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STEVEHELBER—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. looks over the crowd during a speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., Monday. ByKenThomas The Associated Press LYNCHBURG, VA. In an unlikely appearance at a prominent Christian uni- versity, Democratic pres- idential candidate Bernie Sanders said Monday the "massive injustice" of in- come and wealth inequality should unite people across the political spectrum. From the outset, Sand- ers noted in his speech at Liberty University that he believed in women's rights and gay marriage, draw- ing some cheers but mostly tepid applause in the cav- ernous Vines Center, where the school regularly assem- bles during the week. But the Vermont senator said the problems of wealth in- equality and economic jus- tice showed that "maybe, just maybe, we can try to work together to resolve that." "Itwould be hardto make the case that we are a just society or anything resem- bling a just society today," Sanders said at the influen- tial Christian college in Vir- ginia that usually draws Re- publican presidential candi- dates. "In the United States of America today, there is massive injustice in terms of income and wealth in- equality." Sanders' appearance at Liberty was the boldest ex- ample yet of his attempt to appeal to people outside the traditional umbrella of the Democratic party and expand the party's base — something he called en- gaging in "civil discourse." The independent who calls himself a "democratic so- cialist" has sought to top- ple Hillary Rodham Clinton for the party's presidential nomination. "It is easy to go out and talk to people who agree with you," Sanders said, adding: "But it is harder, but not less important, for us to try and communicate with those who do not agree with us on every issue." The university, founded by the late Rev. Jerry Fal- well in 1971, is a familiar stop for Republican presi- dential hopefuls seeking to connect with conservative evangelicals. Sanders said he was "far from a perfect human be- ing" but was motivated by the vision of the religious teachings of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Bud- dhism. The senator was raised in a Jewish family and is non-observant. Pointing to Scripture, Sanders cited the "Golden Rule" of Matthew's Gospel as a guiding principle to treat others as you would like to be treated. Sanders courts Christian conservative students PRESIDENTIAL RACE By Scott Bauer The Associated Press MADISON, WIS. Republi- can presidential candidate Scott Walker is hoping to pull his campaign off the mat by taking on unions — a familiar foe for the Wisconsin governor — in a sweeping plan to upend pil- lars of organized labor na- tionwide. Walker's plan calls for eliminating unions for em- ployees of the federal gov- ernment, making all work- places right-to-work unless individual states vote oth- erwise, and scrapping the federal agency that over- sees unfair labor practices. Union leaders are livid. Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Em- ployees Union that repre- sents 150,000 federal work- ers, said Walker is "declar- ing a war on middle class workers." But in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Walker said no one should be surprised. "I think people would be shocked if the gover- nor who took on big gov- ernment special interests wouldn't do it at the fed- eral level," Walker said by telephone as he waited to board a plane to Las Vegas where he was to spell out his "Power to the People" proposal in a speech late Monday afternoon. The move comes as Walker tries to gain trac- tion heading into the sec- ond GOP presidential de- bate, being held Wednes- day in California. A weak performance in the first debate and a series of mis- steps has contributed to his tumble from the polls after his strong start months ago. "I think it's a good move," said Richard Schwarm, a former GOP chairman in the early voting state of Iowa who is uncommitted in the 2016 race. "It gets a lot of attention on him in the next day or two." Walker won nationwide recognition for eviscerat- ing public-sector union powers in Wisconsin and becoming the first gover- nor to prevail in a recall election, which followed huge protests against his anti-union steps. Now he's proposing to go national with an effort to curb union clout. "It's reminding people of the reason they liked us in the first place," Walker said, brushing aside with laughter a question about whether the move was a sign of desperation. The reaction from labor groups and Democrats, their traditional political ally, was fierce. "Scott Walker can now add one-trick pony to his resume, right underneath national disgrace," said AFL-CIO spokesman Eric Hauser. "His campaign is floundering and so he does what he always does when he can't think of real solu- tions. He attacks workers." J. David Cox, president of the American Federa- tion of Government Em- ployees, the largest union of federal workers, repre- senting about 750,000 peo- ple, said it's a last-ditch ef- fort by a failing candidate. "It appears to me that Scott Walker is pretty much desperate in his campaign right now as he's sinking to the bottom of the polls," Cox said. "This is desperate action on the part of a very desperate candidate." The Democratic Na- tional Committee, through spokesman TJ Helmstet- ter, called the plan a "des- perate and disgusting" at- tempt to revive a "flailing campaign on the backs of middle-class workers and families." And Democratic Sen- ate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, piled on, saying in a sarcastic state- ment, "If Scott Walker thinks the way to save his ever-sinking campaign is to disparage Nevada's and America's working class, well then best of luck to him." Labor law experts were taken aback by the scope of Walker's proposal, which seek to undo decades of law and would gut the land- mark National Labor Re- lations Act — adopted in 1935 and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the height of the Great Depression. "I've never seen anything like this," said Ann Hodges, a professor at the Univer- sity of Richmond who has studied labor law for more than 40 years. "This will take the breath away from anyone who's worked in la- bor relations for any length of time. ... It's pretty dra- conian." Walker's plan also calls for prohibiting the auto- matic withdrawal of union dues to be used for polit- ical purposes and forbid- ding union organizers from accessing employees' per- sonal information, such as their phone numbers. Walker rose to national prominence in 2011, when just six weeks after tak- ing office as governor, he proposed effectively end- ing collective bargaining for most public workers in Wisconsin. POLITICS Fierce response to Walker plan to bar federal public unions SETH PERLMAN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Republican presidential candidate, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks in Eureka, Ill. TEHAMA DISTRICT FAIR SEPTEMBER 24-27, 2015 Publishing5Days Wednesday, Sept. 23 Thursday, Sept. 24 Friday, Sept. 25 Saturday, Sept. 26 & Tuesday, Sept. 29 SPECIALFAIR"WRAP UP" EDITION! Deadline: Monday, Sept. 21, 10 am DAILY COVERAGE EDITIONS 5-DayAd"Flight"Packages startat $ 193 40 ! (6 column inch minimum ad size) "…that's equivalent to just $ 6 45 per published column inch!" 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