SEIU union spends $500,000 in local election, may reach $1,000,000 – a sign of the times?

This SEIU case is a classic example of taxpayer money being recycled via union dues of public paid employees to then be spent to control the government so that more taxpayer money can go to union wages and benefits of public employees so that more dues can go to control the government. This is a microcosm of what is happening all across America.

usACTIONnews.com editorial

Brad Branan at the Fresno Bee reported Sunday that Service Employees International Union, SEIU, represents Fresno County workers and has spent $500,000 so far expressly to unseat incumbent Supervisor Phil Larson. Why would a SEIU spend so much against one local county supervisor?

According to the Fresno Bee Article:

“Steve Trossman, an SEIU spokesman, concedes that the main reason for the union’s support of Sterling is a key vote affecting more than 10,000 of its Fresno County members.

Larson supports a wage cut for home health-care workers, saying the county can’t afford the cost because the state has reduced its contribution to the expense.”

This battle is being fought in cities and states across the US. State and municipal governments are becoming insolvent after decades of unchecked public sector union wage and benefit deals traded for campaign donations by state and local politicians. The same thing is happening on a national scale with just two unions promising to spend over $100 MILLION to help incumbent Democrats this November.

Kevin Bogardus and Sean J. Miller at The Hill reported that:

“The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) plans to spend in excess of $50 million during the 2010 campaign, part of which will fund “a massive incumbent protection program,” according to Gerry McEntee, president of the union.”

and:

“The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) plans to spend $44 million in total on its 2010 election program. The union spent $85 million on its 2008 campaign, according to union officials.”

Even though unions have already gotten taxpayer bailouts of benefits ($20 BILLION in GM fiasco alone), preferential treatment in federally funded work, the overturning of 76 year rules on unionization, ownership in Chrysler and GM to the detriment of shareholders, creditors and taxpayers, and the lions share of stimulus money directed to public work projects which will have to be union, they will be expecting more like taxpayer funding of a trillion dollars of under funded union pension liabilities.

“Unions spent $400 million during the 2008 elections in support of Democratic candidates, and Barack Obama has been grateful. Obama is making union dreams come true” as reported by Peyton R. Miller at The Weekly Standard.

This is a list of the 20 legislators who have received the most funds from public sector unions. Now you see why unions which make up only 12% of the work force get 100% of the favors from Democrats.

Hoyer, Steny H (D-MD) $1,017,978

Kildee, Dale E (D-MI) $608,789

Obey, David R (D-WI) $574,400

Pomeroy, Earl (D-ND) $551,706

Ackerman, Gary (D-NY) $537,400

Frost, Martin (D-TX) $534,761

Levin, Sander (D-MI) $519,975

DeLauro, Rosa L (D-CT) $505,050

Slaughter, Louise M (D-NY) $500,270

Waxman, Henry A (D-CA) $494,415

Rangel, Charles B (D-NY) $493,150

Bonior, David E (D-MI) $491,466

Pelosi, Nancy (D-CA) $488,500

Evans, Lane (D-IL) $486,240

Abercrombie, Neil (D-HI) $482,680

Edwards, Chet (D-TX) $479,506

Pallone, Frank Jr (D-NJ) $470,600

Hill, Baron (D-IN) $445,750

Gephardt, Richard A (D) $444,800

Lampson, Nick (D-TX) $434,400

And remember all the money from public sector unions comes from tax payers who pay the salaries of the union workers whose dues are then confiscated by the unions for buying politicians to support the unions.

What happens when you count just industrial unions?

Gephardt, Richard A (D) $559,409

Bonior, David E (D-MI) $553,420

Green, Gene (D-TX) $551,750

Strickland, Ted (D-OH) $508,894

Levin, Sander (D-MI) $501,214

Holden, Tim (D-PA) $496,425

Brown, Sherrod (D-OH) $493,056

Kildee, Dale E (D-MI) $491,312

Costello, Jerry F (D-IL) $473,700

Abercrombie, Neil (D-HI) $464,710

Visclosky, Pete (D-IN) $462,800

Frost, Martin (D-TX) $461,198

Kaptur, Marcy (D-OH) $458,310

Obey, David R (D-WI) $452,900

Pomeroy, Earl (D-ND) $449,662

Thompson, Bennie G (D-MS) $448,314

Lampson, Nick (D-TX) $446,100

Evans, Lane (D-IL) $444,710

Stupak, Bart (D-MI) $443,000

Gordon, Bart (D-TN) $442,250

Gee, do we see a pattern here? How about when you just count building trade unions?

Abercrombie, Neil (D-HI) $585,900

Pallone, Frank Jr (D-NJ) $555,575

Holden, Tim (D-PA) $514,169

Gephardt, Richard A (D) $504,579

Levin, Sander (D-MI) $485,015

Miller, George (D-CA) $460,000

Hoyer, Steny H (D-MD) $455,720

Obey, David R (D-WI) $447,750

Hill, Baron (D-IN) $446,550

Sanchez, Loretta (D-CA) $445,400

Andrews, Robert E (D-NJ) $433,623

Evans, Lane (D-IL) $432,000

Kildee, Dale E (D-MI) $424,671

Visclosky, Pete (D-IN) $419,990

LoBiondo, Frank A (R-NJ) $419,799

Pelosi, Nancy (D-CA) $411,450

Payne, Donald M (D-NJ) $407,160

Bonior, David E (D-MI) $403,420

Boswell, Leonard L (D-IA) $402,050

Edwards, Chet (D-TX) $400,150

I’ll let you do the math but as you can see your supposed representatives in congress are bought and paid for by unions. I’ll bet if you sit down and check, the legislators with the most union contributions are from the most bankrupt states. This is ‘progressive’ government at its finest.

Source for these figures is opensecrets.org. Its a great eye opening web site to spend a little time on. See who is buying your legislator.

Some communities are wising up to the unsustainable high costs of unions and are fighting back. Voters in Chula Vista, California overwhelmingly approve an initiative banning public contracts requiring all workers get union wages. The people of Chula Vista could teach the President a little about union favoritism.

Ed Lasky at American Thinker calls us ‘The Unionized States of America’ and describes the dire economic consequences of capitulation to union hegemony. Lee O’Hanian, a professor of economics at UCLA stated in the Wall Street Journal that contrary to popular belief, more unionization will depress the economy and raise unemployment even further. (color emphasis added)

“My research suggests that if unionization rates returned to 1970s levels (roughly in the mid 20% range of the private work force), and if new unions could achieve the same wage premium as existing unions have achieved over nonunion workplaces, then employment could decline by about 4.5 million and real GDP could fall by about $500 billion per year.”

Democrats are pushing very hard right now to pass a bill, the Disclose Act also known as H.R. 5175, that is being touted as restriction on corporate campaign funding in response to the recent Supreme Court Citizens United Decision. The Disclose Act is actually more of an incumbent protection act. The Wall Street Journal calls it the “The Schumer for Majority Leader Act” and says it is designed to give Democrats an advantage in elections this November.

Chamber of Commerce executive vice president for Government Affairs Bruce Josten describes the advantages the Disclose Act gives to union political activity for supporting incumbent Democrats in the video below:

A recent Investor’s Business Daily editorial pointed out that a bill introduced by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania would bail out union pension funds to the tune of $165 billion and “columnist Ben Stein estimated that as much as half of the $862 billion stimulus would go to unions, directly or indirectly. Even that might underestimate organized labor’s take.”

Every where you turn unions are crushing governments and the average citizen. The payoffs from the vast amounts of cash going to legislators (98% goes to Democrats) is ruining our economy and costing us control of our own government at every level. Watch this video showing the disparity in private sector jobs and public union jobs.

What is to be done? Its time to get off the couch, turn off the TV and get involved. Educate yourself on the issues. Read the following articles under RELATED STORIES:.

Let your friends and family know what is going on. Share the information by printing, emailing, faxing, handing out, posting on Facebook or any other way you can think of to get the information out. Unions spend millions to push their propaganda and keep politicians in their pockets.

Work in campaigns for candidates. Organize your block and neighborhood. Make calls, hold ‘Tea Parties’ in your home to inform friends. Call, write and email your legislators at local, state, and federal governments. Work for right to work legislation in your state or community. If we all do something we can make a difference.

world affairs on July 28th, 2010 12:02 am

It is so much easier to “bribe” a handful of bureaucrats than to try and convince millions of consumers to buy your stuff. This is what is wrong with government run healthcare (or anything else). The FinReg Bill is designed to protect the huge Wall Street Banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan while locking out the smaller regional and other banks from competition.
Tweets that mention SEIU union spends $500,000 in local election, may reach $1,000,000 – a sign of the times? : USACTION NEWS -- Topsy.com on August 9th, 2010 10:27 am

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Anita MonCrief, Warof2010, Warof2010, SEIU Change Lies, cat and others. cat said: SEIU union spends $500,000 in local election, may reach $1,000,000 – a sign of the times?: http://bit.ly/cgV9rq via @addthis #tcot [...]

Leave a Reply