NASHVILLE — Tennessee’s new state AFL-CIO president, state Rep. Gary Moore, D-Joelton, is shrugging off a top Republican official’s charge that his new job poses a legislative conflict.
“They’re going to say what they’re going to say, and I’m going to do what I’m going to do,” Moore said of criticism by Tennessee Republican Party Chairman. “I’m going to do my best to move the organization forward and try to unite labor and get us all moving in the same direction.”
Moore, 62, was elected head of the state’s largest labor association this month at the state AFL-CIO’s biennial convention in Nashville. A Nashville Fire Department captain and president of the Nashville Firefighters Union, Moore succeeds Jerry Lee, who had held the post since 2003 but did not seek re-election.
Devaney said Moore’s post “is a matter of him not really representing the citizens of his district and really representing a labor union.”
“The bottom line is this is not like being president of the Mickey Mouse Club,” Devaney said. “I think he needs to make a decision. Does he want to be a lobbyist and represent the AFL-CIO or represent his district? I think that’s his choice.”