Posted on 12/07/2011 5:36:06 PM PST by CounterCounterCulture
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California Republican interests have qualified a ballot measure that would severely curb the political influence of public and private employee unions while depriving Democratic political candidates of a major source of campaign cash.
The measure, which bans political contributions through payroll deductions, qualified Tuesday for the November 2012 statewide ballot. With labor's primary funding source under attack, the measure sets up an expensive campaign season ahead for both sides.
Funded in part by wealthy GOP donor and Stanford University physicist Charles Munger Jr. and backed by former Secretary of State George Shultz, the measure bans corporation and union contributions from collecting political funds from employees and union members through payroll deduction.
Opponents say the initiative has no practical impact on corporations because businesses don't often collect political funds from employees. But it would ban labor unions from its common practice of using payroll deductions to collect political funds from members—a move that would hamper Democrat-friendly unions from funneling money to political causes.
(Excerpt) Read more at montereyherald.com ...
Its going nowhere. The unions will open their war chests to defeat it and in a union-friendly state like California, that is considerable moolah.
Glad you moved to Colorado. We don’t need your defeatism in this battle.
As a forced union member, If this keeps my dues from being used in political campaigns...I’m all for it!
My dues should go to pay for retirement benefits, not screwing the taxpayer!
It must be the California water. The voters are silly there. Its not called the Land Of Fruits, Nuts and Locos for nothing!
Well.... not if you belong to the correctional guards union. They have the clout to kill it.
Let ‘em drain their coffers. That’s less money for the other initatives and candidates.
It’s on.
Are you talking about the water the powers want to send south so the farmers cannot grow their crops?
I hope socal drowns in a fortuitous flood soon!
LOL!
Not me! I’d go postal and start extracting justice by vigilante!
Given that union’s only source of income is from dues, this would cut off all their political donations. This will be a huge battle. I hope the unions spend over a $100 million to fight this.
Hey CCC! I heard about this kind of an initiative at the Tea Party Bootcamp. Hope it passes! Thanks for posting this.
Seems to me the better way would have been to have the state get out of doing the unions' accounting and make the union collect the dues themselves. The results might be like they are in Wisconsin where union members stopped paying and the unions had to lay off staff.
The CCPOA is in world of hurt after losing a huge multimillion dollar slander lawsuit. They had to put up all their buildings as collateral for the appeal which they will lose. Not to say they are not immensely powerful, but they are hurting for cash right now.
I believe paycheck protection has already qualified for the ballot.
Unions will spend over 100 million defeating it. They will also have the nerve to go door to door while being on the job. We had firefighters doing that during the election where Arnold was supporting bills against the unions and they were everywhere.
simply petition your union to refund to you the portion of your dues used for political purposes. They MUST comply with your demand.!!!
I belonged to the correctional officers union....could never quite figure out why, other than it was mandatory when I got the job. The state legislature determines the D.O.C. budget for the year...the D.O.C. determines how they'll spend it. The guards union has no power whatsoever, can't strike, can't sit down, have no leverage at all over anything. When Gov. Daniels eliminated the union, the only thing I noticed was no union dues being deducted from my pay!!!! that was good!!
Funny how “corporations” are also a part of the bill. I’ve worked for many a corporation and they didn’t deduct a dime for political activism. Nobody would stand for that. In contrast to unions that deduct automatically, and shovel the member’s money directly into democrat politician’s coffers.
The California initiative process is one of the greatest forms of political theater. Learned about it as a young lad - thought it was the case everywhere - but no.
” The unions will open their war chests...”
I don’t agree. In public elections at least, voters can still vote via secret ballot and NO ONE wants to be compelled to give to a bloodless sucker fish like the Union. Teachers in the Midwest are already starving unions of contributions where the same legislation has been approved. This is chapter two in the unions getting their lessons in humility.
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