Union Big: No Contact From Obama Camp About Trooper

by Josh Gerstein
Mon, 8 Sep 2008 at 9:31 PM

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A top official with an Alaska police union says Senator Obama's campaign never contacted the labor group to seek information about efforts by Governor Palin of Alaska to have her former brother in law fired as a state trooper.

"I want to state categorically—or uncategorically, on the record, that the Obama campaign has never called me to talk about Mike Wooten or Governor Sarah Palin," the executive director of the Public Safety Employees Association, John Cyr, told The New York Sun today.
While introducing an interview with Messrs. Cyr and Wooten last Friday, CNN said the Obama campaign had contacted Mr. Wooten's union, which led to speculation that the Democratic presidential campaign was seeking dirt about the affair some now refer to as Troopergate. Not so, according to Mr. Cyr, who said he was contacted by a local Obama representative whom he did not identify to discuss the possibility of the union endorsing Mr. Obama. "Nobody was saying….'Where is this Wooten thing going?' It was just not the substance of the conversation," the union official said.
It's not clear whether the call came before or after Mrs. Palin's selection as Senator McCain's runningmate on August 29. Mr. Cyr said he thought the call preceded the choice, but he also said it came after the state's AFL-CIO convention, which ended on the same day the Alaska governor got the nod. The union has not made any endorsement, Mr. Cyr said.

Related Topics: General Election

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