Latest release from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation:
OLYMPIA, WA -- Necessity is motivating the Washington Education Association (WEA) and other unions to discard any facade of merely pursuing the interests of workers.
Yesterday, the WEA sent out an urgent memo asking its members to "Please sign up today to serve as a Democratic Party observer for this count. To participate, please e-mail the party at count@wa-democrats.org." The training sessions to become an observer are held at six union halls around the state.
"Even though only slightly more than a third of the teachers identify themselves as Democrats, unions are jumping in to provide resources, staffing and volunteers for this civic service just to the Democrats," said Bob Williams, president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. "This further proves that the union does not make decisions on political expenditures by member consensus as it claims."
The WEA is not alone; the Washington State Labor Council is also soliciting contributions and encouraging local unions to donate paid staff to the Democratic Party's efforts to find more votes for Christine Gregoire.
"The WEA and other unions have made no attempt to seek worker approval for spending mandatory collective bargaining dues on a purely partisan recount effort," said Williams. "These dues are most often required because they are supposed to be used for bargaining and grievances, but union officials are once again diverting them to electioneering."
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More importantly, are the Democrats doing anything differently than if the shoes were on the Republican's feet? I don't think so.
THERE'S A BIG DIFFERENCE. See it?
Dustin: You're right that workers can request a refund for dues that aren't spent on workplace representation. But it's a far cry from a full refund. Our audits of more than 60,000 internal teacher union documents show that roughly 80% of the union's expenditures at the state level are not related to workplace representation. But the union only admits to 27%, so that's what teachers get.
Posted by: Marsha Richards on December 7, 2004 05:20 PMIt's a flag that a member is a troublemaker, and not one of the "guys."
If Rossi were slightly behind, I would be quite disappointed in the Rs if they didn't use every resource they had to get a more favorable count.
I'm guessing you vote RAT.
Posted by: South County on December 7, 2004 05:49 PMVery bizarre and outrageous.
That case was appealed to the State Supreme Court (by our state attorney general's office) and oral arguments were heard in May this year. A ruling could be issued anytime between now and a year from now.
South County: It's my understanding the federal Department of Labor issued a new rule requiring the posting of Beck Rights -- and they did it the day after President Bush was reelected.
The DOL is also pursuing stricter expenditure reporting requirements for unions (and I believe the unions have sued to stop it -- surprise). That will, hopefully, make it harder for unions to hide political spending from members.
Posted by: Marsha Richards on December 7, 2004 06:14 PM"Both sides are using all their resources to win the race. What's wrong with that?"
Plenty. The concept of an election in civil society is that even a one-vote majority, counting by the rules in place BEFORE the balloting, decides the election.
If you think that using ALL resources until one side overcomes the other (particularly through a bitter round of lawsuits advocating new rules) is commendable, why not promote gladiatorial combats or pitched battles instead of mere elections? At least you could make bucks by charging admission, and buy yourself an elective office (if such things exist after all the resources are exhausted) like Maria Cantwell did.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on December 7, 2004 07:20 PMMs. Gregoire is a real piece of work!!!! The emporess has no clothes!!! And it ain't a pretty sight!
Posted by: Mr. Cynical on December 7, 2004 09:02 PMRace? What race? THE RACE IS OVER, BLOCKHEAD!!
A more accurate statement would be
"The Democrats are using all their resources to win an election that they have already lost twice, while the Republicans are using all their resources to defend their two victories."
See the distinction, Steve-O-Reno?? IT ISN'T A RACE!! THE RACE IS OVER! ROSSI WON TWICE!!!
Sheesh. Wake up and smell the coffee.
Posted by: Larry on December 7, 2004 09:25 PMSo if Rossi wins the final count, Gregoire (funded, in part, by unions) will have paid the salaries of 80 Republican workers in King County for two weeks, who, in turn, will have lost a few thousand dollars to the unions in the form of dues.
If Gregoire wins the final count, the state would pick up the tab, which would include (indirectly) a contribution to the unions in the form of dues paid during the hand recount.
Posted by: Anonymous on December 7, 2004 11:57 PMYou've just detailed the truth that lies behind all the Union BS about being for the working man and all Democrat BS about being for the downtrodden. The unions are money-hungry, the Democrats are power-crazed, and they have made a marriage of convenience.
Posted by: Matt J Kurlander on December 8, 2004 06:22 AMHow many people do you think would bother writing in for their $10.40 refund check? And how many people, who would not otherwise consider sending money to the GOP, would simply shrug it off, and consider that it's just 10c a week, and not worth bothering about?
I bet if this were actually implemented, the GOP would make a killing.
I was able to recreate the exact look of those memos by typing the text into Microsoft Word, using the DEFAULT settings! I then sent them through the fax machine a couple of times and ... VOILA!
Posted by: Out4Blood on December 8, 2004 01:45 PM