Leader:
Gerald W. "Jerry" McEntee

Jerry McEntee is International President of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), one of the most aggressive and politically active organizing unions in the AFL-CIO. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from LaSalle University in Philadelphia and is a graduate of the Harvard Trade Union Program.

He was elected Executive Director of AFSCME Council 13 in Pennsylvania in 1973 and an International Vice President of AFSCME in 1974.

In 1981 he was elected President of AFSCME and went to Washington. The union supplied McEntee with a car and chauffeur. When in town, he had power lunches at The Palm, an expense account restaurant where his caricature hung on the wall. On junkets he didn’t fly first class, he flew in chartered jets and stayed in the finest hotel suites.

It was all about politics. McEntee built AFSCME’s elaborate Get Out The Vote operation, a voter registration effort, and an extensive phone bank system. The union gave generously to politicians at all levels of government.

Early in election year 1992, before the New Hampshire primaries, AFSCME’s board agreed to meet with Southern dark horse presidential candidate Bill Clinton. He brought along a letter of support from 840 AFSCME members in Arkansas. He even showed them his own AFSCME membership card.

AFSCME became the first national union to back Clinton. McEntee assigned three staff members to work for him in New Hampshire.

When the election was over Jerry McEntee was the union president closest to the President of the United States. He got to ride with Bill Clinton in Air Force One. He was invited to Friday night bull sessions at the White House mess.

He was the archetypal Washington insider for all the Clinton years. He was active for the Democrats in the two campaigns to beat Bush and the Obama campaign.

McEntee is a co-founder and chairman of the board of the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute. He suspects rival Andy Stern of poaching new SEIU members from his union. His relationship with Steve Rosenthal has been fraught with conflict.

He is a contributing writer for the Huffington Post. He is a member of the Democratic Party (United States) National Committee and thus a "super delegate" in the Pennsylvania convention delegation.

A native of Philadelphia, McEntee and his wife Barbara live in Washington, D.C.