Union Official Mocks Support for “God” and “Guns” at IAM Event Headlined by Jared Golden

A top union official appeared to mock conservatives for focusing on “God” and “guns” at a June 8th event headlined by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden.

“The radical right knows the social issues divide us and economic issues divide us – they are going to strictly focus on social issues: 3 G’s Gays, God and Guns,” IAM Political and Legislative Director Hasan Solomon, of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said at the June 8 Maine State Council of Machinists Conference in South Portland.

Brian Bryant, the international president of the union, has said he’ll be endorsing both President Joe Biden and Rep. Golden’s re-election; however, the Maine AFL-CIO will make a decision about their endorsement in the coming days.

Bryant and Solomon’s comments were conveyed in a June 14 write-up by the AFL-CIO communications shop and have gone largely unnoticed in Maine’s media.

Solomon, in his comments at the event, went on to claim that Biden and the Democratic Party, rather than focusing on God and Second Amendment civil rights, are instead focused on “Gas, Groceries and Grandma.”

That rhetoric is oddly discordant with both the economic reality under the Biden presidency as well as the demonstrable priorities of Democrats in Maine.

According to data tracked by the St. Louis Fed (FRED), gas prices have increased substantially since President Biden took office.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistic also show that the price of common grocery items — such as a dozen eggs ,a pound of cheese, coffee, chicken, bread, beef, and orange juice, rice, and yogurt — have all increased significantly since 2019.

At the same time, Maine Democrats have advocated for so-called “green” energy solutions, including a solar tax scheme projected to raise Mainers electricity costs by $220 million in 2025, that have driven up the costs of life’s basic necessities in the Pine Tree State.

As for “Grandma,” most likely she’s living, at least in part, on social security benefits, which have not kept track with the rapid inflation and rising costs experienced by consumers during the Biden years.

Older Americans with fixed incomes are especially harmed by the weakening U.S. dollar and higher costs for grocery staples and utilities.

The minimum social security benefit for an average 62-year-old is roughly $2,700 per month.

According to the BLS calculator, seniors receiving that level of social security in Jan. 2020 would need to be receiving $3,300 in order to simply retain the same level of buying power they had before Biden took office.

Bryant, the pro-Golden union official, might be doing better than Grandma during the recent spike in inflation under the Biden Administration: According to the IAM’s latest tax filings, he pocketed more than $380k in annual compensation in 2022.

Golden, who is facing a re-election fight against State Rep. Austin Theriault (R-Fort Kent), has traditionally portrayed himself as a conservative “blue dog” Democrat, touting his record of voting against several of Biden’s key initiatives when Democrats held the U.S. House, such as the $2.2 trillion “Build Back Better” initiative.

However, the Democratic pol recently flipped his position on a key gun control policy, deciding to embrace a ban on popular “assault” firearms in the wake of the Oct. 25 Lewiston mass shooting.

Theriault has also questioned Golden’s fiscal conservatism in light of his vote in support of the “Inflation Reduction Act.”

Despite its name, the $780 billion Act has failed to rein in inflation in the U.S. economy — and may have even contributed to inflation by injecting more debt-backed dollars into key sectors of the economy.

Although Golden has pointed to prescription drug cost-controls implemented by the IRA as benefitting Maine seniors, the Act’s more expensive provisions included massive tax credits for green energy corporations and a massive expansion of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Because the tax credits are seeing greater utilization than congressional analysts originally predicted, the actual cost of the IRA has far exceeded original projections and continues to grow.

During the event, Golden reiterated his support for the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a law that would prohibit states from enacting right-to-work laws that prevent forced union membership. Maine does not have such a law.

Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) and House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) also spoke at the event.

(Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed the June 8 comments to Bryant, rather than Solomon. The article has been updated.)