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How electricians' union became huge force in Pa. elections
Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 05/19/2014 | Bob Warner, I

Posted on 05/20/2014 5:14:50 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen

A relatively small Philadelphia union has become the biggest independent source of campaign money in the state.

Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has poured $25.6 million into political races since 2000, an Inquirer analysis of campaign records found - more than statewide powerhouses such as the trial lawyers, teachers' unions, or Marcellus Shale gas drillers.

The donations, financed by members' paycheck deductions, have helped turn the local and its business manager, John J. Dougherty Jr., into a potent and even feared political force --snip-- The money Local 98 spends on politics comes entirely from members' paychecks, as a percentage of electricians' pay, which now exceeds $80 an hour (including wages, health benefits, pensions, dues, and other deductions) on standard union jobs

(Excerpt) Read more at articles.philly.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
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1 posted on 05/20/2014 5:14:50 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen
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To: Kid Shelleen; Albion Wilde; Tribune7; TAdams8591; WhyisaTexasgirlinPA; wireman; Mr. Binnacle; ...
**** Philly Metro Ping ****



2 posted on 05/20/2014 5:18:18 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen (Beat your plowshares into swords. Let the weak say I am strong)
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To: Kid Shelleen

The IBEW “brothahs” around here are a hoot. They have an “I’m The NRA and I Vote” bumper sticker on one end of the rear bumper of their pickup truck and an “Obama/Biden” bumper sticker on the other end. Duh? Some people just don’t “get it.”


3 posted on 05/20/2014 5:21:16 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Obama's smidgens are coming home to roost.)
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To: Kid Shelleen

Shocking!


4 posted on 05/20/2014 5:25:24 PM PDT by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: bigbob

Watt?


5 posted on 05/20/2014 5:34:46 PM PDT by exit82 ("The Taliban is on the inside of the building" E. Nordstrom 10-10-12)
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To: Kid Shelleen

That is nice work for a tradesman, $80.00 and hour, and you don’t have to take any risks and face the challenges of being self employed or owning a business.


6 posted on 05/20/2014 5:45:13 PM PDT by ansel12 ((Ted Cruz and Mike Lee-both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Comm as Ginsberg's importance fades)
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To: Kid Shelleen

Interesting insight into an organized criminal enterprise. The best part is how easy it is to buy politicians these days.


7 posted on 05/20/2014 5:50:05 PM PDT by centurion316
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To: exit82

Ohm my.


8 posted on 05/20/2014 6:00:07 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: ansel12

But with that comes the loss of freedom, the pressure to be a herd at some mortal man’s call.


9 posted on 05/20/2014 6:01:06 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Most people work for someone, in fact almost everyone does, it isn’t unusual, or bad.


10 posted on 05/20/2014 6:02:15 PM PDT by ansel12 ((Ted Cruz and Mike Lee-both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Comm as Ginsberg's importance fades)
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To: ansel12

You seem particularly clueless here. No wonder you hate and mischaracterize libertarians who know what actual spiritual freedom is about. “Working for someone” on an earthly plane is a jillion light years from letting them harness your soul. These IBEWians are harnessed in Satan’s harness.


11 posted on 05/20/2014 6:07:22 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Oh Jeez, the stalking again?

You came to this thread to bring up some old grudge and make up some nonsense in a personal attack?

Your post isn’t relevant to the thread, nor to my posts, nor does it even make any sense.


12 posted on 05/20/2014 6:13:13 PM PDT by ansel12 ((Ted Cruz and Mike Lee-both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Comm as Ginsberg's importance fades)
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To: ansel12

You keep on showing your dark fire everywhere you go. I was here before you were. But you whine and wail.


13 posted on 05/20/2014 6:14:13 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck; Jim Robinson

You have to end this stalking and personalizing everything, of carrying grudges for months and years, from thread to thread to thread.


14 posted on 05/20/2014 6:18:47 PM PDT by ansel12 ((Ted Cruz and Mike Lee-both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Comm as Ginsberg's importance fades)
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To: ansel12
I was a Chief Steward and an Assistant Business Agent in the IBEW, before Republicans became pariahs.

The $80 buck an hour guys are those that hope to get a 40 hour week. If you work out of the Hall those 40 hour weeks are few and far between in this economy.

The real good guys are grabbed up and paid a different maintenance rate and hope to get enough hours to retire.

15 posted on 05/20/2014 6:35:18 PM PDT by Little Bill (EVICT Queen Jean)
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To: Little Bill

Unions have always been anti-republican, their voters were part of the New Deal coalition.

Even Eisenhower’s reelection of 1956 couldn’t change that.


16 posted on 05/20/2014 6:43:09 PM PDT by ansel12 ((Ted Cruz and Mike Lee-both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Comm as Ginsberg's importance fades)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
Ohm my.

A good word play gets no resistance from me.

17 posted on 05/20/2014 6:49:28 PM PDT by exit82 ("The Taliban is on the inside of the building" E. Nordstrom 10-10-12)
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To: ansel12
Members of my family were founders of the Typographers Union in 1858, they were also active in the Knights of Labor and helped found the AF Of L.

We had been printers in Dublin, Anglo-Irish since 1640, and in Illinois, Iowa and Tennessee. We fought for the Union in The War Between the States.

We were Whigs before 1856 and Republicans there after, as my Aunt used to say, “Billy, we were always Republicans.”

18 posted on 05/20/2014 7:00:23 PM PDT by Little Bill (EVICT Queen Jean)
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To: exit82

True, but how do you rectify the situation?


19 posted on 05/20/2014 7:02:58 PM PDT by Raven6 (Psalm 144:1 and Proverbs 22:3)
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To: Raven6

It’s inductive.


20 posted on 05/20/2014 7:05:38 PM PDT by EEGator
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