I received the most recent edition of Cuccinelli's Compass and in all honesty I'm just not sure where to begin but I guess I'll give my insights on his desire (along with the remainder of the Virginia GOP ticket) to make right-to-work/organized labor the forefront issue of this election cycle.
In talking about the differences between him and Steve he put "Right-to-work" as the first issue he wanted to discuss.
Right to work. I'm for it and Steve has voted against it. This is a critically important issue for Virginia's long-term economic health. Steve has a 100% AFL-CIO voting record every single year he's been in the House, and of course, I'm a guy that appreciates consistency like that... my AFL-CIO voting record has been 0% for all of my years in the Senate. Also, this year's NFIB (small business) ratings are out and I got a 100% for the last two years (again), while Steve got a 50% rating. So, if anyone asks you who is the pro-free market and pro-business candidate in the AG's race, now you know the answer.
I'll begin with noting a distinction that Ken attempted to make during their first debate in that Steve "makes more friends than I do." http://bit.ly/... Although Ken will lead you to believe that he has "less friends" than Steve I think he is not realizing that his 0% rating from the AFL-CIO provides him with a great deal of "friends" within the big business community. Secondly, Ken's 100% NFIB rating compared to Steve's 50%. Again, a quick analysis will demonstrate a key difference between the two. Ken's 0% rating compared to Steve's 50% rating shows that Ken is absolutely unwilling to work with working men and women on any labor issue, consistently voting against it. You have to really work hard to obtain a 0% rating but Ken always succeeds. Next, Steve's rating shows he is a bipartisan legislator who can get things done but more importantly that you can't make everyone happy when getting things accomplished in Richmond. If anything, Ken just proved that Steve is not the completely an anti-small business politician which he attempts to paint Steve as. Thus far, Ken Cuccinelli has proven he is no different than the other right-wing ideologues within the ticket on this issue, attempting to paint their opponents are something they are not. While McDonnell and Bolling are attempting to paint themselves as "moderates" Ken had jumped off the right-wing deep end. This doesn't even begin to mention his clear lack of knowledge regarding federal law. http://bit.ly/... (His desire to ignore federal law/National Labor Relations Act and ignorance of the Supremacy Clause will be left for another posting)
Ken Cuccinelli and the Virgina Republican Party are clearly looking for an issue that will gain them traction with the voters. A key ingredient I believe they are missing is that there are more working men and women then their are business leaders and executives but also that supporting working men and women does not make you anti-business. More specifically, worker's rights are an important element of any individual's employment that often pits employer against employee. Collective bargaining is not designed to weaken employers or business but rather improve it. For example, public safety provides the best example for this. In H.R. 413, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009 the bill notes:
Labor-management relationships and partnerships are based on trust, mutual respect, open communication, bilateral consensual problem solving, and shared accountability. In many public safety agencies it is the union that provides the institutional stability as elected leader and appointees come and go.
While this specifically addresses public safety the first part really sums up what collective bargaining is all about; partnerships, trust,open communication. How those things weaken business or management is beyond me. Also, H.R. 413 http://bit.ly/... is a collective bargain bill for public safety that can improve the job rights of public safety employees. Ken Cuccinelli has stated publicly he will not support either public and private collective bargaining but will he vocally denounce and as Attorney General prevent a federal law aimed to improve public safety in Virginia from taking effect?
Finally, Virginia has some of the most restrictive anti-labor laws in the country. I view myself as very pro-labor, pro-worker's rights but I would be very naive to believe that Virginia's right-to-work laws are going to be overturned anytime soon. Working men and women are the key to any business being successful and growing our economy. It would be foolish for an employer to simply ignore what their workers are trying to say to them. Something as simple as meet-and-confer or collective bargaining will not weaken Virginia's business friendly environment. If anything, it is going to strengthen it because it will motivate employees in knowing that they are working for an employer who appreciates what they are going their on their behalf.