While serving in his “dream job” as President of the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP), Retread Ted Strickland’s organization called coal a “dead man walking” and celebrated that the Clean Power Plan “speeds up the transition.”
Unsurprisingly, the United Mine Workers of America’s National Council of Coal Miners Political Action Committee (COMPAC) hasn’t forgotten Strickland’s work in Washington dedicated to ending coal jobs and announced their endorsement of Senator Rob Portman today.
This news is a MAJOR BLOW to Retread Ted who was previously endorsed by COMPAC in both 2006 and 2010 while running for Governor.
In response to this news, Retread Ted responded as one might expect… Strickland’s campaign quickly issued a press release and took to twitter attacking the organization for their endorsement.
Ted Strickland’s abandonment of the coal industry has been well-documented. In a recent Roll Call story, Retread Ted was recognized for his endorsement by “an anti-coal group.” The story also notes that Strickland’s position on coal has grown progressively worse over time, and Christian Palich, president of the Ohio coal association told Roll Call that, “many who had supported Strickland…in the past felt [he] had abandoned coal.”
In addition, Ted Strickland has refused to denounce Hillary Clinton’s comments attacking coal workers when she said that, if elected, “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”