Taylor gets union endorsement in run for governor.

Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor was endorsed Thursday by the 14,000-member Communications Workers of America union in his campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Georgia.

A union spokesman, Harry McFarland, said Taylor "looks out for the folks like us" and stood on line with CWA workers when they held an informational picket to inform the public about telecommunications jobs being transferred overseas.

Taylor said the union understands "that Georgia is on the wrong track with the wrong priorities. We need to invest in our schools, not cut our schools.

We need to invest in our children, not eliminate their health care. And we need to protect our seniors, not destroy their safety net."

Taylor said as governor he would "protect the HOPE scholarship every day and we will restore all of the cuts to the HOPE scholarship."

The popular lottery-funded program pays tuition and fees for "B" students to attend college, but lawmakers a year ago enacted changes designed to control expenditures so it does not outstrip the lottery's ability to fund it.

(7-9-05, The Associated Press.)