It's been said that if you don't vote, don't complain.

Sounds about right to me.

The right to cast a vote is a sacred held trust in our nation, but too many people choose not to use it. True, some elections are more important than others. But the general election coming up on Nov. 5 is a doozy, here in Michigan and across the country.

What's on tap? Control of the entire state government, with the statewide positions of Michigan governor, attorney general, secretary of state, several state Supreme Court seats and university regents all up for grabs. Also to be decided are Michigan state Senate and House seats, which will determine control of those two bodies for at least the next two years.

And on the national scene, Democrats will be trying to maintain a razor-thin, one-seat majority in the Senate, while trying to gain control of the U.S. House. Then there are local and county-wide judgeships that are important, too.

You will find a list of candidates endorsed by The Greater Detroit Building and Construction Trades Council inside this edition. Only candidates who have requested an endorsement were considered for placement on the list.

This year, Michigan's Democrats actually have a good shot at putting one of their own in the governor's chair - and Jennifer Granholm would be the first woman governor of our state.

The Detroit and Michigan Building and Construction Trades Councils are supporting Granholm at the top of the ticket. This will come as no surprise to most of our long-time readers, who may have observed that our endorsement usually - but not always - goes to the Democratic candidate.

And why is that? The historic and traditional role of unions has been to support workers on basic safety and money issues. When we talk to candidates, we ask them, do you support prevailing wage? Do you support a strong MIOSHA. Do you support a fair unemployment compensation system? Will you appoint judges who support a fair workers compensation system?

Those are the types of issues we use to compare and contrast candidates. Clearly, Democrat Granholm comes out ahead against Republican challenger Dick Posthumus. Granholm has pledged to give labor "a voice at the table" when it comes to critical issues of importance to labor - instead of labor being told what will happen.

She has said all the right things on the campaign trail about increasing the presence of MIOSHA and taking prevailing wage repeal off the table. Granholm has pledged to move corporate interests aside and give working people more input on decisions.

As attorney general, Granholm has done all she can to help organized labor and the state's consumers, and now she wants to do the same as governor. We think she's clearly the best choice for governor.

Contrast that with Dick Posthumus, who has been a Republican state senator and Gov. John Engler's lieutenant for the last few years. Perhaps the two most telling things about the Engler

Administration is that he dismantled the "Labor" Department and folded it into the Department of Consumer and Industry Services. What's in a name is important.

And building trades workers should be especially aware that Engler was named the Associated Builders and Contractors' "Man of the Year" a few years back.

But Posthumus is not Engler. Posthumus does, however, have a public record to look back upon. According to the Michigan AFL-CIO, he has voted with working families only 5 percent of the time during his 16 years in the state Senate. He voted to eliminate unemployment benefits for construction workers, and against the state's prevailing wage law five times. He has also supported privatizing Blue Cross Blue Shield for the last 18 years.

Based on his record, we have a strong feeling that Dick Posthumus would continue the Engler Administration's battle with organized labor.

Others don't feel that way. We received a note in the mail last week from a tradesman who said he would not vote for Granholm because she doesn't support gun owners rights, and because she supports abortion rights.

That note was significant because it very simply stated the two major wedge issues that appear among building trades workers and their families, and in all manner of interest groups and political factions.

The abortion issue is on a level of its own - there are strong feelings on both sides of the issue, and many people use it as the most important criteria for voting for a candidate. To each their own.

We can address the gun issue - one of the first items we approached Granholm with was the right to bear arms issue. This has become a huge issue within our membership, and we weren't going to go forward with an endorsement without a pledge from her not to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of gun owners and hunters.

She has publicly and privately made that pledge - and then went a step further by bringing on state Sen. John Cherry as her lieutenant governor. Democrat Cherry is one of the most high-profile, outspoken firearms sportsmen in the state, and the importance of Second Amendment rights was one of the first things out of his mouth at the labor rally in Lansing last month.

Cherry told the rally, "Let there never be a question that Granholm/Cherry will do anything to take away your right to bear arms."

Hopefully, we can all learn from the statements and voting records of candidates from both sides, and make an informed decision when we cast our ballot.