Big Labor Buys Some Time
Norquist, Grover G.
POLITICS by Grover G. Norquist Big Labor Buys Some Time I n 1996, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney announced plans to spend $35 million to win back the House of Representatives for the Democratic...
...He will continue at the pleasure of both parties to this agreement...
...This lie was not repeated on television, but ran through phone banks, one of which turned out to be in Tallahassee, Florida...
...226 would interfere with its ability to raise money for charity through paycheck deductions...
...The best estimates are that it will pass in between five and ten...
...Some institutions and individuals were able to delay implementation, but the war of ideas was won when the question was asked...
...17 nominated by the AFL-CIO subject to the approval of UWA...
...he unions spent $3o million to T confuse voters, and they succeeded...
...Supporters of Paycheck Protection had expected to raise as much as $io million, and believed that they could win if outspent only three-to-one...
...Bucher...
...In fact, they Paycheck Protection is down, but not out...
...Voters from Maine to Hawaii read columns by the likes of George Will and Bill Safire, and watched debates on CNN and C-Span...
...226 forces spent in toto...
...As soon as a Republican president is elected, Paycheck Protection will be signed into federal law, first as an executive order and then legislation...
...Governor Wilson's leadership in raising funds and fighting for the issue has made an imprint on conservative Republicans looking ahead to the 2oo0 presidential race...
...226 would kill policemen...
...He put Paycheck Protection on the national agenda, just as he had earlier done with California initiatives to end welfare for illegal aliens and to end racial preferences...
...Of the top 27 reported donors to the anti-Prop...
...But because they did not argue against the principle motivating Paycheck Protection —that all workers should have the right to decide on the political uses of their money—the unions did not change opinion...
...A California Field poll in November 1997 showed 72 percent of Californians supporting the initiative...
...Last fall, Governor Pete Wilson became its lead fundraiser and champion...
...The answer was "yes...
...226 even though they agreed that unions should have to get permission from workers before spending their dues on politics...
...60 August 1998 The American Spectator worked hard to avoid the issue, instead resorting to a version of the old segregationist argument that reform was supported by "outsiders," in this case those back East...
...Americans have answered "yes," agreeing with Thomas Jefferson that "to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical...
...226 campaign, all were labor unions using compulsory dues to finance their contribution...
...and that subsequently, in violation of five separate California laws, someone might release this address to gangsters...
...Sweeney was desperate to protect the political power unions derive through their ability to coerce dues from their members—a financial power that has replaced the economic power they wielded when they represented one-third of the labor force...
...First, the "No" camp vastly outspent their opponents: roughly $3o million to $4.5 million...
...The reasoning behind this claim was that a policeman might include his home address when giving his union written permission to dock his paycheck...
...So, the union bosses dodged a bullet...
...Two years later, labor union bosses spent more than $30 million in California to stop Proposition 226, the Paycheck Protection Initiative, which would have required labor unions to obtain annual, written permission before deducting money from workers' paychecks to spend on politics...
...04 The American Spectator • August 1998 61...
...The unions were able to misuse the charity because there is a little-known memorandum of agreement between the United Way and the AFL-CIO, giving the latter the power to "nominate" its own people to the "board of governors and other committees...
...Broder quotes an anti-Prop...
...There were no voluntary contributions raised...
...The latter year, in which total U.S...
...This hidden relationship explains why the United Way so readily sacrificed its credibility to the needs of labor bosses in Washington...
...Within ten years, every American worker will be protected from union bosses who want to use his money on politics...
...The "No" forces reported spending only $22.5 million, but this figure does not include all internal communication with 2.2 million union members, "donated" time from paid union staff, or the costs of gathering signatures for anti-business initiatives that were used to blackmail the business community into neutrality...
...In fact, in addition to positions on local boards, most large local chapters of the United Way reserve one or two professional positions for labor representatives...
...The campaign failed...
...Prop...
...There are two reasons for the defeat of Prop...
...T he second reason Prop...
...The legal definition of 'contribution' and 'expenditure' would not be changed by the passage of 226...
...In 1996, there were 16.3 million union members in America, 14.5 percent of the total workforce...
...226, which appeared on the June 2 ballot...
...Those results jibed with a nationwide Gallup poll taken the month before, which showed 72 percent support for the proposition that "Unions should be required to get written permission from each worker prior to using union dues for political purposes...
...First, such donations are not made for a political purpose...
...Recall that the measure lost by only six percent...
...Signatures are being gathered to put paycheck protection on the November ballot in Oregon and Colorado (a similar effort was thrown out in June by a court in union-strong Nevada...
...But Pete Wilson and the supporters of Paycheck Protection gained a six-month national debate on the issue...
...Chamber of Commerce sent a mass-mailing to its California members, as did the National Federation of Businesses, the National Restaurant Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Small Business Survival Committee...
...But Elaine Chao, the former president and CEO of UWA, in a statement released in May, refuted this assertion...
...While the California Republican Party and Wilson's own political committee made significant contributions, Wilson found many businesses and business groups neutralized by organized labor...
...The California Association of Manufacturers went AWOL, sheepishly admitting that it was threatened by union initiatives that would have raised taxes on businesses...
...employment rose by 2.8 million, saw union membership drop by 159,000...
...How did support fall by 25 percent in eight months...
...The good news for conservatives is that the national business community for once gave unprecedented support to a controversial state initiative...
...On May 13, the UWA retracted its legislative alert and apologized for the lie, blaming the incident on inexperienced junior staff...
...226 would kill policemen...
...Labor unions continue to decline as an economic power...
...The unions never tried to finish the sentence: "We should have the power to take money from members' paychecks and spend it on politics without permission because...
...The retraction never received as much press as the original attack...
...The U.S...
...Proposition 226 would not apply to charitable contributions for two reasons," she said...
...This was an odd argument for the unions to make, since they raised more money outside California than the pro-Prop...
...In 1997 there were only 16.1 million, or 14.1 percent...
...The bad news for the labor leaders is that they spent $3o million to win one vote in one state, one time...
...The California Chamber of Commerce was similarly cowed...
...In other words, over 16 percent of Broder's small sample supported the initiative in principle but had been persuaded by misleading ads to oppose it...
...It was in this context that Sweeney and the rest of the AFL-CIO leadership viewed California's Prop...
...226 was written and organized by three Orange County businessmen, Frank Ury, Jim Righeimer, and Mark GROVER G. NORQUIST is president of Americans for Tax Reform...
...226 by a margin of 53-47...
...Also, "the Director of the UWA labor participation department will be44 Californians received millions of telephone calls telling them that passage of Prop...
...226 lost was Big Labor's misinformation campaign...
...and second, they are made voluntarily, not compelled by another party...
...the Washington office of the AFL-CIO, $2.6 million...
...And what does this election augur for other Paycheck Protection measures, at the state and federal level...
...POLITICS by Grover G. Norquist Big Labor Buys Some Time I n 1996, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney announced plans to spend $35 million to win back the House of Representatives for the Democratic Party...
...Today, as a result of the California election, we have asked the question, "Should workers have the right to control their own political contributions...
...Now, most Americans know that there are only two institutions that can take money out of your paycheck without permission: the IRS and the AFL-CIO...
...A poll conducted by Frank Luntz the day of the election found fully68 percent of Californians agreeing that "unions should be required to get a member's written permission before using part of his or her dues for political purposes...
...Californians received millions of telephone calls telling them that passage of Prop...
...California will see Paycheck Protection back on the June 2000 primary ballot...
...the National Education Association, $2.6 million...
...These four voters had been confused by the "No" camp's advertising...
...226 strategist as saying, "We're not against confusion...
...Yet this June, California voters defeated Prop...
...Traditionally, five seats on the executive committee of the UWA are allotted for labor representation...
...The civil rights movement won when America asked: Should we treat blacks as equals...
...The rest is just a mopping-up operation...
...This agreement also requires that contributions sent to the United Way must be spent on "only union-made goods and services...
...It is a sign of the times that on June 3 Sweeney held a press conference to tell the world how delighted he was to have spent $3o million to maintain the status quo in California for another two years...
...They had an easy time raising money, simply taking it from union members...
...226 television advertising to start two weeks earlier—the initiative would have won...
...the California Labor Federation (AFL-CIO), $1.1 million...
...The California Teacher's Association contributed $6.2 million...
...Paycheck Protection laws have already passed in Washington state (1992), Michigan (1994), Idaho (1997), and Wyoming (1998...
...This year legislation has been introduced in twenty-six states, and in 1999 more than forty states will vote on paycheck protection...
...With another $2 million—which would have allowed pro-Prop...
...Another lie was put out by the United Way of America (UWA), which claimed that Prop...
...On May 31, David Broder reported in the Washington Post that, after interviewing twenty-four Californians, he had found four who planned to vote against Prop...
Vol. 31 • August 1998 • No. 8
