THE UPCOMING SPECIAL ELECTION
THE UPCOMING SPECIAL ELECTION: A KEY AS TO HOW MUCH ABUSE CALIFORNIANS WILL
TOLERATE
By
Ken Eliasberg
In the next four or five columns I want to take a close look at some of the measures that Californians are being asked to pass upon in November. In doing so, I implore you to take a careful look at these proposals, their long-range implications, and what they say about the sorry state of California’s state legislature (whose dereliction, bordering on corruption, is the reason that we’re having this election). This election is not about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s future—he will be fine, whatever the outcome (possibly a bit bruised, but fine)—it’s about our future, and we may not be so fine if the initiatives that I want to look at fail. We Californians, much more than Arnold, are being weighed in the balance; the central question that we are being asked to answer is—do we want good, responsible, responsive and honest government, run by people who serve us, or will we settle for the rule of “Special Interests” . And for these purposes, “the special interest” that we are dealing with is the most powerful special interest in the country—ORGANIZED LABOR!!! I shall have much more to say about organized labor in the future, but, for present purposes just bear in mind that they own the Democratic side of our state legislature, and that is why we need the initiative process to secure the will of the people.
This is not mere rhetoric put forth by a partisan; this is a fact. Organized Labor owns the Democratic party! I used to think that Organized Labor was merely a special interest of the Democratic Party. I had it backwards—the Democratic Party is a special interest of Organized Labor. No special interest or combination of special interests contributes more money or manpower to a party than Organized Labor contributes to the Democrats. And bear in mind not only the questionable legality of this situation, but the essential unfairness of it as well, i.e. 40% of Union members vote Republican; better than 95% of Union money goes to the Democrats. At best this process of coerced member contributions constitutes taxation without representation; at worst it represents something far worse—something that, in my mind, should cast serious doubt over the Union’s continued right to tax-exempt status. They’re spending virtually 100% of their money to favor only one-half of our interest; no other partisan special interest operates in this completely one sided manner and does so on a tax favored basis.
So bear this in mind when you shovel your way through the blizzard of propaganda that the Labor Unions are heaping upon you. They are lying to you—that is the plain and simple fact. And they are doing so because they are desperate; their numbers are declining (from 1/3 of the private labor force in the not too distant past to approximately 8% of the private force today—and the questionable addition of the public sector has not come close to making up the difference). And make no mistake about it, that is what is at stake here—the continued viability of organized labor in its present completely partisan mode - particularly with respect to two of the three measures I intend to examine in more detail in ensuing columns, i.e. paycheck protection and tenure for public school teachers—propositions 75 and 74 respectively. And, I’m not asking you to believe me—and I’m clearly asking you not to believe anything put out by the Unions. I’m appealing to you to conduct an independent examination. I firmly believe that even the most superficial inquiry will confirm that the Labor Unions are lying to you; their back is to the wall—one of the reasons we have just witnessed the recent split offs from the AFL-CIO—and they will say and/or do anything that they feel they have to to not to lose the completely inappropriate advantages that they now enjoy—advantages that consistently operate against the best interests of California.
You are free to doubt this, but you do so at your own peril. Just remember why Schwarzenegger is Governor. Bear in mind where we are and how we got here. We had the recall because we were 38 billion dollars in debt. We arrived at this unfortunate place because of the combined ministrations of one of the most incompetent (and here I’m being generous) governors in any state’s history—Gray Davis—and a State Legislature whose Democrats had quite clearly been bought and paid for by Labor Unions. The Dems operated to secure their power by inviting Organized Labor to pork out at the public trough. And once you give something away—something the Democrats are good at—try getting it back. And that is why California is in the deplorable state that it’s in. Davis, as is so typical of the Democrats during the Clinton era, tried to blame this on others—e.g. Enron. And, while I’m sure that there’s probably enough blame to go around (what happened to that old mantra about the buck stopping here?), let me assure you that Davis and the Legislature’s Democrats are the principal reason for our declining fortunes. So if you want to give them another opportunity to completely bankrupt the State, then vote against these initiatives. If, on the other hand, you want to give California a chance to get its head above the fiscal waters and a fair shake at returning California to the educational powerhouse it once was, then vote for these initiatives.
And don’t forget that the reason we are having these initiatives is because the people’s bought and paid for alleged representatives refuse to do the people’s legitimate business, leaving Arnold no choice but to put matters directly in the hands of the people. For all of our sakes, I urge you to do the right thing. Stay tuned