There is an interesting report out of Minnesota where Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., has been found to have just one donor from his district in the last round of political contributions. The rest of the donors for the 18-year-term incumbent and chairman of the Transportation Committee are from Washington and other areas. The sole donor came from Pine City, Minnesota.
For the purposes of full disclosure, I filed a new action two weeks ago on behalf of hundreds of senior pilots. Oberstar features prominently in the lawsuit, which discusses how he is a major recipient of money from ALPA the pilot’s union. ALPA officials have bragged that they got Oberstar to put in language virtually verbatim as they had drafted it. The language stripped senior pilots of their benefits and seniority. Oberstar has worked to block the return of senior pilots, as demanded by ALPA — even after we succeeded in getting Congress to rescind the original Age 60 rule. Oberstar effectively added a new Age 60 rule at the behest of ALPA.
He is currently in a tight race with Republican Chip Cravaack, a former Navy and Northwest Airlines pilot — showing him just three points ahead.
Between June 22 and Sept. 30, Oberstar was given only one contribution from a member of his district — a Jane Robbins of Pine City gave Oberstar $500 on Aug. 22. The rest of the $233,102 dollars came from outside donors.
Source: Washington Examiner
@rcampbell
Also, pilot seniority is not transferable between airlines. A new pilot starts at the bottom of the senority list and on probation, moving up only when people in front of them move. A 20 year captain making over $100K would be lucky to make $30k as a junior copilot at a new carrier. Regionals usually pay less than $20K for starting pilots and they are not considered part of the parent carrier, preventing transferability between the two. A pilot’s skill and experience is meaningless, the only thing that counts is their seniority. There are no exceptions, including those pilots that can land a plane in the Hudson. It has been this way for such a long time that nonunion carriers use the same arrangement.
Another example of how much connection our representatives have with their voters. How do these guys get up in the morning?