Marathon Pundit: NLRB overreach: $400 million in campaign cash for Obama edition

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

NLRB overreach: $400 million in campaign cash for Obama edition

Big Labor in action: SEIU protester
in Skokie, IL, 2009

Big Labor desperately wants to expand its power and the radicalized National Labor Relations Board--stacked with illegal appointments made by President Obama--is making their goal easier.

As a way of saying "Thank you," union bosses plan to stuff Obama's campaign coffers:

From AP:

Unions are gearing up to spend more than $400 million to help re-elect President Barack Obama and lift Democrats this election year in a fight for labor's survival.

Under siege in state legislatures around the country — and fearing the consequences of a Republican in the White House — union leaders say they have little choice as they try to beat back GOP efforts to curb collective bargaining rights or limit their ability to collect dues.

"People are digging deeper," said Larry Scanlon, political director of the country's largest public workers union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "If Republicans take over the presidency, Congress and enough state legislatures, unions will be out of business, pure and simple."

Scanlon's union was the biggest overall spender in the 2010 midterm elections, doling out about $93 million to help state and federal candidates, mostly Democrats. This year, AFSCME is expected to spend at least $100 million or more on political action, including television advertising, phone banks and member canvassing. The effort is to help the president, Democrats running for the House and Senate, gubernatorial candidates and key state lawmakers.

With increased spending planned by other labor groups, including the powerful Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO, unions are likely to top the $400 million they spent to help elect Obama four years ago.

National political conventions are sought after prizes by cities because of local spending made by the parties. That is of course, unless the party is the Democrats and the convention takes place in a right-to-work state.

Washington Free Beacon:

Local businessmen in the least-unionized state in the country are worried that organizers of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., are putting the Democratic Party’s alliance with organized labor ahead of local businesses—as well as state law.

As the Charlotte Observer has previously reported, the Democratic National Convention Committee's (DNCC) master contract with the city of Charlotte mandates that union labor be maximized with respect to convention-related work.

"To the extent permitted by law … all services, goods, equipment, supplies and materials to be provided or procured by the Host Committee hereunder shall be performed or supplied by firms covered by current union collective bargaining agreements," the contract reads.

Given North Carolina's status as a right-to-work state, which prohibits forced unionization, the contract's language has raised concern among local business owners.

A potential setback for Big Labor in the Old Dominion?

From the Washington Times:

A Northern Virginia delegate has inserted language into the House's proposed budget to effectively negate a proposed incentive for firms bidding on Phase 2 of the Dulles Metrorail project to use a labor agreement that many say favors unions.

The move was made by Delegate Timothy D. Hugo, a Fairfax Republican helping lead the charge against the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board of directors' efforts to mandate the so-called project labor agreement. The agreements set the terms and conditions between contractors and labor groups.

Indiana moved into the right direction. From Human Events:

For a while now, Indiana's neighbors have been scratching their heads, wondering "how do they do it?" How have we Hoosiers become the fiscal envy of the nation? (Answer: Spend less than you take in.) How did we become so revered for education and government reform? (Answer: Focus on the student and the taxpayer, not special interests.) Now, those same neighbors are asking themselves, “How in the heck did they get a right-to-work law passed in the face of hostile opposition committed to compulsory unionism?”

The answer starts with the simple principle that "big change requires big majorities," as Gov. Mitch Daniels likes to say. It's not enough to have a vision for the future. Without an army of change agents standing with you, nothing will ever get done. So over the course of several election cycles, Daniels demonstrated his brand of leadership by channeling his political clout toward legislative races. In the 2010 cycle, Republicans gained a 60-40 majority in the House and a quorum proof 37-13 margin in the Senate.

Next, use a little trick we all learned in school: Do your homework. When the advocates of the status quo cite a union-funded report and use that biased report to augment their arguments, solid facts buttress your side better than just a kneejerk partisan retort.

That's among the many reasons Hoosiers hold Daniels in such high regard. When in 2011 it became clear a lack of a right-to-work law in our state hindered our ability to compete for jobs, Daniels hit the books. He studied the issue, pored over data, talked to people around the state and country and digested all the information before drawing a final conclusion a year later.