a cashier who works at Denver International Airport and is a member of the Local 105 Executive Board. “Senator Bennet has earned our support because he’s focused on creating good jobs for ourselves and our children right here in Colorado. Working families just want a chance at the American Dream, which is why we need leaders like Michael Bennet. He’s working to rebuild our economy so it works for everyone through policies like the DREAM Act and reining in the reckless behavior on Wall Street.”

“The last decade was the first in the history of this country where the economy grew and median family income actually declined; a decade in which wages fell, while the cost of health care and higher education went up by double digits,” said Bennet.  “Working families in Colorado and across the country can’t afford another decade like the last — they deserve better.  They deserve a politics that puts their interests above the special interests; a politics that delivers on meaningful health insurance reform, fixes our broken immigration system, and makes our economy work for hardworking Coloradans.  These are efforts SEIU has fought for for years, and I’m glad to join them in the fight for Colorado’s working families.”

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