Bush Names Teamster Leader to Trade Panel
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush, who has tried to woo organized
labor into the Republicans’ political camp, on Wednesday named Teamsters
President James P. Hoffa to an administration advisory panel on trade.
Bush also named Paul Beckner, president of the conservative Citizens
for a Sound Economy, a group that advocates lower taxes and less
government, to a two-year term on the Advisory Committee for Trade
Policy and Negotiations.
The large panel is made up of industry and labor leaders who give
advice to U.S. negotiators as they pursue new trade agreements with
other nations.
The White House has made reaching out to organized labor,
traditionally allied with Democrats, a priority.
The Teamsters and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters are among a
handful of conservative-leaning unions that Bush and his advisers have
targeted since taking office almost two years ago.
Hoffa, for instance, was a guest of honor at Bush’s State of the
Union speech last year and worked with the White House on efforts in
Congress to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling.