Union Activist Voter Fraud Investigated

Nothing is going to stop union militants efforts to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his pro-reform allies — even the law, apparently.  The Racine County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the possibility of fraudulent signatures on the petitions to recall Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine.

Jeff Demet’s name is on the petitions four times, but he said he didn’t sign even once. Also, his mother, Mary Demet’s signature is on the recall petitions, but she said she didn’t sign. Dennis Sargent of Racine is also on a petition that was allegedly circulated by Mark Demet, Jeff Demet’s brother. But Sargent said he did not sign a petition to recall Wanggaard and the address listed is not where he lives.

For more, read: Suspect recall signing could result in felony charges

From the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation:

Washington, DC (February 2, 2012) – The National Right to Work Foundation announced today that it is launching a legal task force aimed at protecting Indiana’s newly-enacted Right to Work law.

Union officials publicly floated the idea of challenging the law in Indiana’s courts before the law was even passed by the Indiana state senate.

Indiana is the nation’s 23rd Right to Work state after the state senate passed the bill and Governor Mitch Daniels signed the bill into law on Wednesday.

Foundation attorneys have successfully defended state Right to Work laws in the past, including Oklahoma’s. The task force has already examined reported union lines of attack and determined that Indiana’s Right to Work law is on sound legal ground. (more…)

Indiana Law Turns Heat on Michigan

Time Magazine suggested that Indiana’s enactment of Right to Work protections for workers is a big deal primarily because of it is the first state in the “Rust Belt” to seek to attract jobs and business through Right to Work laws.  We may be seeing evidence that they are right.

The Associated Press reports “Indiana’s move to become the Rust Belt’s first “right-to-work” state has intensified debate over the issue in neighboring Michigan.  Supporters of right-to-work laws say they’re more convinced than ever that Michigan should take a similar step in hopes of lessening union clout and attracting more jobs.”

Unfortunately for Michigan workers and taxpayers, Gov. Rick Snyder (R) has decided to punt on the issue.  Other members of the Republican establishment including the Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville are unwilling to cross their union boss allies.  This is an effort that will take time.  But have no fear, in order to compete, Michigan will need to break big labor’s stranglehold on its economy with a Right to Work law.  As the Rolling Stones sung, “time is on our side.”

Mix: Indiana Rejects Forced Unionism

Writing for the Investor’s Business Daily, National Right to Work President Mark Mix summarizes what our victory in Indiana really means:

For the past two weeks, Big Labor bosses around the country have had their eyes on the Indiana capitol — watching in horror as the General Assembly passed a right-to-work bill with commanding majorities.

The passage of Indiana’s right-to-work law is an extraordinarily bitter defeat for the union brass. Less than a year ago, despite the fact that Hoosiers had elected substantial pro-right-to-work majorities to both chambers in 2010, union strategists remained confident they could preserve the forced-unionism status quo.

Last year, union bigwigs convinced the entire Democratic caucus of the Indiana House of Representatives to flee the state for five weeks in order to deny the body a quorum it needed to bring up and pass right-to-work legislation. Big Labor clearly believed whatever it lacked in legislative numbers it could make up for in zeal.

But polls showed Hoosiers overwhelmingly disapproved of the “fleabagger” tactic, and right-to-work supporters kept turning up the pressure on Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and GOP legislative leaders to fight back against Big Labor.

Thanks to legislation passed after last year’s walkout, House members failing to show up to do their jobs when the General Assembly is in session may be hit with $1,000-a-day fines.

In the opening weeks of the 2012 session, House Democrats went public about their reluctance to jump over a cliff again for the union hierarchy. Finally, on Jan. 24, House Minority Leader Pat Bauer announced an end to his caucus’ boycott of the bill. It passed the next day.

Ever since, the caterwauling by Big Labor and its allies has resounded across the state. But what’s so bad about a law that merely says an individual shouldn’t be forced at the workplace to support financially an organization that he or she doesn’t believe acts in his or her interests?

Rather than address this question, union propagandists skirt it. Union officials never act contrary to the interests of any employee, they implicitly argue. Any employee who says otherwise they brand as a hypocritical “freeloader”! (more…)

Big Labor Hits Road Block in Wisconsin

As Big Labor seeks to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, they are running into a big road block that is hindering their efforts — Walker’s reforms are working saving taxpayers millions of dollars.

City Journal looks at the success of the Walker reforms that should be a model for other states looking to balance their budgets:  ”The truth, however, is that the reforms not only are saving money already; they’re doing so with little disruption to services. In early August, noticing the trend, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Milwaukee would save more in health-care and pension costs than it would lose in state aid, leaving the city $11 million ahead in 2012—despite Mayor Tom Barrett’s prediction in March that Walker’s budget ‘makes our structural deficit explode.’”

That is just one example.  Well worth the read.

Wisconsin Big Labor Fraud

Union-label Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (left) is a bitter political foe of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s. Nevertheless, Mr. Barrett admits the governor’s Big Labor-detested Act 10 has helped his city get control over its budget. Credit: AP

Big Labor militants, who submitted 1 million names demanding a recall of Gov. Scott Walker, included the name of a person four times. The man, according to Media Trackers, says he never signed the petition.

Wisconsin watchdog Citizens for Responsible Government in Racine  reported that Racine native Jeff Demet’s name was found four times on the petition to recall Republican State Senator Van Wanggaard. Finding the same signature four times is bad enough, but when Demet was contacted about the four signatures, he claims he never signed the Wanggaard recall petition at all!

Indiana Gov. Daniels: Right to Work Working Already

In an interview with Politico, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels touted the benefits of the newly enacted Right to Work law saying his phones were “ringing off the hook with companies wanting to come to the state since he signed the measure.”

“Indiana has by every reckoning the 5th or 6th best business climate in the country, and now it gets a little better,” said Daniels on Fox News. “The phone began literally ringing yesterday afternoon with companies wanting to come to our state.”

From The Blaze:

“For more than two years, the Michigan Education Association [MEA] has had a manual that urges its members to use students as propaganda in contract negotiations and also lays out how to organize strikes,” writes Tome Gantert of Michigan Capitol Confidential.

Considering the fact that teacher strikes are illegal in Michigan, some may find it odd that the MEA has been encouraging this sort of behavior. In fact, the MEA has done a lot more than just “encourage” potentially illegal activity. As Gantert reports, the organization produced an anonymously written 28-page manual titled, “Building Full Capacity Locals — Crisis Planning, It’s Never Too Early To Start!”

And of course, what union protest would be complete without the exploitation of children in the bargaining process?

“In terms of a bargaining message, the public responds most positively when we talk about children, quality in the classroom and the future,” the MEA manual states.

The manual even suggests one slogan that it claims has worked for other locals: “It’s not about dollars and cents; it’s about our children.”

Perhaps the most disturbing moment occurs when one section appears to quote almost verbatim Saul Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals.”

Alinsky instructs his followers to “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Likewise, the MEA manual instructs teachers to “Pick a target—personalize—and polarize the opposition [pg. 17].” And those are just the verbatim quotes; the entire manual is a handbook for creating, managing, and profiting from crises.