Today marks the end of an era. The state employee who started the non-union group ColoradoLoses as an answer to Colorado WINS, the union coalition outgoing Governor Bill Ritter invited into Denver by executive order in 2007. Dave Ohmart posted the announcement on his website earlier today:I am shutting ColoradoLoses down. Thaks so much for the support you showed me over the past two and a half years. WINS will be shutting down too, I believe. They have lost support and are near bankruptcy. I don't have any independent information to confirm or challenge Dave's assessment and prediction. But it's important to note that Colorado WINS (a joint coalition of SEIU, AFSCME and AFT) did gain its semi-exalted bargaining position, after … [Read more...]
Michael Bennet’s Election-Season Epiphany on Big Labor’s Card-Check
Update, 10/13: I know I gave Bennet too much credit for his mealy-mouthed opposition to "the language in that bill," but couldn't resist the opportunit for snark. Writing at Denver Business Journal, Ed Sealover expounds further. While it may be true that all good things must come to an end, that's not necessarily the case for things that have been trapped in a state of crystallized indecision for many, many months. In the case of Michael Bennet and card-check, though, it was. On February 10, 2009, I first wrote about the appointed Colorado Senator's Big Labor-sponsored legislative dilemma. Lo, these more than 600 days later, the Denver Post reports Bennet had an epiphany:After more than a year of equivocating on the Employee Free Choice … [Read more...]
GOP Candidate Libby Szabo Combats Lefty Accountability for Colorado Lies
A few weeks ago I brought your attention to the devious and deceitful work of the poorly-named Democratic 527 group Accountability for Colorado. The group is heavily funded by teachers unions and the ultra-liberal billionaire tag team of Pat Stryker and Tim Gill, among others. Accountability for Colorado's dishonest attack fliers, radio ads and robo-calls against Republican state house candidates -- using some of the same recycled outlandish arguments regardless of the candidate -- have prompted inquiries to local District Attorney offices, specifically from Karen Cullen (HD 18) and Tom Janich (HD 31). The latest candidate I'm aware of to have the local D.A. investigate the use of bizarre slanders from Accountability for Colorado is … [Read more...]
John Hickenlooper Coddles Government Unions, Makes Guv Race Clearer
(H/T Who Said You Said) Another reason for conservatives to unite their support behind the more electable candidate for governor: Democrat John Hickenlooper is going to perpetuate the Bill Ritter legacy and coddle government employee unions. Specifically, Hick wouldn't want to revoke Ritter's executive order giving union leaders gold-plated access to state government for fear of hurting somebody's feelings -- even if some state employees have suffered. Wow, what leadership: Meanwhile, as WSYS reports:Contrast the mayor’s comments with those of Tom Tancredo, the American Constitution Party candidate, who on Friday released a statement that read, “I’ll repeal the Executive Order unionizing state government before lunch on my first … [Read more...]
Teacher Union-Funded vs. Reformer-Funded: Interesting Colorado Races
Last week I highlighted the political giving of Colorado education-related groups, making several observations. Among them was the fact that none of the groups -- not even the pro-reform **Stand for Children small donor committee -- had supported a single Republican candidate. But I wrote too soon. They just hadn't reported it yet. An Ed News Colorado story today highlights that Stand for Children has backed some of its Republican (and other) endorsements with campaign cash: … [Read more...]
“Working Stiffed”: Daily Show Pans Organized Labor Hypocrisy
It's not often I post up clips from The Daily Show, but this mock-up of a Nevada UFCW local's anti-Wal Mart protest had me in stitches. If you have five minutes for the laugh, take it: The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c … [Read more...]
Ironically-Named Accountability for Colorado Dishing Up Vicious Anti-GOP Smears with Teacher Union Money
As a political junkie, among the funniest things I find are the terribly misleading names given to those 527 groups. The Lefty Democrat big donors and unions have operated a slew of them. Remember the misleading Coloradans for Life from election cycle past? Well, in 2010 we have the Lefty 527 group Accountability for Colorado... And what could truly be less accountable? Spewing poison and slander about conservative state legislative candidates, and no one there to answer a reporter's phone call. A couple examples have been documented by local newspapers: The Pueblo Chieftain reports the group has attacked Republican state house candidate and local businessman Keith Swerdfeger: "The music sounds eerie and the announcer's voice is full … [Read more...]
Labor as Management: Ohio, D.C. Offer Two Different Ironic Approaches
What happens when the union becomes management? Just wanted to bring your attention to a couple of recent stories that highlight two different ironic approaches to their separate labor situations: Take the hard line in staff bargaining negotiations: Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency (EIA) reports on the plight of the Ohio Education Association -- whose employees today went on strike against the state teachers union Contract picketing duty to non-union workers at minimum wage: Christine Hall of the Competitive Enterprise Institute highlights a new video of CEI's Vincent Vernuccio crashing a carpenters' union protest in Washington, D.C., only to find the picketers marching and chanting in the August humidity were … [Read more...]
Colorado Unions Abuse Non-Union School Employee Paychecks
This is a sticky post. Please scroll down for newer content. I know I'm biased, but watching this video is 4 minutes well spent if you want to understand how some Colorado unions representing teachers and other school employees put money and power before common decency. Watch non-union Pueblo school employee Becky Robertson tell about the year she missed the September deadline to opt out of paying union fees because of family medical emergencies, and what happened when she asked for the money back: Thank you, Colorado teachers unions (not to mention the school district negotiators that agree to make these deals). And yes, it's entirely legal in Colorado. For more information on the school districts where non-union teachers and … [Read more...]
Local Veteran Blogger Goes Pro as NRO Colorado Election Correspondent
One of Colorado's best and hardest-working people in new media has gone pro. Michael Sandoval, originally an innovative and successful blogger at Slapstick Politics and more recently managing editor of People's Press Collective, is now on the Colorado 2010 election beat for National Review Online. His first posting helps to get a national audience up to speed on our state's U.S. Senate race. (By the way, thanks to Michael, for the incoming link.) Here's guessing he's not itching to provide similar treatment of Colorado's roller-coaster gubernatorial campaign. Anyway, over the next few months I look forward to good original reporting and more insightful analysis from NRO's home-grown Colorado correspondent. And I encourage my readers … [Read more...]
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