Unions Bargain At Table With Governor Whose Re-election They're Helping Fund

Investor's Business Daily ^ | Thursday, September 11, 2008 | Sonya D. Jones and John R. Lott, Jr.

[JohnRLott]

Democrats are expected to make strong gains in state legislatures this fall, but what do these stronger Democratic majorities mean? A look at Washington State may show what is in store for the rest of the country.

Public employee unions are handing over vast amounts of money to the incumbent governor's re-election campaign, while the governor is simultaneously sitting at the bargaining table negotiating contracts with these very unions.

If it seems inappropriate for the governor, Christine Gregoire, who is locked in a very tight re-election, to benefit personally from the parties that her office is negotiating with, that's just your conscience, not the law.

As of Aug. 28, a number of unions — the Washington Federation of State Employees, AFSCME, National Education Association and Washington Education Association, Service Employees International Union, and the AFL-CIO — had already contributed more than $1.5 million to the Evergreen Progress PAC.

The current negotiations are covering everything from general government employees, home health care workers, home child care workers, and nurses in state institutions to staff in the public universities. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the PAC's ads have unleashed "a drubbing" of her Republican gubernatorial opponent, Dino Rossi. . .

[xcamel]

It is exactly why public employee unions should be illegal

[WOBBLY BOB]

gubermint unions are oxymoronic to taxpayer fiscal oversight.

take from them and spend on taking more from them.

[Wilder Effect]

Well, my man Dino Rossi, is up 6% according to RAS today.

Of course he will probably need to be up 15% to counter Seattle Voter Fraud.

Is there anyway the Justice Department can monitor King County on election day?

[LibertyRocks]

How much more blatant than being beholden to special interests can you get?

[Islander7]

“....It is exactly why public employee unions should be illegal....”

Been saying that for years! Big time conflict of interest.

[ajay_kumar]

What was the original purpose of unions?

It was to stop unscrupulous businesses from exploiting
employees, one at a time.

Does the government exploit employees? heck NO!
I worked a dozen years for the government and it was
the cushiest job I ever had and the pay was fabulous.

So, yes, government employees don’t need a union and as
In governor Gregoire’s case IT IS CONFLICT OF INTEREST
pure and simple.

[Herakles]

A real look into this hedge fund mess driving up oil shows that the big clients of the investment bankers who where in what was unregulated markets or “dark Markets” where the public employee pension funds. They called them “dark Market” because the funds did not want anyone to know who was shoveling in the cash for banging the oil futures market around - so if you overpaid for gas you know who to blame.

Also, FAT EDDIE (Governor of PA - barf) got kicked in the nuts this week when the Federal government turned down his request to toll I-80 (a road the is essential to rural PA, which is Republican) in order to give money to the transit union workers in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia which vote Democratic.

I'll be glad when this fat slob leaves office - he never saw a tax increase he didn't like, and because of the state Republicans voting themselves a raise, we had to put up with 4 more years of this idiot (The democrats got the pay raise too, but we got rid of the limousine Republicans who did not keep their word)!

[bpjam]

One whisteblower and an aggressive US Attorney and all this could be a RICO case. In my dreams, of course. Washington State is in the 9th Circus Court of Appeals so anything adjudicated against the corruption would be challenged or overturned by the liberal judges.

[Fichori]

The federal attorney who ignored the fraud in the last election was fired by Bush.

Voter Fraud does not get a free pass this time.
(Hopefully)