Right To Work: A Time For Choosing

If there’s one issue where the GOP-led Legislature has dropped the ball this session, it’s in letting the “Right To Work” Amendment (henceforth RTW) proposal languish, apparently to die, in committee.

Rumor coming from the Legislature is that the leadership is afraid that the unions will dump a ton of money into Minnesota to fight legislators who support RTW. The fact is that the unions are facing a full-court press, with RTW legislation or related campaigns (like the Walker recall) going on in more states than ever before; they’re playing whack-a-mole, and while they have a lot of extorted dues money to spend (just less than half on union members are Republicans; about 8% of unions’ political money goes to GOP candidates), they’re spread thinner than ever before; putting one more piece of legislation out there will spread them thinner.

It’s not like the unions aren’t going to go after swing-y candidates in Minnesota – they already co-own the DFL along with Alita Messinger, and they will conduct a merciless, no-holds-barred, no-boundaries-respected smear campaign of every Republican in this state no matter what’s on the ballot this year. And in a year or two or three? The DFL and unions will have re-filled their coffers, and have many, many fewer challenges to deal with, for better or worse.

So if not now, when? If not here, where?

The fact is, according to sources on Capitol Hill, we are three votes shy of passing this thing, and there are six GOP Senate holdouts.

Leadership can do something about this. I’m going to urge you to contact the leadership of the House and Senate:

Rep. Kurt Zellers – Speaker of the House (rep.kurt.zellers@house.mn / 651-296-5502)
Sen. David Senjem – Senate Majority Leader (sen.david.senjem@senate.mn / 651.296.3903)

Tell them – politely but firmly – that 2/3 of the people in Minnesota, including liberals, including union members, support this legislation. And so do you. And you’re a voter.

Later this week, we’ll start talking about the reported holdouts.

Posted

April 9, 2012

Business, The Economy and The Markets, Capitalism v Socialism, MN Legislature

Mitch Berg

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Comments

4 responses to “Right To Work: A Time For Choosing”

bosshoss429

April 9, 2012

Already called and emailed both once, but I will do so again! Zellers really ticks me off because he now sounds like a milquetoast.

On another note, I heard from one of my neighbors that Geoff Michel will not seek re-election, so with Pat Mazerol’s previous announcement, now we’re scrambling to find two conservatives to run in our district.
Scott Hughes

April 9, 2012

“…..we are three votes shy of passing this thing, and there are six GOP Senate holdouts.”

I figure the six need to stop holding this up or prepare themselves for the consequences.

Ron Erhardt, Kathy Tingelstad, Neil Peterson, and Bud Heidegerken, where are they now?
GMan

April 10, 2012

We are told that if Right To Work passes the legislature, then Big Labor will spend $30 million to defeat Republican legislators. Why? The deed will have been done. Wouldn’t it make more sense for Big Labor to spend its money to defeat the amendment question on the ballot itself rather than attacking those who put it there?

It seems to me that Zellers and Senjem have it wrong. If RTW fails in the legislature, THEN Big Labor will spend $30M to defeat Republicans and retake control of the legislature. If RTW fails this year, Big Labor won’t want a Republican controlled legislature to try again next year.

Zellers and Senjem’s best hope to keep control is to pass this thing now. Call Big Labor’s bluff. Then take this battle to the public. There has never been a better chance for passing RTW and winning over more voters than this year. Dayton handed Republicans a golden opportunity to showcase why RTW is needed – because Union Made Democrats will stop at nothing to force more people into the borg … er … union, starting with home day care providers.
bosshoss429

April 10, 2012

GMan, that is the most appropriate description of the collectives known as unions that I have ever seen. It fits; i.e. if you want to teach in Minnesota, resistance is futile! You will be assimilated into the union!