Posts Tagged ‘paycheck protection’

California gubernatorial candidate Tom Campbell today endorsed the Citizen Power Initiative as one of the most important reforms for turning around California’s troubled state government.  Campbell is the first gubernatorial candidate of either party to endorse the measure, which will end the practice of allowing taxpayer money to be funneled to political causes through public employee unions’ paychecks.  “Fixing our broken state government is priority one,” he said. “That’s why I am running for governor.”  The Citizen Power Campaign issued the following press release:

Tustin, CA [December 30, 2009] -  California gubernatorial candidate Tom Campbell today endorsed the Citizen Power Initiative as one of the most important reforms for turning around California’s troubled state government.  The Citizen Power Initiative is a California ballot measure and proposed constitutional amendment that will end the practice of allowing taxpayer money to be funneled to political causes through public employee unions’ paychecks.

Campbell is the first gubernatorial candidate of either party to endorse the Citizen Power Initiative.  “Fixing our broken state government is priority one,” he said. “That’s why I am running for governor.  Our state budget is broken.  Our state pensions are broken. They’re broken because Sacramento is broken — dominated by a political machine where the public employee unions have excessive power in influencing legislation and budgets.”

“I saw how they worked to defeat the budget-balancing initiative in 2005 and funneled millions of state employees’ dollars into attacking the best hope we had to prevent the budget melt down we are now suffering,” says Campbell, “If state employees want to make political contributions, that’s their right, but their unions should not be able to make that decision for them without their explicit approval.  In Sacramento, however, that’s how the system works. Once in a while, those who aspire to lead our state have to show they’re not afraid actually to show leadership.  That’s why I’m helping lead the charge for the Citizen Power Initiative.”

The Citizen Power Campaign (www.UnplugThePoliticalMachine.org) is currently collecting signatures to qualify the Citizen Power Initiative for the November 2010 ballot.  The proponents have until mid-April to render nearly 700,000 valid signatures to the Secretary of State.

“Tom Campbell’s endorsement shows there are politicians with the courage to do what’s right, even in the face of immense public employee union pressure. We truly appreciate his willingness to take a stand for what he believes,” said Mark Meckler, one of the measure’s five proponents. Meckler, who also serves as the California co-coordinator and a National Coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, explained, “In 2005, a similar initiative was placed on the state ballot and was narrowly defeated because the public employee unions and their corrupt political machine spent millions to do so.”

“Now, California is in a worse crisis and needs this reform even more,” says Meckler, “But today, the electorate is much more informed, much angrier at government irresponsibility, and thanks to the tea parties, much more activated. People from all walks of life in California now understand the institutional corruption in Sacramento is caused by all the political money flowing to the unions from the state government, and they are actively working to stop it through the Citizen Power Initiative.”

“California is at a tipping point,” Campbell explains, “Now is the time to repair our broken democracy and make California governable again.  The Citizen Power Initiative is a necessary first step. We can’t fix anything while the public employee unions are able to defend the system that got us to our present crisis.  Even now, these unions are filing lawsuits to block the spending cuts we need to balance our budget.  And they’re paying for this with money that comes from their members, who are paid out of taxpayer’s pockets. The Citizen Power Initiative fixes this.  That’s the kind of change I hope to bring to Sacramento.”

To read the full text of the initiative and to learn more, visit www.UnplugThePoliticalMachine.org and click on “The Solution.”

To download petitions and join the Citizen Power Campaign’s online community, visit www.UnplugThePoliticalMachine.ning.com.

THE CITIZEN POWER CAMPAIGN

The Citizen Power Campaign combines grassroots taxpayer organizers, retirees, and political veterans.  The initiative’s official proponents are Mark Meckler and Dawn Wildman, California’s Tea Party Patriot state coordinators; Larry Sand, retired public school teacher and founder of the California Teacher Empowerment Network; Allan Mansoor, Costa Mesa Mayor and Orange County Deputy Sheriff; and Mark Bucher, Orange County attorney and author of the 1998 ‘paycheck protection’ initiative, Proposition 226.  The Lincoln Club of Orange County, a group of about 200 business owners and executives who believe in limited government, lower taxes, and the promotion of free enterprise, has been an early supporter and financial contributor to the Citizen Power Campaign.

U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore is leading the charge against government corruption by throwing his support behind the Citizen Power Initiative, a California ballot measure and proposed constitutional amendment that will end the corrupt practice of allowing taxpayer money to be funneled to political causes through public employee unions.  Read the rest of the press release here:

Tustin, CA [December 21, 2009] – U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore this week endorsed the Citizen Power Initiative, a California ballot measure and proposed constitutional amendment that will end the corrupt practice of allowing taxpayer money to be funneled to political causes through public employee unions.

DeVore, who currently serves in the California State Assembly representing the 70th District, is the first prominent Republican candidate to endorse the Citizen Power Initiative. DeVore said, “California’s fiscal crisis will continue unless we can break the political machine. The political alliance created by legislators and the powerful public employee unions who bankroll their campaigns results in bigger government, more spending, and taxpayers are shut out of the process. Nothing will change until we get the government out of the business of collecting union members’ dues that are used for politics.”

The Citizen Power Campaign (www.UnplugThePoliticalMachine.org) is currently collecting signatures to qualify the Citizen Power Initiative for the November 2010 ballot.

“Chuck’s endorsement shows political leadership and political courage,” said Dawn Wildman, an initiative proponent. “Opposing California’s public employee unions paints a target on your back.” She cites a recent example, where a San Diego county firefighters union bankrolled a political campaign to remove an Oceanside Councilman who supported reforming firefighter pensions.

DeVore is a longtime supporter of “paycheck protection” laws aimed at limiting the power of California’s public employee unions. What’s different about the Citizen Power Initiative, DeVore noted, is that while previous attempts focused on getting employees’ permission to use their union dues for politics, this initiative simply takes the government out of the business of collecting dues for politics at all.

DeVore said, “Simply put, the government should not be taking what is essentially taxpayer money and giving it to union bosses for politics. The employee doesn’t even see the money because their dues are automatically deducted from their paychecks, like taxes. The government shouldn’t be involved at all, especially when the union bosses are funding the political campaigns of the same government officials who set their salaries and pensions.”

To read the full text of the initiative and to learn more, visit www.UnplugThePoliticalMachine.org and click on “The Solution.”

To download petitions and join the Citizen Power Campaign’s online community, visit www.UnplugThePoliticalMachine.ning.com.

THE CITIZEN POWER CAMPAIGN
The Citizen Power Campaign combines grassroots taxpayer organizers, retirees, and political veterans. The initiative’s official proponents are Mark Meckler and Dawn Wildman, California’s Tea Party Patriot state coordinators; Larry Sand, retired public school teacher and founder of the California Teacher Empowerment Network; Allan Mansoor, Costa Mesa Mayor and Orange County Deputy Sheriff; and Mark Bucher, Orange County attorney and author of the 1998 ‘paycheck protection’ initiative, Proposition 226. The Lincoln Club of Orange County, a group of about 200 business owners and executives who believe in limited government, lower taxes, and the promotion of free enterprise, has been an early supporter and financial contributor to the Citizen Power Campaign.

NO-SHILL GUARANTEE: Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, made freely, and without financial or any incentive other than the pursuit of freedom and limited government.

The Citizen Power Campaign to end public employee union corruption is now officially gathering signatures  to qualify the Citizen Power Initiative for the November 2010 ballot.  Campaign leaders expressed pleasant surprise that the title and summary issued by Attorney General Jerry Brown “describes accurately and fairly what the initiative will do”.  Campaign leaders were concerned that Brown (who enjoys a special relationship with these unions) might follow the recent trend of unfairly politicizing initiative titles and summaries.  The Citizen Power Campaign has issued a press release announcing the signature gathering launch.  The Campaign is rumored to be ready to announce some major endorsements.

Campaign leaders have tipped their hat to Attorney General Jerry Brown for issuing a fair title and summary.  The Citizen Power Initiative title and summary are as follows:

MAKES ILLEGAL THE USE OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEE WAGE DEDUCTIONS FOR POLITICAL ACTIVITIES. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

Amends the California Constitution to make it illegal to deduct from wages or earnings of a public employee any amount that will be used for political activities as defined. Prohibits any membership organization that receives public employee wage deductions from using those funds for any political activities, but does not apply to deductions for charitable organizations, health, life or disability insurance, or other purposes directly benefitting the public employee. Authorizes the Legislature and Fair Political Practices Commission to adopt related laws and regulations. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Probably minor state and local government implementation costs, potentially offset in part by revenues from fines and/or fees.

Campaign leaders were surprised because of Brown’s special relationship with the public employee unions targeted by the initiative.  Jerry Brown is the “father” of California’s public employee union corruption problem, having signed the law that authorized these unions 30 years ago.  Brown’s legacy is that the public employee unions now siphon billions of taxpayer dollars out of state services into political slush funds used to drive runaway spending and fight reform.  Today, Californians are concerned about Brown’s relationship with ACORN and his taxpayer-funded public employee unions backers.

Now, the Citizen Power Campaign has begun signature gathering to put the measure on the November 2010 ballot.  They have issued the following press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mark Patlan, (888) 949-4245
MarkPatlan [at] ReformTaskForce [dot] com

CITIZENS LAUNCH PETITION DRIVE TO QUALIFY INITIATIVE TO STOP POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN CALIFORNIA

Tustin, CA [December 8, 2009] -  Californians this week launched a signature gathering campaign to qualify the Citizen Power Initiative for the November 2010 ballot. The Citizen Power Initiative is a constitutional amendment that will end the corrupt practice of public employee unions using members’ dues collected by the government for political donations.

The people behind the Citizen Power Initiative are nearly 1,000 taxpayers who have banded together as the Citizen Power Campaign (UnplugThePoliticalMachine.org).  This group operates under the direction of state and national leaders of the Tea Party Patriots movement, such as Dawn Wildman and Mark Meckler, and seasoned public policy advocates, such as Robert Loewen and Mark Bucher. Loewen is president of the Lincoln Club of Orange County (www.lincolnclub.org), which is providing seed money for the campaign, and Bucher is a veteran of past campaigns to limit the power of public employee unions.

The proponents have until mid-April to render nearly 700,000 valid signatures to the Secretary of State.  Tea Party Patriot leader Dawn Wildman reports over 240 county, city, and town coordinators, representing over 10,000 citizen activists, many active in the Tea Party Patriots, who, in the past three weeks, have pledged to collect over 930,000 signatures.

“The Citizen Power Campaign is gaining grassroots momentum quickly,” said Wildman, an initiative proponent and California coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots. “People understand this is the most important reform since Proposition 13. While Proposition 13 helped limit tax increases, it did nothing to stop runaway spending. The public employee unions are the driving force behind runaway spending, and the Citizen Power Initiative is the first step to fix this by taking some of the money out of California politics.”

“The Citizen Power Initiative is the only way to truly reform California’s state government,” says Mark Meckler, one of five proponents of the measure. Meckler, who also serves as the California coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, explained, “The problem is the public employee unions have become so powerful in controlling the state’s lawmakers, they’ve created a corrupt political machine. The government should not be in the business of collecting political contributions from government employees. It’s a corrupt, rigged system, and we taxpayers are left holding the bag.”

Furthermore, funneling forced union dues into political causes that a teacher might find objectionable is un-American, said Larry Sand, a retired public school teacher and proponent of the Citizen Power Initiative. “The average teacher pays roughly $1,000 annually in union dues, about 30% of which are used for politics. That means the National Education Association, California Teachers Association and its local affiliates collect about $100 million each year for political purposes. Shouldn’t the decision where to spend that money be left up to the teacher?”

Even worse, public employee unions are spending taxpayer money to block reform. Mark Bucher, who authored Proposition 226 in 1998, said, “We might have prevented or reduced our state budget crisis in 2005 with a series of reforms, but the public employee unions spent more than $148.5 million in essentially taxpayer dollars on political campaigns to defeat them.” Those reforms included common-sense measures such as spending limits and a rainy day fund. Bucher said, “California will never be able to fix its financial problems as long as the public employee unions can use taxpayer dollars defeating even modest reforms.”

Allan Mansoor, mayor of the City of Costa Mesa and an Orange County deputy sheriff, added, “The Citizen Power Initiative will level the playing field. No other special interest group has the power to automatically collect money for politics from someone’s paycheck. Every other interest group has to ask for their political contributions.  Public employee unions can just take them and the employees never even see the money.” Mansoor is also an initiative proponent.

Attorney General Jerry Brown officially approved the initiative language late last week. Ironically, in 1977, then Governor Jerry Brown gave the public employee unions the right to unionize. Since then, public employee unions have spent billions of dollars of taxpayer money to influence politicians and promote campaigns that support the unions’ political agenda. This corrupt system – in which the public employee union negotiator sits across the bargaining table from the politicians they’ve supported – has made politicians accountable to powerful public employee union bosses, rather than voters and taxpayers.

To read the full text of the initiative and to learn more, visit www.UnplugThePoliticalMachine.org and click on “The Solution.”

To download petitions and join the Citizen Power Campaign’s online community, visit www.UnplugThePoliticalMachine.ning.com.

THE CITIZEN POWER CAMPAIGN

The Citizen Power Campaign combines grassroots taxpayer organizers, retirees, and political veterans. The initiative’s official proponents are Mark Meckler and Dawn Wildman, California’s Tea Party Patriot state coordinators; Larry Sand, retired public school teacher and founder of the California Teacher Empowerment Network; Allan Mansoor, Costa Mesa Mayor and Orange County Deputy Sheriff; and Mark Bucher, Orange County attorney and author of the 1998 ‘paycheck protection’ initiative, Proposition 226. The Lincoln Club of Orange County, a group of about 200 business owners and executives who believe in limited government, lower taxes, and the promotion of free enterprise, has been an early supporter and financial contributor to the Citizen Power Campaign.

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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 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.