The president of the Illinois AFL-CIO issued an apology Monday to a Democratic political consultant who was the target of heavy, personal criticism in the labor group’s newsletter last week.
In a statement, union leader Michael Carrigan said he was sorry about “unfavorable references” in the AFL-CIO’s newsletter to Hanah Jubeh, who is chief fundraiser for Chris Kennedy’s campaign for governor.
Jubeh has worked with unions and pro-labor candidates for more than a decade, but has come into conflict in this governor’s race with the AFL-CIO — which has endorsed Kennedy’s Democratic primary rival J.B. Pritzker.
“Based on past political campaigns, combined with this campaign, many people, especially within the Illinois labor movement, are seriously questioning her abilities to manage statewide campaigns,” the Illinois AFL-CIO said of Jubeh in a newsletter published last Tuesday.
In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times last week, Jubeh said she thought sexism was behind the criticism from the AFL-CIO and that Carrigan privately had pressured her to stop working for Kennedy’s campaign.
Carrigan said Monday that he had apologized to Jubeh and “assured her that such an incident will not happen again.”
“I very much regret the unfavorable references recently made to Hanah Jubeh and her consulting firm, P2, in the IL State Federation News Update,” Carrigan said. “Ms. Jubeh has provided professional services to many unions over the years and I know that her work is held in very high regard.”
Carrigan added, “There was absolutely no sexist intent in what was published.”
Kennedy’s campaign and some labor leaders had called on Carrigan to apologize to Jubeh and urged Pritzker to try to compel Carrigan to do so.
Jubeh and the campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Pritzker’s campaign issued a one-sentence statement on the issue Monday.
“It was not appropriate to go after staff,” Pritzker spokeswoman Galia Slayen said.
Jubeh is a consultant and former political director at the Chicago Federation of Labor, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO. The CFL — whose president is board chairman of the Sun-Times’ parent company — has endorsed Pritzker but defended Jubeh’s track record as a consultant.
Carrigan sent Jubeh an email last week highlighting an endorsement Pritzker received. “This, on top of two lousy fundraising quarters for Mr. Kennedy, reflects poorly on your abilities,” he wrote to Jubeh.
Jubeh said she felt singled-out by Carrigan because other, male Kennedy campaign aides who had previously worked with organized labor did not face similar criticism from the Illinois AFL-CIO.
