[Cross-posted from
The Left Coaster]
When Arnie threw down the gauntlet yesterday for his nauseating $55 million special election this year in California the California Teachers Association and California Prison Guards immediately raised their dues to raise an expected $68 million to contest the election. Other unions are expected to join in for at least $75 million to spend in opposition.
Schwarzenegger and the GOP are expected to spend $40 million.
Arnie and the GOP absolutely loathe unions and truly hate the fact they can organize to stop their greedy power'n money grabs. Unions help ensure a living wage, health and retirement benefits, job security, and safety conditions.
Not surprisingly, an initiative on the ballot for this election would force all California unions to have their members sign consent forms to have their collected dues spent on political lobbying. Along with the teachers and nurses unions this will bring out the police officers and firefighters, who are still ragingly pissed off at Arnold for trying to gut their retirement benefits earlier this year.
Arnie the rough-hewn Terminator is going to get crushed when real heroes and public servants, clad in uniforms so glorified since 9/11, appear on television and explain what a lying backstabber he is. The teachers and nurses have already massively chopped Arnie's popularity, but this poor LA actor hasn't seen anything yet. Just wait until the cops and firefighters are through with him.
For outsiders trying to understand this election a critical component is this union fight. When Arnold ran his ridiculous 30-day recall election of course there was never a word breathed about the terrible, terrible problems unions have saddled California with. Arnie ran as a "progressive" Republican, above such nasty partisan sniping like trying to knife public employee unions.
What the anti-union tactics represent is irrefutable proof that Arnold is just another short-sighted, the-free-market-is-God-screw-all-the-workers Republican. With all the massive, urgent problems facing California, why on Earth is Arnold trying to gut cops' pensions or screw teachers? Because that's what Republicans do: screw workers at every opportunity, real problems that effect real citizens be damned, we've got to shut up those uppity workers who diminish our profits. How dare those sweaty surfs upset our plans just because they want health care for their children!
What these union initiatives represent is an utter betrayal by Arnold to be "above it all." He thinks he can take on our nurses, teachers, public administrators, cops, prison guards, and firefighters and convince the rest of this blue state gutting them will solve all problems. My, my.
They've already got $75 million to show him just how politically stupid and dangerous this little trick is, part of which will highlight Arnie's backstab to our children by not replenishing the $2 billion he took from Prop. 98 funds last year and promised our teachers he would give back. Who are the citizens of California going to trust--a lying backstabber to our kids or our teachers?
Going to be a very long summer, Arnold.
[If you are interested in labor/union issues in general, bookmark the incomparable and invaluable Nathan Newman]
