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Posted on 10/12/2003 5:19:26 AM PDT by ninenot
Small manufacturers fight U.S. trade policy, endorse Feingold
By CRAIG GILBERT
cgilbert@journalsentinel.com
Last Updated: Oct. 11, 2003
Washington - With its first campaign endorsement last week, a fledgling group of Wisconsin manufacturers made a statement about the politics of job loss in the industrial Midwest.
Known as Save American Manufacturing Now, the small-business coalition endorsed Senate Democrat Russ Feingold, whose voting score last year from the nation's best-known business lobby - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - was a paltry 20%.
Why Feingold?
Simple.
The two-term Middleton senator has repeatedly opposed the big trade pacts of the last decade, from the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, to normalizing trade relations with China.
"We keep hearing this drivel about free trade creating jobs for Americans," says Mike Retzer, of W.G. Strohwig Tool & Die in Richfield, who blames U.S. trade policies for the "outsourcing of American jobs," especially to China.
Retzer's small but vocal coalition underscores the shifting politics of trade, as lawmakers in both parties face the pain of executives and workers in hard-hit industries.
Formed eight months ago, "SAMNow" has embarked on an aggressive campaign to change minds in Congress, meeting with members from both parties and on both sides of the issue.
Already, there's abundant evidence that the group - and the state's stark slide in manufacturing jobs - are altering the way Wisconsin lawmakers approach trade.
At a minimum, there has been a rhetorical shift, with politicians across the board loudly demanding "fair trade" and lambasting the Chinese competitive threat.
But in some cases, votes are shifting, too.
Senate Democrat Herb Kohl, who has more often than not been a "yes" on big trade votes, voted in July against new trade agreements with Chile and Singapore.
He says his discussions with SAMNow were a factor in those votes and in a change in his thinking about trade issues.
"My basic instinct is to encourage trade, but when it really begins to hurt people in this country and people in my state, you have to take another look. . . . We need to do something to stem the tide," says Kohl of the loss of more than 70,000 manufacturing jobs in the state since 2000. "I'm going to be much more careful in looking at trade agreements."
Winning over Republicans
House Republican Mark Green of Green Bay, a supporter of trade pacts in the past, joined 26 other Republicans July 24 in opposing the Singapore trade agreement. Green called SAMNow that day to let the group know how he was voting.
"They're an important voice. They represent sort of non-aligned small manufacturers around the state," says Green, who has attacked China's currency and trade policies, issuing one recent press release under the headline, "Rep. Green confronts Chinese officials in D.C. directly on unfair trade."
Green doesn't disown his previous votes on trade (including the one to normalize trade relations with China). But he says the vote he cast on Singapore trade was significant.
"It reflects, I think, a closer scrutiny that a number of us from manufacturing states are paying to trade deals. I think we all understand the arguments in favor of trade, and I think they're compelling arguments. But we also recognize that abuse of trade and unfair trade can exacerbate what is already a serious problem," Green said.
Core activists in SAMNow meet once a week to strategize. They collaborate with like-minded trade groups representing struggling industries such as tool and die.
Coalition packs power
The Wisconsin group is also part of a loose grass-roots network that has popped up in other manufacturing states. Politically, the coalition is notable for a number of reasons.
One, it represents alliances between management and labor; SAMNow includes workers as well as owners and has begun working with the AFL-CIO in Wisconsin. "We're really just at the beginning of developing that relationship," says Dave Newby of the state's AFL-CIO.
Two, it reflects splits within the business community over trade policy, including between smaller and larger manufacturers. And three, its organizers include many self-described Republicans who have grown disdainful of the trade policies broadly backed by Republicans in Congress and the Bush administration.
"Most of us have been Republican all our lives," says Cathy Schuldt, owner of Butler Wire & Metal Products in Menomonee Falls and state chair of SAMNow. "But if we don't do something about this, we won't have any jobs left."
Schuldt says the group is non-partisan and expects to endorse candidates from both parties. She credits Green for his Singapore vote and Menomonee Falls Republican F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. for opposing normal trade relations with China.
When Feingold sought SAMNow's endorsement, "it was easy," says Schuldt, because of his trade votes and eagerness to work with the group. The SAMNow Web site (samnow.org) features a tally of how every U.S. senator voted on four big trade issues in recent years, including China and NAFTA. Feingold is one of five senators (four Democrats and Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado) who voted against all four.
"Late last year, suddenly, small business people started coming to my town meetings, especially in the eastern part of the state, whom I'd never seen before," said Feingold. "They made it very clear they were almost exclusively conservative Republicans. . . . We realized they were a new, rather unique coalition of manufacturers, who simply believe these trade agreements have shipped our economy overseas."
Businesses growing weary
Given his trade votes, it's no surprise to hear Feingold playing up discontent within the business community over trade policy.
But Wisconsin's congressional Republicans, including those who've supported trade pacts, make similar observations. In a recent interview, Janesville's Paul Ryan noted that "manufacturers that are normally pro-trade aren't sounding that way these days."
Along with Ryan, Fond du Lac Republican Tom Petri has been perhaps the most consistent supporter of trade agreements among the state's federal lawmakers. Petri met with SAMNow and notes, "they're having terrible problems, especially with Chinese competition."
But he isn't persuaded by the group's position on trade, and says trade with China has benefited some manufacturers and workers in the state.
"It's not as easy as it looks at first blush to attempt to unscramble the omelet of international trade," said Petri. "Trade is a two-way street. We do have a trade deficit with China, but our exports to them are now growing faster than their exports to us."
Big lobbies blamed
Schuldt says her members believe the big, established business lobbies have failed to speak for them on trade and "unfair competition."
"I think they think we're a bunch of whiners," she said.
But Nick George of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce suggests that established business groups like his are also undergoing a change on trade, in response to the growing cries of smaller companies.
"They've become a lot more vocal," George says of businesses that believe they've been victimized by trade policy.
The result, George predicts, is that even traditional business groups will be less certain to "jump on board" new trade agreements.
Still, it remains to be seen what effect manufacturing turmoil and activists such as Retzer and Schuldt will have on lawmakers when they take up future trade pacts, such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
"We feel the knowledge isn't there yet," says Retzer, but "we're having an impact."
Says Green, the Green Bay Republican:
"They've done a very good job of bringing their story to members like me."
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