Taxpayers must stop Obama’s Big Labor slush fund cover-up.  Big Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is helping cover up Big Labor slush fund contributions by not requiring Big Labor to complete union trust disclosure documents.  These reports disclose Big Labor’s taxpayer funded political operations and front groups, including ACORN and many other shadowy groups.  Taxpayers have until December 14 to share your comments with the Big Labor Department and demand greater transparency, not less.  This outrageous cover-up offers more proof why California needs the Citizen Power Campaign to stop public employee unions from using taxpayer money for special interest politics.

Demand public employee union transparency. Tell the President:

LABOR UNIONS MUST BE REQUIRED TO DISCLOSE THEIR POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS BECAUSE IT IS NECESSARY TO THE PUBLIC INTEREST, BECAUSE:
(1) MANY MEMBERS ARE FORCED TO JOIN,
(2) FORCED TO PAY DUES,
(3) FORCED TO FUND SPECIAL INTEREST POLITICS AGAINST THEIR WISHES;
(4) MOST OF THIS MONEY COMES FROM TAXPAYERS, AND
(5) NON-DISCLOSURE CREATES AN APPEARANCE OF CORRUPTION.
NON-DISCLOSURE WILL CREATE A PUBLIC BACKLASH AGAINST UNIONS THAT WILL RESULT IN STATE LAWS FORBIDDING USE OF TAXPAYER MONEY FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNIONS.
NON-DISCLOSURE TELLS THE PUBLIC THAT THE PRESIDENT FAVORS BIG LABOR OVER TAXPAYERS AND WORKERS.
NON-DISCLOSURE WILL BACKFIRE ON THE PRESIDENT.

The public employee unions are plundering and bankrupting California and the nation.  That’s the bottom line of Steve Greenhut’s new book, Plunder: How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation.  KFI radio’s Bill Handel interviewed Greenhut, former editor of the Orange County Register, earlier this week to discuss the book.  (Bill Handel podcast at 15:00) The book is a necessary primer on why California state government is broken – and how to fix it.  Greenhut proves why the Citizen Power Campaign is necessary to fix California state government by stopping the use of taxpayer dollars for politics by the public employee unions.

Steve Greenhut chronicles how the public employee unions have turned state government upside down. “Government employees are supposed to work for the public- not the other way around”, says reviewer Robert W. Loewen, President of the Lincoln Club of Orange County, “Unfortunately, because of the overwhelming political influence of government unions, public employees have gained an unsustainable level of pay and benefits. … The public servants have indeed become the public’s masters.” Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association warns, “If you take high blood pressure medicine, better take a double dose before reading this book. … The good news is that Greenhut gives valuable advice at the end of the book on what we can do to turn the tide on this seemingly unstoppable socialistic encroachment.”

Greenhut proves why the Citizen Power Campaign is necessary to fix California state government by stopping the use of taxpayer dollars for politics by the public employee unions.  People forget how the public employee unions spent $148.5 million in 2005 to defeat Governor Schwarzenegger’s reforms that might have have prevented our budget mess or softened the blow .  The reforms they defeated included spending limits, a rainy day fund, and “paycheck protection” (requiring unions to get the consent of their members before spending their union dues on politics).  The Citizen Power Campaign is a necessary first step in fixing California.

The National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) has charged the SEIU with intimidating immigrants in a recent Fresno union election. NUHW has been seeking to break away from the undemocratic SEIU. According to the NUHW, SEIU has engaged in violence and worker intimidation. They are not the only victim of SEIU’s plundering.  It is no wonder that the SEIU is pushing to eliminate secret ballot elections (designed to prevent this very kind of coercion) by backing Card Check Forced Unionization (the perversely named “Employee Free Choice Act”).

NUHW has been seeking to break away from the undemocratic SEIU’s top-down-control structure.  NUHW accuses the SEIU of using scare tactics and violence to keep workers from voting to leave SEIU, and of illegally coercing Bank of America into giving the SEIU an $88 million credit line (despite federal law prohibiting financial ties between employers and unions attempting to organize their employees).  Their latest complaint alleges that the SEIU intimidated immigrant workers – coming to their homes several times a day, questioning their legal status, and threatening deportation or loss of wages and benefits if they voted to leave SEIU. “It’s disturbing to watch SEIU eat its own like this,” says NUHW’s attorney.

NUHW is not SEIU’s only victim.  Elsewhere, SEIU is besieging breakaway rival UNITE HERE.  SEIU has spent millions attacking rivals who accuse it of strong-arm tactics, including coercion, threats, and harassment.  Why is SEIU doing this?  They are after plunder – “prime Manhattan real estate, considerable cash reserves and a majority stake in Amalgamated Bank in New York, which has more than $4 billion in assets.”

SEIU’s intimidation tactics make clear that they are pushing to eliminate secret ballot elections because it facilitates their piracy.  SEIU’s tactics give lie to their recently leaked talking points that claim we need “employee free choice” (election-free union intimidation) because “working families” (code name for unions) are being victimized by “a company-dominated system” that “denies workers a free choice” (secret ballot elections designed to prevent intimidation).  Even their fellow unions make it clear that SEIU is an anti-democratic organization that threatens and intimidates working families – the neighborhood bully.

The public employee unions have corrupted California state government.  They have become the most powerful special interest group in Sacramento.  As a result, California’s state and local employees are the best compensated in the country.  Californians pay ever higher taxes for ever worse services.  Now, taxpayers are fighting back by launching the Citizen Power Campaign to restore taxpayer power and end corruption.  California cannot be fixed without this reform.

The public employee unions have become the most powerful special interest group in Sacramento.  They “spent millions of taxpayer dollars in 2009 to support Proposition 1A last May, which would have increased taxes on the citizens of California by $16 Billion”.  They can do this because they have “special powers” that no other special interest group has – “the power to automatically take hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars every year out of the paychecks of government workers for “special-interest”politics – without having to ask for it”.  The results speak for themselves.

California’s state and local employees are the best compensated in the country.  Claremont Review of Books Contributing Editor Bill Voegeli points out that “Local government employees make 11.5% more in California than Connecticut, and 21.4% more than those in Massachusetts.  State workers in California make 13.1% more than New York’s and 19.9% more than those in Massachusetts.”

Californians pay ever higher taxes for ever worse services.  Law professor Eugene Volokh has written how Californians pay high taxes for poor services because “California spends far more of its tax dollars on transfer payments to particular groups with political clout” – notably “public employees, public employee pensions, public sector unions”.  Volokh is shocked that (low tax) Texas enjoys better “education, liveability, transportation, quality of life” than California.  This is because “scarce tax dollars in Texas are spent on priorities that have broad appeal”.  California, however, “[provides] increasingly poor services at an ever increasing cost” because “the state’s public sector is not holding up its end of the bargain.”

Now, taxpayers are fighting back by launching the Citizen Power Campaign.  The Citizen Power Campaign has filed an initiative for the November 2010 ballot to end public employee union corruption and restore political power back to its rightful owners – taxpayers and voters. Their initiative will stem the flow of corruption money by prohibiting the use of any portion of state worker’s paychecks for political purposes.  State workers will regain the right to make their own decisions about their political donations.  Public employee unions must ask for political donations – just like everyone else.

California cannot be fixed without this reform.  Without it, these unions will stop needed reform.  Without it, Proposition 13’s Great Wall of Taxpayer Protection may crumble under the endless siege being waged against it by the public employee unions and their political cronies.  Taxpayers must join in this fight because California’s future hangs in the balance.

Everyone agrees that California needs reform to make it governable.  And there is much debate over what reforms are needed. But, there can be no meaningful reform until we first limit the corrupting influence of the overpowerful public sector unions that are bankrupting California.  This means passing effective Paycheck Protection laws to stop these unions from using taxpayer dollars to gain more taxpayer dollars.  Some OC activists are taking the lead to help pass this fundamental and essential reform.

California’s overpowerful public sector unions are a corrupting influence on state government.  As we’ve noted, these unions have become “the New Tammany Hall, a corrupt government worker union machine that buys and controls votes.  Unlike private sector unions, government worker unions are able to sit at both sides of the bargaining table by electing the politicians who control their pay.  In the 2008 election cycle, the SEIU (alone) spent $42.4 million in independent expenditures on top of $73 million in labor contributions.”

The overpowerful public sector unions are bankrupting California.  They have used their corrupt bargaining position and political power to gain better compensation, job security, health benefits, and pensions than private sector workers.  The recent attempt to spike MWD pensions, on the heels of a 20% rate increase, is but one example. California’s “too big to fail”  pension fund, CALPERS, puts “Californian taxpayer … on the hook if CALPERS cannot pay out the avalanche of promises to California’s state workers.”

We must pass effective Paycheck Protection laws to stop these unions from using taxpayer dollars to gain more taxpayer dollars.  Paycheck Protection limits unions ability to spend member dues on political activity without their consent.  (The Supreme Court has held that union members have the right to prohibit unions from using their dues for functions unrelated to collective bargaining.) While this will help, effective Paycheck Protection must go further by leveling the playing field between public sector union members and the public who employs them.

Paycheck Protection must permit the state (or any political subdivision thereof) to withhold union dues from state worker pay only for functions related to collective bargaining.  Public sector unions must be absolutely prohibited from spending member dues for political purposes (subject to the threat of criminal sanctions).

This would not be an unconstitutional abridgment of the free speech rights of public sector workers.  The Supreme Court has held that political speech may be limited to prevent corruption or the appearance of corruption.  Public sector unions have created a powerful appearance of corruption.  Yet, this law would not unduly burden state workers’ free speech rights.  They would be free to donate money to their union or any political cause.  This law would level the playing field, subjecting state workers and their unions to the same political campaign finance limits and reporting requirements as private individuals, businesses, and organizations.

OC activists are taking the lead to put Paycheck Protection on the 2010 ballot.  Hopefully, they will draft an effective Paycheck Protection initiative.  These unions spent $100 million to defeat reform in 2005.  (This money came from taxpayers pockets.) If Californians want reform then they must pass effective Paycheck Protection.  There can be no meaningful California reform until the overpowerful public sector unions are dethroned.

It was no surprise that Rep. Loretta Sanchez (CD 47) supported government-run healthcare in yesterday’s “town hall meeting” (conference call).  However, the “blue dog” Democrat’s support for socialization stands in stark contrast to her opposition to bank bailouts only one year ago.  It appears that Sanchez has been put on a leash by her Big Labor masters.

Big Labor is pushing hard for government-run healthcare.  Locally, they are employing a front group, Health Access California (HAC).  HAC’s Board includes representatives of Big Labor and the radical left (including ACORN).  Overpowerful government worker unions are well represented, including the SEIU, the California teacher unions (CTA and CFT), and the AFSCME.

HAC advocates costly state mandates that make healthcare more expensive.  HAC recently condemned the governor for vetoing costly insurance mandates, claiming that the governor was “[siding] with the insurance industry”. Of course, they cynically ignore the fact that consumers pay the cost of these mandates through higher rates.  While HAC claims they want to increase access and reduce costs, their policies do the opposite – reducing access by increasing costs.

Nevertheless, HAC is just a front for Big Labor – the New Tammany Hall, a corrupt government worker union machine that buys and controls votes.  Unlike private sector unions, government worker unions are able to sit at both sides of the bargaining table by electing the politicians who control their pay.  In the 2008 election cycle, the SEIU (alone) spent $42.4 million in independent expenditures on top of $73 million in labor contributions.

Loretta Sanchez is a big recipient of Big Labor cash.  Her Big Labor donors include several unions with multiple officers and members that “have been convicted since 2001 of felonies ranging from embezzlement, falsifying official reports to government, mail fraud and conspiracy.”  Thus, it is no surprise that Sanchez was co-sponsor of Big Labor’s “Employee Free Choice Act” (Card Check) that would have eliminated the secret ballot in union-certification elections.

Loretta Sanchez is no “blue dog”.  Instead, she is a poodle for Big Labor.

The Socialist Worker newspaper has endorsed the tax hike agenda being forwarded by the California Teachers Association (CTA) and the California Budget Project.  Their answer to California’s budget woes is simple – raise taxes on businesses and business property.  Socialist Worker’s Andy Libson (a San Francisco teacher) writes that this is “the only plan that makes sense in a world run by anyone other than crooks and sadists.”

The California Budget Project is a union front that purports to “improve public policies … through independent research, budget and policy analysis”.  The group’s pro-tax Executive Director is Jean Ross, a former researcher for Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a large California state worker union.  Ross also sits on the Board of the California Tax Reform Association, another pro-tax union front.

The CTA and California Budget Project have proposed a host of tax hikes on businesses, including raising corporate taxes, removing tax breaks for corporations, raising the top bracket on income taxes, and repealing Proposition 12 to raise property taxes on businesses. Other tax hike proponents have proposed an additional business taxes, the Business Net Receipts Tax (BNRT), a 4 percent tax on gross income, payroll, and interest.

Even as California state worker unions and their allies agitate for tax hikes, other high-tax states worry that tax hikes could backfire.  New York’s tax hikes on the wealthy resulted in tax revenues 20 percent below estimates.  Past experience has shown that “tax the rich” schemes result in short-term increases followed by reduced growth and job losses, as the wealthy take their businesses and capital elsewhere.

The CTA and their allies are undeterred.  “It’s the job of socialists, radicals and anyone else who is sick of giving in to the rich”, says Socialist Worker, “No more concessions, tax the rich.’”

Big labor is fighting reform again, this time against efforts to limit government through a a part-time legislature. Citizens for California Reform are advancing a ballot initiative to return California to a part-time legislature.  The Sacramento Bee reports that Sacramento politicians are fighting back.

Citizens for California Reform (CCR), a non-partisan public interest organization committed to limited and transparent government, are advancing a ballot initiative to return California to a part-time legislature.   CCR President Gabriella Holt, a registered nurse and former Palos Verdes School Board member and L.A. County Probation Commissioner, is spearheading the Citizen Legislature Project.  Their goal is to enact the Citizen Legislature Act, which will limit government and protect taxpayers by forcing the legislature to focus only on critical issues.

Big labor and Sacramento politicians are fighting back, forming their own group, Californians for an Effective Legislature.  The group is chaired by a trio of big government hacks: John Laird (D), Dario Frommer (D), and Bob Naylor (R); and led by Executive Director Steve Maviglio (D).

Republican Bob Naylor is the former chairman of Friends of Abel Maldenado.  (Taxpayers recently targeted Maldenado with a recall effort after he broke ranks with Republicans to vote with Democrats to raise taxes on struggling Californians.)  Naylor is also a lobbyist representing state worker unions.

Democrat John Laird draws a taxpayer-funded salary of $132K for sitting on the California Integrated Waste Management Board, alongside termed-out lawmakers Carole Migden and Sheila Kuehl.  The board has been criticized as a “high-salaried recycling bin for termed-out politicians and political insiders”.  According to Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, this board “Shouldn’t be former legislators [because] these people are not experts… But they’re getting full-time wages while only working part time. ”

Democrat Dario Frommer is a former assistant to recalled Governor Gray Davis.  Frommer was a  member of the leadership team of former Assembly Speaker, Fabian Nunez, serving as Assembly Majority Leader.  (Frommer was reportedly connected to a scandal involving Nunez and VIP, a nonprofit group formed by the late L.A. union boss, Miguel Conteras.  VIP was accused of illegally using union money to make cash donations and staff phone banks for Frommer and other candidates.  VIP was investigated again in 2009 on charges of illegally operating a “slush fund” to benefit local politicians.) As Assembly Leader, Frommer helped create and worsen California’s fiscal crisis by promoting unsustainable spending, burdensome taxes, and regulation that have driven business from California.

Executive Director Steve Maviglio is a seasoned veteran at stopping reform in California.  In 2005, he helped defeat Governor Schwarzenegger’s attempted reforms (spending limits, redistricting, union political contributions) in the 2005 Special Election, serving as strategist for the union-funded Alliance for a Better California. Maviglio was Deputy Chief of Staff for Speaker Fabian Nunez, and has served as spokesperson for the California Democratic Party.

“California is a big state with big challenges,” claims this big government/big labor alliance, “Extremists want to further cripple our state legislature’s ability to tackle these problems”  by limiting government through  a part-time legislature.  Of course, the real extremists here are the opponents of reform and limited government.  The bottom line is this: the legislature has been all too effective – at massive spending, at taxing struggling Californians, at feathering their own nests, and driving jobs from California.  That kind of effectiveness Californians don’t need.

The California GOP Senate caucus is undermining California democracy.  In a democracy, voters pick their representatives.  But, apparently GOP leaders believe politicians pick their voters.  This is evidenced by a majority of the Senate GOP caucus endorsing an assembly candidate who doesn’t even reside in the district they are running for.  It appears the fix is in.

A majority of the Senate GOP caucus has endorsed Linda Ackerman for the Fullerton seat (AD 72) abandoned by Mike Duvall. The rogues gallery endorsing her include Senator Roy Ashburn, and former Senate Republican Leaders Dave Cogdill and Dick Ackerman.  Both Senators Ashburn and Cogdill voted to approve the California state budget that created the largest tax increase on any state in the history of the United States. As a result, Sen. Cogdill was forced to resign his leadership post and  outraged taxpayers attempted to recall Sen. Ashburn.  As Senate Leader, Dick Ackerman (former Senator turned political fixer) broke ranks with Republicans to vote with Democrats for increased spending and budget gimmicks that worsened California’s financial crisis.

GOP leaders are no different than Democrat leaders in their disdain for democracy.  Apparently, GOP leaders believe politicians pick their voters.  The fact is that Linda Ackerman does not reside in district AD 72.  Instead, she lives in Irvine with Dick Ackerman, her political fixer husband who is pulling the strings in this charade.  Yet, GOP leaders support this, just as they have supported redistricting that gives them safe districts, protecting them from voters and taxpayers.

While it appears that the political fix is in (courtesy of Dick Ackerman), voters may yet reject Linda Ackerman.  Polls show her well behind Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby.  Unlike Linda Ackerman (who has never held elective office), Norby actually lives in district AD 72, and has a long track record of protecting taxpayers (both as an Orange County Supervisor and Fullerton City Councilman).  Meanwhile, Linda Ackerman and her supporters (Dick Ackerman, Dave Cogdill, Roy Ashburn) represent the leadership that created California’s fiscal crisis and raised taxes on struggling Californians in the middle of the worst economy since the Great Depression.