Labor union says email withdrawing Obama endorsement a hoax

The Service Employees International Union disavowed an email sent to reporters late Tuesday evening claiming that the labor group would withdraw its endorsement of President Obama as a hoax.

“We stand by our November 16, 2011 endorsement of President Obama as part of a broader '99 percent' strategy to create good jobs now, end devastating cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and require everyone to pay their fair share,” said SEIU spokesman Mark McCullough in a statement released early Wednesday.

A statement on the labor union’s blog titled “SEIU (still) proudly endorses President Obama in 2012” said “any reports to the contrary are simply false.”

The hoax email sent to reporters Tuesday night claimed that the union had voted to “withdraw its endorsement of President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012.” “Working people deserve a candidate that represents their interests, not just Wall Street's,” said the statement, which claimed to be from an SEIU spokesman.

SEIU, one of the largest labor unions in the country, had endorsed Obama for relection in November.

"President Obama fights for working families," SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry had said. "He made working families a priority while other leaders sided with corporations and millionaires."

The labor union spent $60 million to help elect the president in 2008.

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