Marathon Pundit: Obama contacted Mass. guv about bill cutting back collective bargaining

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Obama contacted Mass. guv about bill cutting back collective bargaining

Blogging from a Starbucks in Niles, IL.

Still no power at home.

But the world keeps turning. Here's an interesting tale. Deval Patrick, Massachussets' Democratic governor, ran a dry-run of Barack Obama's presidential campaign two years earlier. David Axelrod worked on Patrick's campaign--"Hope" was a theme used then.

Well, Obama isn't happy with him, as the Boston Globe reports.

The White House took the unusual step this spring of calling Governor Deval Patrick to discuss his plan to curb the collective bargaining rights of public employees, an indication that the Obama administration may have been concerned about the potential for national political fallout.

The call was made in late April, just after a tougher version of Patrick's plan passed the House, sparking outrage from labor leaders who accused Massachusetts Democrats of launching a :Wisconsin-esque" attack on workers' rights.

At the time, President Obama, Patrick's friend and political ally, had been trying to fire up the Democratic base by criticizing Republican governors for slashing collective bargaining rights.

Patrick disclosed yesterday that several national labor leaders called the White House to express concern about the Massachusetts plans. Nick Rathod, the White House's deputy director of intergovernmental affairs, then called Patrick.