In case you missed it, that whole story about how public employees (evil unionized public employees) deliberately slowed down their response to the previous major snowstorm in New York has been thoroughly debunked, and the lie laid at the door of a Republican elected official.
The New York Times reports that one man, Councilman Daniel J. Halloran, Republican of Queens, had started the story, saying that five workers, two from the Transportation department and three from Sanitation, had visited him to tell him about the “slowdown.” The transportation workers, though, have denied his claims, and he cannot or will not name the sanitation workers.
A federal investigation was convened after the snowstorm not to look into whether budget cuts were dangerously over-broad and left people without any form of transportation for emergencies, but into the union’s purported actions.
But even Halloran has changed his story somewhat as the investigation proceeds. The freshman councilman, who has Tea Party support, now says that workers “were subtly informed there was no need to rush” while clearing snow, rather than explicitly told to slow it down.
It’s probably too late, though, since the New York Post and Fox News have already used the union workers as another excuse to blame all organized government workers for everything that’s wrong with the country. The damage has been done, and it’s probably too much to hope that the Post will enjoy splashing the truth around as much as all the misinformation.
You can't expect much from the Post or Fox, but pointing out that Halloran at best misspoke and more likely out and out lied is always worth the effort. And if you think there isn't a determined war against public employees from the right, this episode should convince you.