Hagan seeks women, labor vote

CHARLOTTE - Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan sought to woo women and labor votes today at appearances with an Alabama woman who sparked a Supreme Court case over equal pay.

Lilly Ledbetter was a longtime employee of the Goodyear Tire plant in Gadsden, Al., who discovered after years that her male counterparts were paid more for the same job. She filed a discrimination suit and won in lower courts. But in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that whatever the merits of her case, she'd waited too long to sue.

Ledbetter and Hagan ripped Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole who, in April, voted against a bill known as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007, reports Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer. It would have allowed suits such as Ledbetter's to stand.

"I don't understand how Liddy Dole could have voted against it,"Ledbetter said. "But she did."

The two spoke to a small audience at Queens University that included a dozen Teamsters from Local 71.

Dole spokesman Dan McLagan noted that Hagan, a state senator, last year voted to give Goodyear incentives to persuade it to keep its North Carolina plant open.

"Is it me, or is it a bit hypocritical of Hagan to be campaigning with a woman who is suing the same company that Hagan voted to give a taxpayer handout to?" McLagan said. "Also, is it hypocritical for Hagan to be giving tax breaks to a company that has had previous issues with pay discrimination?"