Posted on 09/04/2012 1:51:18 PM PDT by NYer
Cement shoes?
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Since the early days of the Republican primary, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has been taking occasional shots at organized labor. Mary Kay Henry, head of the 2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), said she believes Romney isn’t merely paying lip service to the business community when he knocks “union bosses.”
“I think he’s totally serious — he wants to take us out,” said Henry, who will speak Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention here. “I think he understands that workers being able to join together and have an organization is the best check against corporate power in the economy, and the best way for us to have a vibrant democracy is for workers to be able to bargain over their wages.”
As in every election year, unions like the SEIU play a critical role for Democrats in mobilizing voters at the local level in the run-up to November. And thanks to changes in election law after the 2010 Citizens United decision, union members are now allowed to knock on the doors of non-union households, extending their reach.
Henry told The Huffington Post that SEIU members are knocking on some 10,000 doors a day in 11 battleground states and that the union asked each of its members to reach out to 10 people — family, friends or neighbors — to make the case for President Barack Obama’s reelection. The union has so far spent about $5 million on all federal races this cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and it has joined the pro-Obama super PAC, Priorities USA Action, in rolling out Spanish-language ads in Florida and Nevada dinging Romney on immigration.
Headline response. Good.
And??? I fail to see the problem here ... not sure I trust R0mney to actually do it, but it's a good idea.
Looking at that haircut would I be going too far out on a limb if I were to suspect that all of Mary Kay’s abortions were the result of encounters with a turkey baster???
Yeah, we got it.
Yep
If only,...
I sure hope he does.
Romney won’t do anything to them they wouldn’t do to him, given the opportunity. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
And this is a bad thing?
So do I.
Belt fed mouse?
I wish that were true.
Bears repeating.
that's $5 Million directly contributed i.e., "Hard Money" ...... I'll bet there is conservatively 10X that amount in "soft money"used for "member voter education " which isn't required to be reported
U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee
June 25, 1997
Big Labor's Big-Money Political Machine
"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson
Four Million 'Harry Becks' Voted In 1996
In 1988, the Supreme Court determined that 79 percent of telephone lineman Harry Beck's compulsory union dues were spent on political and other activities unrelated to collective bargaining or union organizing. His union, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), was required to return that portion of Mr. Beck's dues. Despite the Beck decision, however, millions of union employees are still forced to pay dues as a condition of employment while their union bosses continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on politicians and political causes that their rank and file members do not support.
According to Department of Labor statistics, 80 percent (8.2 million employees) of all private sector workers covered by a union contract are required under that contract to pay union dues as a condition of employment. Like Harry Beck, nearly 4 million of these workers are forced to devote a portion of their paychecks to political activities they may not support:
Ex-Teamster Official Puts Price Tag at $400 Million in 1992
F.C. "Duke" Zeller, who for 14 years served as director of communications at Teamsters headquarters in Washington, D.C., estimates that unions spent about $400 million in the 1992 election cycle. Moreover, in his book, Devil's Pact: Inside the World of the Teamsters Union, Mr. Zeller quotes former Teamsters vice president Gene Giacumbo who states that he was present at an executive board meeting in which union president Ron Carey boasted of spending $56 million in Teamster funds to help Bill Clinton get reelected. If Mr. Giacumbo's recollection is correct, that figure represents more than 20 times the $2.4 million in PAC contributions the Teamsters reported to the FEC for the 1992 election.
Rutgers Economist Also Puts Price Tag at $300 to $500 Million in 1992
In March of 1996, during testimony before the Committee on House Oversight, Rutgers University economist Leo Troy also estimated that unions spent between $300 million and $500 million during the 1992 election cycle. This amount includes both cash contributions from union PACs and "in-kind" or "soft" money contributions consisting of such activities as voter registration drives, telephone banks, transportation to polls, and campaign "volunteers."
In a letter to the committee chairman, Professor Troy stated, "According to figures reported by the FEC (reproduced in the Statistical Abstract of the U.S. of 1995), in 1991-2, union political action committees spent just under $95 million. I estimate that "in-kind" expenditures could reasonably be a multiple of 3 to 5 times that amount."
Nothing "Soft" About Big Labor Money
By their own admission, union leaders place a high premium on in-kind political expenditures, making it easy to understand why soft money greatly exceeds PAC money. The following are excerpts from union newsletters and press accounts of soft money in action:
Paul Patton for Governor Campaign (Kentucky 1995)
Ron Wyden for Senate (Oregon 1996)
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If he means Romney wants to end the theivery and extortion of labor unions by ending their existence, he knows that is not even a realistic topic of discussion.
But I can say that I wish it was true.
It would be the catalyst of the largest, fastest and most robust economic turnaround in the history of the USA.
Henry apparently is a little light in the loafers. He's dreaming of a date with Romney.
“SEIU Union Boss: Romney “Wants To Take Us Out”…”
One more big reason to vote for him!
Yeah, so what!...You're just a bunch of moronic thieves and bullies. ALL govt work needs to be put out to bid for the private sector.
Also, gov't nonprofits need to be struck down while we're at it. Unfortunately, I don't think Romney's quite caught up to that point yet.
How did Romney get SEIU to campaign for him?
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