Labor Chants "No on Recall"

Everyone is on the "no/yes" bandwagon now, even Gray Davis.

"He's a good, decent person," Davis said Tuesday [of Bustamante]. "He's the most qualified person on Question 2. But this election is not going to get to Question 2."

I outlined the Democrat's options 6 weeks ago, and they decided to go the amgiuous 3rd way of supporting Gray Davis and supporting a replacement; they didn't want to, but Bustamante forced them into a corner by putting his name on the ballot.

It's bizarre to me that union workers support either of the Democrats, considering that they're the ones responsible for the millions of jobs that have fled California for Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada. Not to mention the fact that the Democrats are intertwined with the illegal immigrant community that steals jobs that might otherwise go to union members. Of course, the union bosses don't really have ther union members' best interests in mind; the labor unions are merely a political power tool for the Democratic elite's own ambitions.

It's hard to find data on union members' individual political affiliation, but here's a transcript from 1996 of a conversation between House Majority Whip Congressman Tom Delay of Texas and Gerry McEntee, chairman of the AFL-CIO Political Action Committee, on with Jim Leher.

REP. TOM DELAY: Well, if he would take a lesson from Ralph Reed, no one would have any problem, but--and what he's done--Mr. McEntee says is--sounds benign. But if you look at what they're actually doing, they are compelling their own rank and file members through their union dues and through taxing them to support political activities that some of them, at least 40 percent of them, do not agree with. ...

JIM LEHRER: What about the Congressman's point that 40 percent of union members disagree with the basic position that organized labor--that the AFL-CIO is taking against the Republican Congress?

MR. McENTEE: I think that's probably based upon the belief that 40 percent of our members are registered as Republicans. First of all, I believe that regardless of registration today, people vote Republican, they vote Democrat, or they vote independent, but all we are doing is providing the facts, providing the truth, providing education to the people, whether it be cuts in OSHA, the reduction in Medicare or Medicaid, we don't control any votes--

REP. DELAY: Well, there you are. The truth--

MR. McENTEE: --anymore. We're not able to do that. They have to make their own decisions which members are making each day.

I love the "we don't control any votes anymore" line from McEntee, that's priceless.

Anyway, the chairman of the AFL-CIO Political Action Committee in 1996 didn't deny the notion that 40% of union members are registered Republicans; he did some hand-waving and talked about people voting in various ways, but he didn't say "no, that's not true" or refute the assertion in any way. He merely tried to distract the audience.

And yet the labor unions never endorse any Republicans or any Republican policies, despite the apparent fact that 40% of their membership is Republican. That's a really high number -- I'm sure it's lower in California -- but considering all the attention much smaller minorities get from both parties it's astounding that the labor unions can get away with it. And it goes to show that the union leaders aren't really concerned with representing their union members, as much as they are with maintaining their power.

Update:
I was just listening to Sean Hannity on the radio on the way back from lunch, and he had a caller who belonged to the Screen Actors Guild. She said that guild membership fees are based on income, but only the first $180,000 an actor earns is counted. Talk about regressive!