“In politics, a big tent or catch-all party is a political party seeking to attract people with diverse viewpoints and thus appeal to more of the electorate. The big tent approach is opposed to single-issue litmus tests and ideological rigidity, conversely advocating multiple ideologies and views within a party.” – Wikipedia, “Big Tent“ Something is...
“In this season of Thanksgiving, please don’t blame taxpayers if they are distracted by the injuries being perpetrated against them by our political class.” These words were the preface of this column at the beginning of the holiday season in 2008 and, sadly, little has changed. In fact, in many ways taxpayers are worse off...
A Landmark Retail Workers ‘Bill of Rights’ Passes Unanimously In San Francisco By Dave Jamieson, November 25, 2014, Huffington Post Amid growing concern over erratic work schedules, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday passed a first-of-its-kind law aimed at securing more stable hours for retail workers. Dubbed “the retail workers bill of rights,”...
Court Agrees With Labor Unions: Giant Inflatable Rats Are Protected Speech By Elizabeth Nolan Brown, November 17, 2014, Reason In case you were wondering, displaying giant inflateable rats is protected by the First Amendment. Apparently a balloon rodent known as Scabby the Rat has been a labor union protest symbol since the ’90s. But New...
“The bottom line is that claiming the unfunded liability cost as part of an officer’s compensation is grossly and deliberately misleading.” – LAPPL Board of Directors on 08/07/2014, in their post “Misuse of statistics behind erroneous LA police officer salary claims.” This assertion, one that is widely held among representatives of public employees, lies at the...
In April 2013, the Center for Individual Rights (CIR), as noted on their website, “filed suit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of 10 California teachers and the Christian Educators Association International, challenging the constitutionality of California’s “agency shop” law, which violates the First Amendment by forcing...
For years union membership has been in decline. In 2012 union membership hit the lowest percentage of the American workforce since 1916. The union business model, based largely on industrial organizing efforts from the 1930s, does not appear to carry over well for today’s educated and transient workforce. It appears unions have not evolved to...
Unions wasted millions in Wisconsin, Michigan governor races By Jason Hart, November 11, 2014, Watchdog.org Union bosses dumped more than $7.5 million into the Wisconsin and Michigan governor races only to see both states’ labor-reforming incumbents re-elected. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, both Republicans, were two of the five governors publicly...
It has been argued that California’s voters defy their political stereotype when it comes to taxes. California’s property tax revolt in 1978 resulted in the passage of the historic Prop. 13, which limits property tax increases to 2% per year. As recently as 2009, California’s legislature joined with Gov. Schwarzenegger to place Propositions 1A through 1E...
Republicans began their march to dominance in statehouses around the country shortly after Barack Obama won the presidency. Running anti-Obama candidates, the GOP captured a net of eight governors’ mansions between 2009 and 2013, giving the party 29 in all. In 24 of those states, the GOP also controlled the legislature. Some of those governors ruled boldly...
California Teachers Brace For Impact By Blake Neff, November 4, 2014, Daily Caller The expensive race for California superintendent of public instruction may have the biggest education impact of any election Tuesday. Regardless of its outcome, the race will send shockwaves across the country and set the national tone for how strong unionized teachers remain...
On October 24th I observed in the WSJ that private and public unions were increasingly in conflict this election season, particularly as left-leaning public union leaders align with members of the Democratic coalition like environmentalists, whose no-growth economic policies cost blue-collar workers jobs. One example I didn’t discuss in that piece is a campaign transpiring in California,...
Union bosses investing in Ohio Senate Republicans By Jason Hart, October 28, 2014, Ohio Watchdog Labor groups supporting big government and mandatory union dues gave $178,867 to eight Republican incumbents in the Ohio Senate during the most recent campaign finance period. Kevin Bacon, Bill Beagle, Cliff Hite, Shannon Jones, Frank LaRose, Gayle Manning, Scott Oelslager...
Napa County declares impasse in labor negotiations By Barry Eberling, October 21, 2014, Napa Valley Register Napa County has declared an impasse in its contract negotiations with its largest employees union and the union’s response raises the possibility of a strike, though one has not been called. Both sides issued press releases on Monday and...