Plumbers union rips McCain on ‘Joe the Plumber’

United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry (UA) says Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) "manufactured outrage" over Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama's (Ill.) tax plan in last night's debate by invoking the now-famous — or infamous — "Joe the Plumber." 

{mosads}"Last night John McCain made Joe the Plumber a household name. His manufactured outrage on behalf of Joe would be a lot more believable if his economic plan had anything to do with helping working people deal with the economic crisis," UA Assistant General President Steve Kelly said in a statement released Thursday afternoon.

The UA union claims to be the first organization of any kind to endorse Obama in the presidential race. It did so Jan. 9, 2008.

Joe Wurzelbacher, the now-famous Toledo, Ohio plumber who sparred with Obama over taxes at a campaign event in his hometown, is not a UA member, a UA staffer told The Hill.

The UA staffer claimed that Wurzelbacher is a member of the Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC), a non-union trade group that has endorsed McCain.

Gail Raiman, vice president of public affairs at ABC, stated in an e-mail that Wurzelbacher reportedly works for Newell Construction in Toledo, Ohio, which is a residential contractor. ABC, Raiman stated, “represents commercial and industrial contractors, not residential contractors.”

Neither Wurzelbacher nor Newell Construction is a member of ABC, Raiman stressed.

The UA staffer noted that Wurzelbacher does not hold a plumber's license in the state of Ohio, though Wurzelbacher says he does not need a license as he works for someone else.

"Unlike McCain's, Obama's outrage for the middle class is real. He will turn us in a new direction, not keep us on the same, tired old path of the Bush years," Kelly said, going on to blast McCain's tax proposal.

"McCain's plan gives massive tax giveaways to CEOs and mega-corporations while leaving working families out in the cold. At a time when our economy is bleeding jobs, McCain also opposes investment in infrastructure spending, which would create good jobs and help put our economy back on solid footing."