Ed Garvey

Template:Short description Edward Robert Garvey (April 18, 1940 – February 22, 2017) was an American lawyer, activist, and Democratic politician from Wisconsin. He was executive director of the National Football League Players Association (players' union) from 1971 to 1983. He also ran unsuccessfully for United States Senate (1986 and 1988) and Governor of Wisconsin (1998). Later in life he organized the first "Fighting Bob Fest", an annual gathering of progressive activists in Wisconsin.

Background

Garvey graduated from the University of Wisconsin (now the University of Wisconsin–Madison) and spent two years in the U.S. Army; he then returned to Madison and entered the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree.

Law and union work

File:Ed Garvey 2.jpg

Garvey at the 2011 Fighting Bob Fest

Soon after graduation, Garvey joined Lindquist & Vennum, a Minneapolis law firm. The firm worked for the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), the labor organization representing the professional American football players in the National Football League (NFL), and in 1970 Garvey was assigned to counsel union president John Mackey regarding negotiations on a new four year contract with the league's owners. Garvey was later offered the position of executive director in the now-certified NFLPA in 1971.

Garvey served as its executive director until 1983, through two strikes (in 1974 and 1982) and frequently invoking antitrust legislation in his many court battles with the league. Garvey directed the NFLPA though a series of court battles that led, in 1975, to the ruling in Mackey v. NFL that antitrust laws applied to the NFL's restrictions on player movement. In 1976, armed with leverage regarding player movement from team to team, Garvey and the union won major concessions from the owners. Garvey's negotiations with the league exchanged the players' threat of pursuing a system of unfettered free agency for an improved package of player benefits.

The NFLPA became recognized by the owners as a full-fledged National Labor Relations Board union, and damages totaling $13.65 million were awarded to past and present players for antitrust violations against them.

After leaving the NFLPA

After leaving the NFLPA, Garvey served as deputy attorney general in Wisconsin under Bronson La Follette, serving as the number-two official in the Wisconsin Department of Justice and specializing in environmental issues. Garvey also became a prominent leader with Wisconsin labor groups, particularly the Paperworkers Union (now United Steelworkers) in contract disputes with International Paper.

He organized the Fighting Bob Fest, named for Robert M. La Follette

Political career

In 1986, Garvey ran for the U.S. Senate from Wisconsin, losing to Republican incumbent Bob Kasten by a small margin after a very bitter election. In an unsuccessful bid for Wisconsin governor in 1998 against three-term incumbent Tommy Thompson, Garvey sought to highlight campaign finance reform and limited contributions to his campaign to a fixed amount per donor. Thompson won by a wide margin.

Garvey was the editor and publisher of the political website FightingBob.com, which focused on Wisconsin and national issues from a progressive perspective. He regularly appeared on the local NPR national public radio affiliate WHAD to provide a progressive viewpoint on a variety of topics.

Death

Garvey died of complications from Parkinson's disease at a nursing home in Verona, Wisconsin.

Electoral history

U.S. Senate (1986)

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United States Senate Election in Wisconsin, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Democratic Primary, September 9, 1986
		Matthew J. Flynn	101,777	38.33%
		Gary R. George	29,485	11.10%
		Roman R. Blenski	7,890	2.97%
Total votes			265,560	100.0%
General Election, November 4, 1986
		Edward R. Garvey	702,963	47.44%
		Peter Y. Taylor	19,266	1.30%
		Margo Storsteen	2,926	0.20%
		Eugene A. Hem	2,234	0.15%
Total votes			1,481,862	100.0%
	hold

U.S. Senate (1988)

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United States Senate Election in Wisconsin, 1988

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Democratic Primary, September 13, 1988
		Tony Earl	203,479	38.18%
		Edward R. Garvey	55,225	10.36%
		Doug La Follette	19,819	3.72%
		Edmond C. Hou-Seye	5,040	0.95%
		Scattering	215	0.04%
Total votes			533,004	100.0%

Wisconsin Governor (1998)

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Wisconsin Gubernatorial Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Democratic Primary, September 8, 1998
		Gary R. George	43,830	20.02%
Total votes			218,912	100.0%	+79.56%
General Election, November 3, 1998
		Edward R. Garvey & Barbara Lawton	679,553	38.70%
		Jim Mueller & James Dean	11,071	0.63%
	U.S. Taxpayers	Edward J. Frami & Thomas R. Rivers	10,269	0.58%
		Mike Mangan	4,985	0.28%
		A-ja-mu Muhammad & Vida Harley Bridges	1,604	0.09%
		Jeffrey L. Smith & R. Smith	14	0.00%
		Scattering	802	0.05%
Total votes			1,756,014	100.0%	+12.29%
	hold

Sources

• Archived FightingBob, Garvey's blog.

External links

• Fightin' Bob Fest

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