A look at your transportation future??

With state and local officials bound and determined to get us out of our cars, and with trains of various shapes and sizes at the top of their visionary minds (1840s technology for the 21st century - yay!) here is a weekend look at your future, earth-friendly, commute.    

Campaign finance: Congress and King County leveling the playing field, one pebble at a time-Part II

The passage of SB 5278 permits local governments to impose taxes to fund politicians’ political campaigns. King County had such a program two decades ago before they were outlawed and the county is first in line to get it back. Councilman Bob Ferguson is spearheading the effort and has drafted legislation implementing a program to use taxpayer funds to finance political campaigns. He has dedicated his yearly COW town hall meeting (one “committee of the whole” is held in each council district per year) to the taxpayer-financed campaign “debate.” According to one source, opponents of the measure were intentionally not invited to the “debate” and are not encouraged to attend. The Council intends to hand the podium over to proponents, but any opponents brave enough to show up will get the standard 2 minutes at the microphone. For the brave in this, “the land of the brave,” the meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 19 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Shoreline Conference Center, 18560 1st Avenue Northeast, Shoreline.   This non-debate “debate” is sure to expand, as noted by Rep. Chris Hurst, D-13, during the House floor debate on SB 5278. “I realize this bill is about local elections. However, I am compelled to believe as well that this is the beginning of a process of publicly financing all campaigns.” This year’s Legislature also discussed the possibility of using taxpayer funds to finance the Supreme Court campaigns (HB 1589 and SB 5226), a concept that is troubling on a number of grounds, including separation of powers—Justices will be dependent on legislators and the governor for campaign funding.

The Union Watch Blog Family

Now that we’re finally getting around to fully upgrading the site and cleaning up the errors, it’s a good time to plug our friends in the union watch realm. Please welcome the following resources to our blog roll (located in the sidebar to the left), and add their RSS feeds if you get a chance. Employer [...]

House Approves Accountability Office

Sopranos Johnny Sack Shows us Some Union WiseGuys

Unions are strong-arming their Democrat hacks to agree to the “card check” system which will outlaw secret ballots for folks voting on union representation. If the Democrats and their union thug pals get their way, an employee will have to reveal to the whole world if he voted for or against a union at his [...]

Campaign finance: Congress and King County leveling the playing field, one pebble at a time - Part I

Federal campaign finance law sets a $2,300 cap on individual campaign contributions. Congress, however, felt that opponents of self-financed candidates were at a disadvantage because they had to spend time raising money while the self-financed candidate did not. Congress decided to right the perceived wrong and the McCain-Feingold deal implemented what is called the “Millionaire Rule. ” In a contest between self-financed candidates and non-self-financed candidates, the latter can accept individual contributions up to three times the $2,300 limit and coordinate spending with political parties (who have no contribution limits). Sounds like an incumbent-protection plan doesn’t it?   Treating candidates differently may not be constitutional, so the law was challenged and heard by the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday. During the arguments U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement was arguing that non-uniform limits for opposing candidates (a higher contribution limit for non-incumbents) is appropriate “because it would recognize that incumbents have certainly built-in advantages” over opponents. Justice Scalia broke in and asked: “You think that's really a proper function of government, to look out over there and say, we're going to even the playing field in this election? What if some -- one candidate is more eloquent than the other one? You make him talk with pebbles in his mouth or what?”   And what if one candidate has a better grassroots network or opposition research machine? Should the government lend out its employees to the disadvantaged candidate? Oh, wait, it already does!   Tomorrow, King County's taxpayer funded campaigns.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

This week, the Seattle Times reported that Seattle Public Schools have spent nearly $2 million dollars on administrative leaves for teachers in the last 5 years, and five teachers each spent more than 300 days on leave. (Administrative leave is limited for investigation into claims of misconduct.) The most egregious cases of late include one employee that was paid for 374 days of leave, another for 596 for leave.  The executive director of Seattle Education Association teachers' union, Steve Pulkkinen, said: “In many cases, the length of time it’s taken the district to do the investigation is just way out of line.” Pulkkinen further expressed frustration with the district for taking so long to complete its investigations and render final decisions in other cases as well.  Ironically, it is the UNIONS that negotiate the terms of school district employees’ contracts, including the onerous procedures for investigations into misconduct. It is the UNIONS that make it so difficult to fire a public employee. It is the UNIONS that drive such blatant inefficiency in the public sector.  Just remember, Mr. Pulkkinen, when you point the finger at someone else, there are three pointing back at you.   The Seattle Times article HERE.

Evergreen Freedom Foundation and the Union Lobbying Records

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation is cranking out some superb content on their blog, Liberty Live. The post we find relevant for today is the heads up on the Lobbying Disclosure Act Database. Here is what the Evergreen Freedom Foundation has to say about it. Here are a few highlights we found when we searched the 2008 first [...]

First quarter union lobbying records available

One way to hold unions accountable for their spending on political issues is to use the U.S. Lobbying Disclosure Act database. This website reveals who is lobbying Congress, how much money organizations are spending, and what issues are important to them. Here are a few highlights we found when we searched the 2008 first quarter reports by client: The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees reported $480,000 in expenses. Change to Win, a coalition of seven unions including SEIU, reported $80,000 in expenses. The National Education Association reported $284,964 in expenses.  The AFL-CIO reported $540,000 in expenses. There are a few limitations to the reports. The amounts listed are estimates, and only organizations that spend at least $10,000 on lobbying during a quarter must report. Changes to the law in 2007 have forced organizations to disclose any affiliates that contribute $5,000 or more in any three-month period. For more information on the LDA and recent, related litigation, click here and here. While these reports are not comprehensive in their approach to transparency, they at least provide another window into the inner workings of labor union political priorities and spending. Union members and the public should use the reports for increased union accountability.

Teamsters: We Promise not to use Guns and Knives (wink, wink)

George Lenard has a great little post at his “George’s Employment Blawg” about how the Teamsters are promising not to use violence, guns, knives, etc., in their protests against employers. But, here is the thing: they wouldn’t have to make these promises unless they either already HAVE done that stuff before or they have a [...]

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