Union Urges Members to Join TR Conservation Partnership
April 10, 2004

by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

A funny thing seems to be happening on the way to the 2004 presidential elections.

I’ll explain further, but first I should mention that interest in this story was first aroused when a Gun Week reader and pro-gun activist in New Jersey recently sent me copies of some articles from The UA Journal of the Plumbers, Pipefitters and Sprinklerfitters Union. These articles covered a period from October 2000, just before the last presidential election, and February 2004, just as the nation begins saddling up for this year’s race for the White House.

Probably no Gun Week reader is unaware of the impact of the gun issue on the very close 2000 race and the conflict it caused among gun-owning union members whose local and international leaders were trying desperately to overcome the anti-gun record of the Democratic candidate, Vice President Al Gore. During that campaign, the National Rifle Association (NRA) had endorsed and campaigned for then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush on the Republican ticket. NRA officials like then-President Charlton Heston and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre stumped key states to focus on the gun issue differences between Gore and Bush.

During that campaign, many union officials were as busy as cats trying to cover up Gore’s record on gun control, his platform, and his role in passage of the Brady Act and the Clinton “Assault Weapon” ban. They kept assuring the working men and women in their membership, many of whom are gunowners, that Gore posed no threat to their gun rights.

This is highlighted by some quotes from Marty Maddaloni, general president of the union in the October 2000 issue of The UA Journal. The union is the United Alliance (UA) of over 300 locals of plumbers, steamfitters plus heating and air conditioning professionals and apprentices across the country. It has well over 300,000 members, who are urged to be politically active. The UA also has a political action committee, and members are urged to support certain candidates and get their family and friends to vote with them.

Before 2000 Election
In the October 2000 article, Maddaloni wrote:

“The reality is that the Bush campaign saw an opportunity to use this issue (gun control) to divide and conquer organized labor. The campaign staff has tried in a number of ways to paint Vice President Gore as a rabid gun control advocate, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Nothing in legislation proposed by either candidate will take away your right to own guns for sport or recreation.” (The last emphasis is mine, because it is linked to a later theme.)

Maddaloni goes on to acknowledge his awareness that many of his union’s members are “avid outdoorsmen.” Then he says:

“If Vice President Gore is elected next month, you will continue to enjoy that same freedom, and no laws will be passed that will prevent you from legally owning a gun.”

Those are brief excerpts from the union’s monthly magazine before the election.

After 2000 Election
Here is what the union’s general secretary-treasurer, Thomas H. Patchell, had to say about the election and the platform issues after the election in the February 2001 issue of The UA Journal.

“Thousands of UA members are avid outdoorsmen; the back pages of our own UA Journal are proof of that. And, you are the responsible gunowners that of the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States was created to protect. I, myself, am a licensed gunowner and value my right to bear arms as well. However, election results show that the misleading messages put forth by conservative politicians prior to election night seem to have swayed far too many members of organized labor. . . .

“Statistics show that a significant percentage of organized labor voted for Gore, but he also lost a significant percent of labor’s votes based on the issue of gun control.”

A telling segment of Patchell’s commentary is revealing.

“What I am suggesting is that all of us within organized labor come together and rally behind legislation and politicians that understand our second amendment right, yet agree with measures that make handguns safer and less available to criminals and children.” He then quotes figures from the Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the “Million” Mom March.

These examples in straddling the gun control debate—being a gunowner and accepting “gun control lite” are important introductions to the February 2004 issue of The UA Journal.

In that issue several pages are devoted to promoting what is called “A New Opportunity for UA Members.”

Written by William P. Hite, assistant general president of the UA, is an article promoting free membership in an organization called the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP). More about the TRCP in a moment; first some quotes from Hite’s article.

“The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership also offers United Association sportsmen and women an alternative to membership in other groups that may be focused on a single issue, such as gun control. While the TRCP does not lobby for or against gun control, the group strongly supports the Second Amendment to the American Constitution (the right to keep and bear arms) especially as it applies to hunters.”

The main theme of these articles seems to suggest that the UA is at least one union trying to wean its members away from single issue, gun-rights advocacy groups, such as the NRA, toward a focus on a group that advocates the right to bear arms for hunting and recreation. It sounds a lot like the Democratic Party strategists who were suggesting that candidates of that party downplay the gun control themes or at least repackage them. An example is: don’t say “gun control,” say “gun safety.” And the focus on the Second Amendment as almost exclusively hunting and recreational issue seems to rewrite the bumper sticker to say “The Second Amendment Is All About Duck Hunting.”

Maybe I’m just suspicious, but it seems to match the pattern that is developing in this campaign, including John Kerry’s pheasant hunting trip for the media in Iowa.

Reader’s Alert
I’m sure this story will be a continuing one this year. There may also be other unions which encourage their members to join sportsmen’s or conservation organizations. If so, I would appreciate hearing from readers about them.

Before I sign off on this column, I should include a little information about the TRCP from their website. The organization has an advisory council of sorts that includes a lot of sportsmen’s organizations, including the NRA. I haven’t seen any evidence that Americans for Gun Safety is connected with it in any way.

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Alliance (TRCA) was launched in 1999, largely with a $1.5 million grant from the non-profit Pew Foundation.

The website says: “Today it unites more than 330 sportsmen’s organizations, 180 hunting and fishing businesses, and 45,000 individuals behind efforts to protect and more effectively manage critical fish and wildlife habitat in the national forests and rangelands. Well published surveys and research commissioned by TRCA demonstrated that hunters strongly support protecting remaining wilderness areas on the public lands, as long as basic hunting and fishing rights are maintained.

“This Pew grant will provide continued support for TRCA to expand its membership and communication networks, advocate protection and improved management of key wildlife and fish habitat areas, and encourage federal land managers to prioritize science-based land and resource stewardship.

“TRCA’s conservation efforts will also include other federal lands, working first to publicize the need to protect and more effectively manage an estimated 100 million acres of federal rangeland roadless areas managed by the US Department of the Interior.”