Is Colorado’s Democratic Congressional delegation really going to play Pavlov’s dog to Big Labor officials?
News came out earlier today that Colorado Democratic Congresswoman Betsy Markey has agreed to co-sponsor – just as U.S. Senator and former Congressman Mark Udall did in the recent past – the poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) — aka card-check. Or as my colleague and fellow blogger Amy Oliver put it: “Markey pays back labor unions”.
If not for the money, why else would Markey leap into action as an EFCA co-sponsor? As policy, it’s terrible for business and the rights of workers. As 4th Congressional politics goes, it’s equally bad – opening the door wide for a strong, credible, business-backed challenge in 2010.
At least we know where Betsy Markey stands, though. The newly selected Democratic U.S. Senator Michael Bennet still seems to be firmly on the fence. And who can blame the guy? Both sides offer potentially significant problems politically. In which case, maybe he could just take a stand against this bad piece of legislation. I’m not betting on it, though.
What about my own Democratic Congressman Ed Perlmutter? Well, no doubt he’ll vote for EFCA. Still, it was fun today to get an email reminder from the AFL-CIO to contact my representative about this issue. So here’s what I wrote:
Dear Rep. Perlmutter,
The 7th Congressional District deserves a representative with a strong independent voice. The Democratic Party leadership and labor leaders did not elect you to office: Please vote NO on the poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act.
Especially in these trying economic times, the costs of imposed binding arbitration would be bad for the businesses of Jefferson County and all the United States.
And why deprive workers of the guaranteed right to a secret ballot? In the workplace election, they should not be subjected to intimidation from management or from union organizers. Have you seen what kind of tactics are used? (http://efcaexposed.com/)
Even a famous liberal icon, former Senator and Presidential candidate George McGovern, has warned of the dangers in this legislation and has urged opposition.
The hard-working entrepreneurs and other taxpaying citizens of this area are already greatly upset by the rapid growth in federal government spending that is only stagnating any hope for economic recovery.
Please don’t make things worse for workers or for the rest of us: Vote NO on the poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act.
Sincerely,
Ben DeGrow
I’ll gladly share with you the (form letter) response when it comes.
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