Unions, Marxist Groups Join Forces, Use Bailout Money for Get-Out-The-Vote Efforts

By Catherine Snow, CitizenLink: With a little more than two months to go before the Nov. 2 elections – and the stark reality that their days of influence and handouts may be numbered – organized labor unions have pledged more than $100 million to defend pro-union candidates, most of whom are liberal Democrats.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) plans to kick in about $50 million. Former rivals, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO have united and committed a combined $88 million to defend eight Senate and 34 House seats, located in 26 states.

The SEIU, which richly benefited from President Obama’s health care reform bill, identified 15 top-priority Democrat House members to defend, including: Reps. John Boccieri of Ohio, Bill Foster of Illinois, Betsy Markey of Colorado, Tom Perriello of Virginia, Gary Peters of Michigan and Dina Titus of Nevada.

Notwithstanding the numerous bailouts from which they have already benefited – the latest being House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “emergency” $26 billion union bailout on Aug. 4 – labor leaders still bemoan the fact that many of their priorities have yet to be passed.

GET-OUT-THE-VOTE
Despite dramatically diminished membership roles – from its peak in 1945 of one-third of the workforce to just 7.2 percent in 2009 – unions still wield tremendous power, as seen in the 2008 elections, and California’s marriage amendment.

Christopher Prandoni, executive director of the Alliance For Worker Freedom (AWF) – a project of Americans for Tax Reform – said that organized labor has seen its ranks dwindle, as they cannot win on the merits of their argument.

“Unions are lobbying Congress and state legislatures to enact laws that make it easier for them to unionize workers – workers that don’t want to be unionized,” Prandoni said. “With the American public increasingly disenchanted with labor’s prerogatives, unions have looked to skew the election process, and by doing so, subvert the democratic principles this country was founded on.”

AWF reports that 9 out of the top 10 political action committees (PACs) and 4 out of the top 5 organizations donating to 527s that contribute to Democrat candidates are labor unions. . . . [Full Article]

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