Mount Virtus

"Happy to come back to Michigan, but I miss the mountains!"

Ben on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About Ben
  • Mount Virtus?
  • Writer / Editor For Hire
  • What I’m Thankful For
  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • Colorado Ballot 2008
    • Colorado Ballot 2010
    • Colorado Ballot 2012
  • Archives
  • Passion and Purpose:
    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
Home clean government Bill Ritter’s Chance to Jump On Board Union Transparency Bandwagon

6/22/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Bill Ritter’s Chance to Jump On Board Union Transparency Bandwagon

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter screwed up with his handling of the Senate Bill 180 veto. Stumbling across a good public policy decision, he provoked the wrath of labor union special interests.

Since Bill Ritter has found himself on this sensible path, perhaps he could continue a little longer and throw his weight behind an idea which time has come: financial transparency for labor unions representing state and local government employees.

Of course, in doing so, Ritter would have to buck the trend of Big Labor cronyism being advanced by his party leader, President Barack Obama. From my recent Independence Institute op-ed:

The Labor Department’s Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS), which collected and published the disclosure forms, has used the enhanced information to aid in prosecuting union officials for misusing workers’ money.

OLMS investigations yielded more than 900 convictions and restored more than $93 million in funds to wronged employees in the past eight years. In one Colorado case, members of a food workers local benefited from nearly $25,000 in restitution following the 2006 sentencing of a father and son duo who embezzled union funds….

Rather than provide more information for workers, though, Obama’s new Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has sympathized with labor leaders’ complaints that transparency constitutes harassment. Under Solis, the Labor Department stopped new rules that would have shed more light on union officer fringe benefits. Then in late April, she announced her department is greatly easing requirements that unions reveal potential conflicts of interest.

The Obama administration gives every indication of continuing the piecemeal rollback of financial disclosure requirements. The only question is to what extent they will reduce transparency.

States have authority over labor unions that solely represent government workers. While Washington, D.C., retreats from disclosure, Colorado instead should follow other states in opening up union books for government workers. The legislature should authorize the state labor department to collect reports annually and post them online. State and local government agencies should notify employees of the reports’ availability.

Yes, it’s almost certainly hoping for too much to ask Bill Ritter to jump on the union transparency bandwagon. But it can’t hurt to try.

Then again, if you’re Ritter’s U.S. Senate appointee Michael Bennet, you have a hard time deciding whether to oppose the destructive EFCA legislation that promises to be a Big Labor cash cow. If you can’t oppose that, at the very least isn’t there room for promoting more transparency so union members and taxpayers can better see how that money is being spent?

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor, My Life, PPC

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Inside

  • About Ben
  • Archives
  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • Colorado Ballot 2008
    • Colorado Ballot 2010
    • Colorado Ballot 2012
    • Colorado Ballot 2014
  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
  • Mount Virtus?
  • Passion and Purpose:
    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
  • What I’m Thankful For
  • Writer / Editor For Hire

About Me

Ben DeGrow
Grateful and growing Christian, devoted husband and father of 3, public policy analyst, returned to Michigan by way of Colorado, conservative writer, lifelong learner, Detroit Tigers fan.

Recent Posts

  • AI-Enhanced Cyberbullying: The Dark Side of Teen Innovation
  • My Baker’s Dozen of Top 2023 Reads
  • Common Learning Disabilities in Children
  • Tips to Teach Kids to Set and Achieve Goals
  • The Christmas Music Countdown You’ve Been Looking For: 2022 Edition

Colorado News

  • Colorado Senate News
  • Complete Colorado
  • Independence Institute
  • Loveland Politics
  • The Colorado Observer

National News and Politics

  • Drudge Report
  • Hot Air
  • National Review
  • Politico
  • Real Clear Politics
  • Reason
  • The Washington Times
  • TownHall
  • Wall Street Journal
  • Weekly Standard
  • World Magazine

Blogs Extraordinaire

  • American Thinker
  • David Harsanyi’s Blog
  • E!! The True Conservative Story
  • EIA Intercepts
  • Evangelical Outpost
  • Hugh Hewitt
  • Instapundit
  • LaShawn Barber
  • Lileks
  • Little Green Footballs
  • Michelle Malkin
  • NRO's The Corner
  • Power Line
  • Red State

Completing the Blogroll

  • Alarming News
  • Black Five
  • Blogs of War
  • Eduwonk
  • Flypaper
  • Fraters Libertas
  • Historical Conversations
  • IMAO
  • Jay P. Greene
  • Mike Anderson
  • Mullings
  • Professor Bainbridge
  • Right Thinking
  • Right Wing News
  • Right Wing Nuthouse
  • Shot in the Dark
  • Talking Points Memo
  • Virginia Postrel
  • Volokh Conspiracy

Christian Commentary et al.

  • Kevin Pierpont
  • Sharper Iron

Conservative and GOP Sites

  • Backbone America
  • Cal Thomas
  • Colorado Republican Party
  • Colorado Republican Study Committee
  • Dennis Prager
  • Denver Metro Young Republicans
  • Free Republic
  • Heritage Foundation
  • Jefferson County Republican Party
  • Mackinac Center for Public Policy
  • Mark Steyn
  • Michael Medved
  • Rush Limbaugh

Colorado Blogs

  • American Kestrel
  • Bob Agard
  • Colorado Charter Schools
  • Colorado Peak Politics
  • Colorado Pols
  • Colorado Right
  • Conservative Libertarian Outpost
  • Coyote Gulch
  • Ed Is Watching
  • Free Colorado
  • Jeff Crank Show
  • Mark Hillman
  • Patient Power
  • PirateBallerina
  • Protein Wisdom
  • Reagan Girl
  • Rocky Mountain Alliance 1.0 (Archive)
  • Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0 (Archive)
  • Rossputin
  • Stop the ACLU Blog
  • The Spot (Denver Post)
  • We Stand Firm

Other Sites

  • Technorati
  • Word Press

Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

  • Reclaim the Blue
  • The Business Word
  • The Daily Blogster
  • View from a Height

To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

Copyright © 2025 RSS Feed · WordPress · Log in