“The nation's largest federal worker union is taking to the airwaves to defend rank and file federal workers against growing anti-government sentiments,” the Washington Post's “Federal Eye” blogger Ed O'Keefe reported Tuesday, the same day Rush Limbaugh picked up on a USA Today story, “Federal pay tops private workers: Compensation gap doubled in decade.”
O'Keefe explained: “The American Federation of Government Employees plans to spend about $200,000 to air a 60-second radio ad in more than 30 markets, including Washington and several Southern cities, according to a spokeswoman. The ad stars AFGE President John Gage and workers from the Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Social Security Administration, telling listeners to 'trust me' as they carry out their work.” (AFGE's press release)
In a Wednesday afternoon post, headlined “Gov't Employees Union to Spend $200K to Counter Rush,” DCRTV's Dave Hughes interpreted it as an effort to counter Limbaugh:
Yesterday, titanic righty talker Rush Limbaugh, heard in DC on WMAL (630 AM), slammed federal workers as being highly paid and unproductive. He said they're pencil pushers and don't “produce” anything real or substantial. Limbaugh pointed out that three of the nation's richest counties are in the DC area, and it's all because of the federal workers living there.
O'Keefe's post has a list of the 30 cities where the ad will air, “primarily on news/talk, country and sports talk radio stations in the South.”
MP3 audio of the 60 second ad. The audio clip is also posted with AFGE's press release and in O'Keefe's post.
