SEIU Spends $685,000 on TV Ad Attacking Scott Brown; SEIU-Affiliated Worcester Local Endorses Brown

The same day TV ads bankrolled by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to the tune of $685,000 slamming Scott Brown were set to air throughout the Bay State, the Republican State Representative and challenger for the Senate seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy picked up endorsements from two of Worcester's police unions:

Local 911, New England Police Benevolent Association, and Local 504, International Brotherhood of Police Officers, handed their endorsement to the state senator. The endorsement comes one day after a debate in which Mr. Brown and his main opponent, Democrat Attorney General Martha Coakley, squared off.

Feel free to visit the International Brotherhood of Police Officers homepage linked here. You might see a logo in the upper left-hand corner that looks something like this:

So the same day one of their affiliated locals endorsed Scott Brown, TV stations in Massachusetts air anti-Brown ads paid for by the national SEIU honchos. This comes about a month after the SEIU paid $214,000 to air radio ads for Martha Coakley at the end of the primary, bringing the total Bay State Coakley campaign-related expenditures by the SEIU alone to just under $900,000. Sounds like union dues well spent, Andy.

Of course, the New England Police Benevolent Association is an AFL-CIO affiliated union. The two Worcester Police unions announcements come on the heels of the State Police Association of Massachusetts endorsement of Brown on Monday.

At face value, the endorsement of a Republican by any labor organization in the bluest of blue states comes off as more than a little unusual. However, there may be one glaringly obvious reason as to why some of the unions haven't backed Coakley (who said she would cast the deciding vote for 0bamacare).

Another likely reason the police unions have kept themselves at arm's length from Deval Patrick's AG is because they're still waiting for an apology from the governor. You know- the governor with the approval rating in the 20 percentile who basically called Cambridge PD Sgt James Crowley racist and hasn't backtracked since. Turns out cops have a memory that lasts longer than one beer, and I suspect they have damned little incentive to throw their support behind Gov. Patrick's Attorney General.

Of course, that's all just speculation on my part. But the fact remains that what was supposed to be an uncontested cakewalk for Martha Coakley in the bluest of blue states is now approaching a dead heat with Scott Brown, draining resources and funds from the national DNC and their labor allies- even with their own in-state Locals backing Coakley's GOP challenger.