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Home Archives for Unions

6/23/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

Democrats Trying to Spare Unions from Massive National Health Care Tax

Say what? The Washington Examiner reports that Democrats are proposing to exempt unionized workers from the massive tax hike needed to fund government health care:With cost estimates already as high as $1.6 trillion, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has proposed paying for the bill in part by taxing health care benefits for workers who earn more than $100,000, or $200,000 for married couples, according to those familiar with the discussions. Baucus is also weighing a tax based on the value of health care benefits that exceed a yet-to-be determined cap. A tax on benefits that exceed the cap by a mere $3,000 could amount to $750 in taxes annually for a worker who earns as little as $34,000, say experts. But those … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Fiscal Policy, General, Health Care, Labor, liberty, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: Barack Obama, Big Labor, Cato Institute, Collective Bargaining, Congress, Constitutional, Democrats, Health Care, John Fund, Jon Henke, legislation, Max Baucus, Montana, Obama, Obamacare, oblivion, Patient Power, payback, political diary, reform, senator, statists, tax, taxpayers, The Next Right, Unions, Wall Street Journal, Washington Examiner, We Stand Firm

6/5/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Is Bill Ritter’s SB 180 Veto a Dare to Big Labor to Challenge His Office?

Update, 9:30 AM: AFL-CIO press release in response to Ritter's SB 180 veto pasted below the fold. Also, Amy Oliver notes that several legislators from northern Colorado went against the will of the people in voting for SB 180 -- having benefited from thousands in labor campaign contributions. Yesterday I gave Governor Bill Ritter kudos for the veto of SB 180. Today's Denver Post follow-up by Lynn Bartels is headlined with the statement that Rep. Edward Casso and organized labor interests see the decision as a "tipping point". It could be my imagination, but I got the impression from reading the story that Ritter essentially is saying something like this to the unions:So yeah, I have this penchant of making a wide spectrum of different … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: bad policy, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, Chamber of Commerce, change his mind, dare, decision, Democrat, Denver Post, different, Edward Casso, follow-up, good policy, Governor, groups, imagination, impression, indecisive, intentions, interests, issue, known, kudos, labor unions, last minute, Lynn Bartels, mad, motivation, Municipal League, open enemy, organized labor, penchant, politics, prevented, primary, SB 180, story, string along, tipping point, Unions, veto, wait

3/20/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Bad Legislation Parade’s SB 180 Would Harm Taxpayers, Employee Rights

Today brings a chance to review another member of the bad legislation parade down at the Colorado State Capitol. Senate Bill 180 (PDF) would override the local will of voters and impose collective bargaining on all local police and fire departments. After making it through the Democrat-controlled State, Military, and Veteran Affairs Committee, the bill is on the slate to be heard by the full senate any day now. From the Denver Daily News:Concerns are being raised that collective bargaining leads to overtaxing government budgets through increased payroll costs, which ends up hitting taxpayers hard. The last time the issue raised so many conservative eyebrows was in 2007 when Gov. Bill Ritter issued an executive order authorizing state … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: automatic, bad legislation parade, bargaining, Bill Ritter, budgets, coercion, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, committee, communities, compensation, concerns, conservative eyebrows, costly, Democrat, Democrat-controlled, Denver Daily News, equipment, fire departments, fire fighters, full senate, gem, hard truth, higher salaries, impose, law enforcement, local will, Lois Tochtrop, member, negotiating, override, overtaxing, paid, payroll costs, police departments, police officers, policy, political activities, political power, procure, public servants, public services, Pueblo, review, SAFE, safety equipment, Senate Bill 180, services, slate, State Capitol, support, taxpayer premium, taxpayers, Thornton, tools, uniform, union dues, union fee, union officials, union representation, Unions, voters

3/12/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Michael Bennet Votes to Nix D.C. School Choice – Bidding for Union Support?

When Democrat Michael Bennet was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, I knew we would have our healthy share of policy disagreements. But not so much on education reform:Fifty-eight U.S. Senators - including Colorado’s own Michael Bennet and Mark Udall - have decided to spend billions on wasteful pork projects, but can’t spare anything to keep 1,700 students from exercising the choice to enroll in a better school. What am I talking about? Bennet voted against an amendment to save the modest D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program from funding extinction. To be fair, so did most other Democrats: except interestingly, Robert Byrd and John Warner, along with independent Joe Lieberman. Only two days ago … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: advance, amendment, better school, Bill Ritter, choice, Colorado, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, decision, Democrat, Denver Public Schools, education reform, Employee Free Choice Act, enroll, fishing, funding extinction, Governor, healthy share, independent, Joe Lieberman, John Warner, Mark Udall, Michael Bennet, newly-selected, Orwellian-named, policy disagreements, political support, pork projects, Robert Byrd, U.S. Senate, Unions, wasteful

2/10/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

Growing Labor Clout Puts Michael Bennet in Bind Over Card-Check Bill

The first big line in the sand this year for Colorado's selected U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and not-so-senior partner Mark Udall was the vote in favor of the massive federal spending (so-called "stimulus") bill. Next on the docket is the poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would take away employee secret ballots in workplace election and impose costly binding arbitration procedures. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: Al Sharpton, Ariella Bernstein, article, bailout, ballot measures, binding arbitration, boondoggle, campaign contributions, candidates, card-check, co-sponsor, coercive, Colorado, Congress, costly, cynical, data, decline, Democratic, Denver Post, docket, EFCA, Employee Free Choice Act, employees, failing businesses, failing labor unions, federal spending, George McGovern, government, independent backbone, influential voices, John Holcomb, Karen Crummy, kowtow, Labor Department, labor leaders, line in the sand, listen, Mark Udall, members, Michael Bennet, National Institute on Money in State Politics, party line, political dynamics, poorly-named, pressure, private sector, procedures, professor, public sector, researchers, secret ballots, selected, senior partner, stagnant, state-level races, statistics, stimulus, U.S. Senator, union membership, Unions, University of Denver, vote

10/11/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Isaac Smith, Whistleblower on “Educate the Idiots”, Tells His Story

A week ago, I noted that Colorado's high-powered Lefties were fighting back to "Educate the Idiots" about the authenticity of documents that shine an unflattering light on their Colorado Democracy Alliance (CoDA). Of course, since then we've seen the "whistleblower" Isaac Smith come forward to vouch for the documents he provided. Listen to Isaac tell his story to Jon Caldara, guest host for Mike Rosen, on 850 KOA earlier this week. The Left is assailing Isaac's character as a "thief" and a "forger". Judge for yourself, but it sure sounds to me that this guy has a lot less vested interest than the members of the CoDA who look bad. The "Educate the Idiots" memo - the only document that CoDA denies the authenticity of - just happens to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: "Educate the Idiots", 527s, 850 KOA, authenticity, blogs, Colorado, Colorado Democracy Alliance, documents, forger, guest host, Isaac Smith, Jon Caldara, Lefties, mainstream media, Mike Rosen, non-profits, political candidates, thief, unflattering light, Unions, vested interest, web of activities, whistleblower

10/10/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Jeffco Teachers Union Called Out for Deception, Misuse of School Resources

The official campaign against Colorado Amendment 49 - also known as Protect Colorado's Culture of Corruption Future - has set a pattern of blatant deception. But this week one group that has funded the anti-49 political campaign with teacher dues money found a way to step over the line a couple of ways at once, reports the Rocky Mountain News. First, by using official school district resources for electioneering purposes:A teachers union improperly used the Jefferson County School District's e-mail system to urge a "no" vote on three ballot measures, including one that would impact union dues. The Jefferson County Education Association (JCEA) also stepped over the line by using false, ridiculous scare tactics in its anti-Amendment 49 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, General, Labor Tagged With: Amendment 47, Amendment 49, Amendment 54, ballot measures, blatant deception, Blue Book, campaign, Colorado, deception, dues money, email system, ethical reform, Ethical Standards, good idea, heavily-funded, Independent Thinking, JeffCo, Jefferson County Education Association, Jefferson County School District, Jon Caldara, Kerrie Dallman, onslaught, pensions, Protect Colorado's Future, scare tactics, school communication systems, teachers, Unions, whistleblower

9/17/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Mass Deception in Attacks Against Amendment 49, Amendment 54

This morning Mike Rosen, Colorado's leading radio talk show host, called out the group "Protect Colorado's Future" for deceptive ads run against Amendment 47, Amendment 49, and Amendment 54 on Colorado's ballot this fall. Here's the transcript:CALLER: A fairly deceptive ad running on TV. I've seen it a number of times recently. It's a fireman from Littleton, and the background is sort of set against a real sympathetic figure fighting fires, been doing this for 14 years and, you know, I'm in the same league with nurses, and teachers, and policemen, and all that, and vote against these "deceptive" amendments 47, 49, and 54. He never, they never come right out and say what these amendments are obviously, but - ROSEN: It's a clever tactic … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: Amendment 47, Amendment 49, Amendment 54, audio clip, bundling money, clean government, Colorado ballot, deceptive ad, deceptive attacks, Ethical Standards Now, firefighters union, fireman, hollow case, hypocrisy, Littleton, lobbying groups, mass deception, Mike Rosen, nurses, police union, policemen, Protect Colorado's Future, public payroll systems, radio talk show, reforms, right-to-work, special interests, sympathetic figure, teachers, ugly playbook, Unions, workers' rights

8/12/2008 By Ben 3 Comments

It’s Official: Colorado Government 100% Unionized, Thanks to Bill Ritter

It's not often I break news on this site, but just remember it was reported here first: As of today, the entirety of Colorado state government is officially unionized. Previously, the "Colorado WINS" union coalition won the right to represent six of eight occupational groups in state government - despite being outvoted by the "don't give a crap" coalition. While political junkies in Colorado await the results of candidate primary campaigns, results from mail-in ballot elections for the final two occupational groups of Colorado state government were counted and tabulated today. Via an email from the state labor department, here are the results (which should be posted here shortly):Financial Services Group: Colorado WINS was successful in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: Bill Ritter, Colorado Department of Labor, Colorado Loses, Colorado state government, Colorado WINS, don't give a crap, exclusive representative, Financial Services, mail-in ballots, Mike Antonucci, occupational groups, political junkies, primary election, Professional Services, Unions

4/20/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Sure Signs of a Colorado Democrat

Mark Hillman has a great post on "You Must Be a Colorado Democrat" if:If you think taxing marriage will reduce child abuse, you must be a Colorado Democrat. If you plan to pay for new programs with revenues from the oil and gas boom but then punish oil and gas companies with higher taxes and ridiculous regulations, you must be a Colorado Democrat. If you believe illegal aliens should get a break on college tuition but decorated veterans should not, you must be a Colorado Democrat. If you believe it’s OK to require a photo ID to buy beer or cigarettes but not to vote, you must be a Colorado Democrat. If you believe businessmen and women are motivated by greed but labor union bosses are not, you must be a Colorado … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor Tagged With: Colorado Democrats, Mark Hillman, taxes, trial lawyers, Unions

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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

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