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Editor’s Note: Susan Staub is President of Pennsylvanians for Right to Work, Inc.
You can email her at SStaub@PARightToWork.org, or visit http://www.PARightToWork.org, or link up on Facebook.

Guest Post is a occasional feature at the watercooler… if you’d like to post a piece please email it to me, and I will put post it. Same rules apply as to the cooler contributors. You have to be a real person, no screen names… and it’s got to be watercooler topical. – Ed

Special thanks to Mike Antonucci for his watchdog work on the machinations of the country’s biggest teacher’s union. The National Education Association (NEA Union), in all of its DC grandness, has created a fund to “educate” new members of Congress. The latest New Deal from this Old Guard spent $1 million for their most recent creation from its members’ dues and the forced fees extracted for educators who neither voted for nor want the ‘representation’ from this monopolist.

The irony here – hence, the petard hoisting – is that the first recipient of this largess could be none other than Senator-elect Scott Brown. This could cause some inner crisis for the all-powerful, since 100% of the union’s support went to Brown’s opponent.

The other news, which the union’s officials are not so anxious to spread around, is that for the first time in many years, they’ve lost members. They explain this as student members don’t have jobs; therefore, they didn’t convert into regular members.

Since many growth states are adding new classroom teachers, this is subject to question. The states which are growing are states with Right to Work laws – twenty-two of them – and educators in those states cannot be required to join or be forced to support the union if they choose not to be associated.

It’s important to remember that teachers and teacher union officials are NOT one in the same.

In Pennsylvania, there are thousands of teachers who are firmly opposed to the union’s policies and politics and would like the very basic right restored to them to make their own choices as to which private organizations they will or will not support.

Fortunately, Pennsylvania State House member Kathy Rapp (R-65), joined by a record number of her colleagues, and Senator Mary Jo White (R-21) have stepped up to lead the battle to repeal forced dues and return individual choice where it belongs – to the individuals educators.

If the union’s officials are so convinced that educators do want what they’re selling, they should have no problem with giving that right to choose back to the teachers where it belongs, since no aspect of collective bargaining, contract negotiation or contract adjudication would be impacted in any way.

We repeat our offer to the union officials: If, as you claim, it is a burden to represent educators who are non-members, the simple and fair solution is to support the Rapp and White bills so that you only have to represent those educators who freely choose you to represent them.

I’m waiting to hear from you.

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Editor’s Note: Susan Staub is President of Pennsylvanians for Right to Work, Inc.
You can email her at SStaub@PARightToWork.org, or visit http://www.PARightToWork.org, or link up on Facebook.

Guest Post is a occasional feature at the watercooler… if you’d like to post a piece please email it to me, and I will put post it. Same rules apply as to the cooler contributors. You have to be a real person, no screen names… and it’s got to be watercooler topical. – Ed

What does it mean for future political races and, more importantly, what message did President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Reid, and Speaker Pelosi receive?

First, they had to acknowledge that health care reform as they had crafted it and managed it was stopped in its tracks. Most observers agree that the methods were rejected more than the substance since, still today, nobody is quite sure what the final proposal looked like or that one even existed.

The wheels came off the bus when outrageous deals, which passed muster on no level, signaled desperation and often just plain goofiness! Whole states being exempted from Medicare matches? Unions exempted from provisions that would impact absolutely everyone else until the year 2017? The whole thing had gone beyond ludicrous and helped to form the perfect storm, which just happened to be in Massachusetts.

Rejection of the health care reform, however, was taking place from border to border and from ocean to ocean. The politicians were insistent that We the People just didn’t get it and, when we did, we’d love it. More than a few in DC are still clinging to that.

But that’s not what happened.

It isn’t that We the People didn’t “get it,” significant majorities of us didn’t want it and no amount of political effort was going to sell it.

So, what is DC doing now?

President Obama is a consummate politician and quite an effective communicator. Almost overnight, he has shifted gears from a plan he’s been putting deadlines on for urgent passage or the country would fall apart because we were in a “crisis” to the mantra that what we really need in this country is jobs.

In other words, when something is just totally dead in the water, change the subject.

We need jobs so we need more ‘stimulus’ has a strong chance of ending up in the ash heap, too. Again, people from coast to coast and border to border are keenly aware that the national debt is enormous, is impacting our standing in the world and is devastating our currency.

Emboldened by a significant grassroots victory, the message from citizens is crystal clear: Ignore us at your peril.

What seemed impervious just one year ago is now on very shaky ground and the political landscape is shifting faster than DC can shift priorities. The arrogance of power has cost them and has the potential to devastate on November 2, 2010.

Will they rush to shore up their base by giveaways to Union Officials who have clearly received favored status and expect more? Or, will they listen to the growing majority of very motivated and unyielding citizens and head back to reasonable, restrained and responsible?

One thing is certain: This is not going to be a boring, sedate year.

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Editor’s Note: Dick Stanton is an friend of the watercooler from Montgomery County, Pa.

Guest Post is a occasional feature at the watercooler… if you’d like to post a piece please email it to me, and I will put post it. Same rules apply as to the cooler contributors. You have to be a real person, no screen names… and it’s got to be watercooler topical. – Ed

In February of 2008, I was lucky enough to get tickets to the first broadcast of SNL following the writer’s strike. I ran into two friends of the Cooler in the lobby, and we all sat together. This was during the heated race for the Democratic primary, and the opening sketch was of a debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. While the “unbiased” media peppered Hillary with hardballs, they asked Obama questions like, “Can I get you anything?” and “Are you sure I can’t get you anything? Really, it’s no trouble.”

Fast forward to this morning’s Today Show, where Chuck Todd made that SNL skit seem like hardcore journalism. Sitting down one-on-one with the President in China, Chuck “covered” a variety of topics. On the war in Afghanistan, Obama told him virtually nothing other than we’re changing strategies in a few weeks. Chuck’s response – “This decision, will it be the decision that ultimately ends the war?” to which Obama replied, “This decision will put us on a path towards ending the war.” And as John McLaughlin used to say, “Next issue!” No follow-up for detail at all.

They then moved on to KSM, a topic which, even as just a former collegiate journalist writing sports, had me licking my chops (but I guess being from Philly we’re of a tougher mindset than most “reporters”). His question – “Can you understand why it is offensive to some for this terrorist to get all the legal privileges of an American citizen?” The reply – “I don’t think it’ll be offensive at all when he is convicted and the death penalty is applied to him.” He then cited Obama’s former occupation as a constitutional law professor, and showed Obama saying, “People are not gonna be offended IF that’s the outcome. I’m not prejudging it, I’m not gonna be in that courtroom…I have complete confidence the American people and our legal traditions” and talked about the tough New York prosecutors.

They then switched gears again, and started to discuss missed deadlines that the administration had set, followed by a softball about getting healthcare legislation signed prior to the State of the Union, or by the end of the year. Finished up with the President’s perceived weight loss. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a metaphorical reference to his dealings with the Chinese.

Throughout this interview, NBC’s chief White House correspondent had a look of glee on his face that I could only imagine if my grandfather came back to life and I got to spend a day hanging out with him again.

So, if you’re scoring at home, we covered a revised Afghan strategy without actually learning anything, we were reminded that Obama once taught law, we found out that deadlines were missed because “Congress takes time to do things” and that he really hasn’t been losing weight, but he is, in fact, getting a little grayer.

Leaving every other issue aside, including how the Chinese are criticizing his healthcare plans, how could he possibly avoid the obvious questions about the national security holes being opened by this trial, and the parallels to the disasters that followed the trial of the 1993 bombers? And what of the potential safety issues of this trial? And the safety of the judge and jury? All of these have been dominating the discussion since this announcement was made, yet in a private interview, NBC left all of it out of the interview.

I wrote for the same college paper where Katie Couric and Brit Hume got their start – I’m guessing the latter, at least, would’ve handled this interview much differently. I am disgusted by the lack of integrity in the national media anymore. Forget the states, we’re really down to red and blue networks at this point, and it’s a disgrace.

You can see the video here.

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Editor’s Note: Susan Staub is President of Pennsylvanians for Right to Work, Inc.
You can email her at SStaub@PARightToWork.org, or visit http://www.PARightToWork.org, or link up on Facebook.

Guest Post is a occasional feature at the watercooler… if you’d like to post a piece please email it to me, and I will put post it. Same rules apply as to the cooler contributors. You have to be a real person, no screen names… and it’s got to be watercooler topical. – Ed

This nation was founded on individual liberty. Compulsory unionism tramples on every fundamental American right. Forced union dues take away every individual’s freedom and permanently distort the employee/employer relationship.

Private sector employees, utilizing secret ballots, have rejected union organizing attempts. A 2004 U.S. Bureau of Labor report shows private sector union membership less than 8%, losing half of their members in the past 25 years. Union officials are very aware of this downward spiral in their members’ numbers and failed attempts trying to organize a workplace. They need to call in “favors” from their friends in Congress to stop the bleeding.

This is the true reason and motivation for the “Employee Free Choice Act” or so-called “card check.” That is the reason for the hurried attempt to push it through Congress. That’s why union bosses want card check, which we can NEVER allow to become law…to get from politics that which they cannot earn on their merits, because employees don’t want them! If “card check” becomes law or any compromise of this terribly misnamed legislation, the secret ballot will come under fire and individuals’ rights violated. Those employees choosing not to sign cards, without the secret ballot, could become targets of “union thugs” using “persuasion” to get them to change their minds about joining the union.

Unaccountable, third party government arbitrators will take over negotiations between union officials and employers if a contract cannot be negotiated within 60 days. In our nation’s history, this has never happened before, and it will give government the control of businesses from the inside. This unaccountable, third party arbitrator will be mandating wages, benefits and every aspect of the contract without regard for the ongoing operation of the facility.

The union bosses poured millions of dollars into campaigns and they are looking for the payback. Ten billion dollars in the “healthcare bill” for the United Auto Workers and the passage of “card check,” to name two items, would return the political favor.

We see what has happened and who is leaving Pennsylvania. Caterpillar, Mack Trucks, Williams-Sonoma and more recently Carlisle Tire and Wheel have taken their thousands of jobs and relocated. Not to Mexico or overseas, but to Right to Work states. And Harley-Davidson is considering a move from York, PA, to either Kentucky or Tennessee, a Right to Work state.

The unions are drooling over the possible passage of the “Employee Free Choice Act.” They know that if that passes, it will give them unrestrained opportunity to intimidate workers and employers. Unions are “big business” and they need to keep the money coming in through forced dues. They would collect millions of dollars from all the “new members.”

The passage of Right to Work laws are needed now more than ever. Businesses would locate here, create jobs and generate tax revenue. Just imagine Pennsylvania returning once again to a leading manufacturing state, creating a climate for businesses to prosper and create jobs without the intimidation from union organizers or their attorneys and allowing workers to earn paychecks without the unions taking their share to buy political favors.

A few PA legislators can see the dire future of our Commonwealth if the unions have their way. Senator Mike Folmer (R-48) and Representative Curt Schroder (R-155) have each introduced a resolution standing against “card check.” Senator Mary Jo White (R-21) and Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-12) have prime sponsored Right to Work law legislation. Representatives Tom Creighton (R-37), Kathy Rapp (R-65), and Sam Rohrer (R-128) have each sponsored “agency shop” repeal legislation.

I believe the sleeping giant has been awakened. People across PA are calling us, writing their legislators, and making their voices heard on “card check” and other issues.

Exporting coercive unionism and importing freedom, creating jobs and growing businesses will be the key to unlock a prosperous future for our Commonwealth.

Pennsylvanians for Right to Work is a non-profit citizens organization dedicated to the single issue of providing freedom of choice with respect to labor union membership for all Pennsylvania’s working citizens. Their website address is www.PARightToWork.org. To schedule an interview, debate, or radio program with Mrs. Staub, please contact Keith Charles at 717-233-1227.

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Editor’s Note: Susan Staub is President of Pennsylvanians for Right to Work, Inc.
You can email her at SStaub@PARightToWork.org, or visit http://www.PARightToWork.org, or link up on Facebook.

Guest Post is a occasional feature at the watercooler… if you’d like to post a piece please email it to me, and I will put post it. Same rules apply as to the cooler contributors. You have to be a real person, no screen names… and it’s got to be watercooler topical. – Ed

Sources in Washington have informed us that the proponents of the sneakily misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) may try to run some “compromise” version of the nationwide unions’ #1 priority on Friday, June 26. What a horrible idea.

More accurately labeled “card check,” the legislation would effectively eliminate a workers’ secret ballot in a union organizing election. That’s fundamentally un-American.

Equally onerous is the total sea change in private sector bargaining. Private companies with as few as three employees would be given a deadline to negotiate a contract with the union and then be submitted to binding arbitration if a contract isn’t agreed to. The outcome would be the effective end of private business ownership.

No, that isn’t an exaggeration. Businesses built on private capital and personal risk would be submitted to an unaccountable third party (the arbitrator) to determine how and on what conditions the business would operate.

In the name of ‘fairness’ and ‘equity for all’, lifetimes and generations of currently existing enterprise building would be turned upside down. Further, since small business has been the backbone of American enterprise and entrepreneurship, who would want to attempt to open a business under these kinds of conditions?

Union and non-union employees alike have told pollsters they don’t want this. Business and consumers don’t want this. So, the question is, who does think this is good for a “changed” America?

That answer is union officials, who for decades have been unable to sell unionization on its merits. What they did instead is to carefully and deliberately spend millions of dollars over several election cycles in a dogged determination to acquire the votes for this.

Have they succeeded in lining this up? If citizens from all walks of life weigh in, there is time for it to be stopped. Several United States Senators have stated publicly that in their entire careers, they’ve never received so much input on any other single subject. Some of those Senators have been in office for 30+ years, so that’s quite a statement.

Of course, the union officials are putting everything they can come up with into passage of this.

Encouraging is the fact that businesses and taxpayers, coast to coast, have urged that it be defeated. It’s encouraging because this proves people are not apathetic as far too many politicians would have us believe and they understand how devastating this would be for our children, our grandchildren and to the core principles on which this nation was founded and on which it has thrived.

This is the week prior to the celebration of the anniversary of the founding of our country and the outcome of “card check” will speak volumes about where we are headed. For all of our sakes and that of our posterity, the direction must be towards increased liberty, not coercion.

So this is a no-brainer. We must let our federal lawmakers know that the only reasonable and responsible vote on this legislation is a resounding NO.

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Editor’s Note: J. Matthew Wolfe is a member of the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania, representing the 8th Senatorial District in Philadelphia and writes for The Loyal Opposition, a Republican policy group focused on issues facing the City of Philadelphia.

Guest Post is a occasional feature at the watercooler… if you’d like to post a piece please email it to me, and I will put post it. Same rules apply as to the cooler contributors. You have to be a real person, no screen names… and it’s got to be watercooler topical. – Ed

Greetings from Philadelphia. Weather is hot and humid. Business climate is oppressive.

Philadelphia’s Mayor and City Council want to raise Philadelphia’s sales tax to 8%, fully 33% more than most of Pennsylvania. Fortunately, they need State Legislative approval to perpetrate this lunacy.

This legislation will impact Pennsylvania’s budget and will have an even bigger effect on Philadelphia’s economic health. As a Philadelphian I am asking that you alert your legislators to your opposition to this scheme.

They argue that they are not asking for state money, but only the tools to help themselves. Don’t buy it. Increasing Philadelphia’s sales tax will hurt all Pennsylvanians.

Democratic City Council President Anna Verna said it best when she acknowledged that “The surrounding counties will be the beneficiary of the sales-tax because if you live in Philadelphia and have to buy a large item and it is taxable, you’re going to go to another county where you may not have to pay that tax.”

The “surrounding counties,” however, are not just suburban Pennsylvania counties. New Jersey and Delaware are included. When buyers leave Philadelphia to go out of state to make purchases, Philadelphia loses its 2%, but Pennsylvania loses 6%, a much bigger amount.

Additionally, increasing the sales tax is another incentive to buy online, where little of the sales tax ever gets into the state coffers.

There is another way that Pennsylvania loses. Philadelphia should be an economic engine that helps drive Pennsylvania. Instead, due to mismanagement and corruption, it is a drag. The legislature is complicit in this problem, time and time again making special exceptions for Philadelphia, allowing our Mayor and City Council to take actions that have chased taxpayers, businesses and jobs out of the city and out of the region. Don’t let them do it again.

The City flat out spends too much money. Philadelphia cannot continue to try and be all things to all people. It needs to focus on the core municipal responsibilities of public safety, sanitation and public education. There IS enough revenue in the budget to perform those functions efficiently without any tax increase.

How much money has gone to support the “Culture of Corruption?” How many Democratic fundraisers, State Senators and City Treasurers must go to jail before changes are made?

In the past few weeks, Mayor Nutter handed out over a million dollars in grants to businesses. In the best of times, wouldn’t it make sense to use that money to lower every business’ taxes? Let’s not kid anyone, though. Does anyone think that these grants were given out in a fair process? Did the recommendations of the Mayor and City Councilmen mean more than any objective evaluation?

The City passes laws that increase its costs. The “Slavery Disclosure Law” requires any business, even new ones, to disclose whether the business ever owned slaves or benefitted from slavery. The “21st Century Minimum Wage Law” requires that any business doing business with the City pay all of its employees 150% of minimum wage. Laws such as these shrink the number of bidders on City contracts and increase their costs. Change these and other laws before increasing taxes.

There is much spent on “programs” that have nothing to do with public safety, sanitation or education. Don’t get me wrong, most of these programs do good things. Bottom line, though, is that the City cannot afford to destroy its tax base to fund programs that are favored by special interest groups and help individual City Councilmen get reelected.

Could the City save money by contracting out its trash removal and health care centers? My guess is we will never know because the administration and City Council will never seriously study the possibility. Shouldn’t that at least be considered?

Contact your legislators, Democrat or Republican, and demand that Philadelphia be treated like any other Pennsylvania county. It is not a Philadelphia issue, but one that affects every Pennsylvanian.

Make Philadelphia live within its means and preserve Pennsylvania’s treasury.

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Editor’s Note: Susan Staub is President of Pennsylvanians for Right to Work, Inc.
You can email her at SStaub@PARightToWork.org, or visit http://www.PARightToWork.org, or link up on Facebook.

Guest Post is a occasional feature at the watercooler… if you’d like to post a piece please email it to me, and I will put post it. Same rules apply as to the cooler contributors. You have to be a real person, no screen names… and it’s got to be watercooler topical. – Ed

“For decades U.S. organized labor insisted that secret ballots were a
sacrosanct necessity in determining whether workers wanted to join unions…Now labor bosses want to chuck the secret ballot; unionization would instead be decided by signing a petition or pro-union signature cards.”
…Steve Forbes, “Fact and Comment,” Forbes Magazine, 03/26/07

Granting union officials the power to grant bargaining rights in either a public or private sector business by allowing them to pressure reluctant workers into signing so-called “card-check” petitions, (removing their current right to a private up-or-down vote), will never help individual workers. Instead it hands their individual freedom over to a union official who seeks to speak for all employees, willing members or not.

According to the Forbes magazine article cited above, more than 35% of government workers feeding off the taxpayers are now unionized. This is “compared to a paltry 7.4% in the private sector,” signaling to labor union officials that they can have little success in winning secret ballot elections by the vast majority of America’s workers. Their response is to end the secret ballot elections and replace them with a “card-check” scheme open to numerous union official’s pressure tactics on individual workers.

The American people have thrived on their individual freedom of choice for generations spanning into three centuries. Personal decisions such as those represented by the secret ballot have been the central element of that liberty in determining our nation’s leaders, our form of government, our laws, and our lifetime choices – be they individual, local or nationwide.

It must never be abandoned or corrupted, either by ambitious, arrogant, and zealous union officials or their misguided legislative cronies.

It no longer amazes me to see Senators and union thugs do a “flip-flop” for the sole purpose of self-preservation. These individuals are looking out for themselves and to advance their agendas with the blessing of government officials. Are they truly interested in the rights of the people they represent? Are they concerned about creating jobs or at least protecting them?

The cold hard facts about union membership are that it’s shrinking. The unions need “card check” to grow their numbers. The unions want their due for the millions of dollars taken from paychecks and given to their union friendly candidates.
Pennsylvania ranks 41st as the best state for business, 46th in economic competiveness and tied for the worst place for worker freedoms. Is this the Pennsylvania we want to do business in? Raise our families? We can’t continue this slide to the bottom of the rankings.

The Employee Free Choice Act must be stopped and the personal freedom of the private ballot preserved. The binding arbitration clause in the Act will cripple business and further set business back in trying to be competitive in the global economy.

Over 1/5 of the PA State House and 1/5 of the PA Senate have signed onto a resolution to the defeat of “card check.” These statesmen and women know what will happen in PA and across our nation if “The Employee Forced Choice Act” passes.
Pennsylvanians for Right to Work has been standing up to the union bosses and the union supported legislators. Together we need to make our voices heard on this issue and other restrictions to free enterprise that governments levy onto the backs of business.

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Editor’s Note: Susan Staub is President of Pennsylvanians for Right to Work, Inc.
You can email her at SStaub@PARightToWork.org, or visit http://www.PARightToWork.org, or link up on Facebook.

Guest Post is a occasional feature at the watercooler… if you’d like to post a piece please email it to me, and I will put post it. Same rules apply as to the cooler contributors. You have to be a real person, no screen names… and it’s got to be watercooler topical. – Ed

In this sluggish, lack-luster economy, the time could not be more right for a Right to Work law for Pennsylvania!

Consider these statistics from the National Institute for Labor Relations Research:

• Private sector jobs in the 22 Right to Work states increased by an aggregate 9.1% between 2003 and 2008.
• Among the eight states with the biggest gain in private-sector employment over the past five years, seven – Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Texas, and North Dakota – have Right to Work laws.
• Seven states had private-sector job growth of less than 2%. All seven – Indiana, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont – are forced-dues states like Pennsylvania, which had 3.82% job growth.
• If private-sector employment in forced-unionism states had grown from 2003-2008 as much as it did in Right to Work states (9.1%), there would be an additional 3.7 million Americans employed in the private sector today!
• Right to Work law protect the freedom of both private and public sector employees to keep and hold a job without handing over dues or fees to a union recognized as their exclusive bargaining agent.
• Almost ever economic indicator shows that forced union dues inhibit job growth.

Please join with Pennsylvanians for Right to Work now as we work to advance Right to Work law legislation in both the Pennsylvania Senate and Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Senator Mary Jo White (R-21) and Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-12) are both circulating for co-sponsors for their respective Right to Work Law legislation.

The list of current co-sponsors is published here. If your state senator and/or representative is not a co-sponsor, please contact them and urge them to be a co-sponsor. If they are a co-sponsor, please thank them for being a true statesman – for standing up for the liberty and individual rights of Pennsylvania’s citizens. You can find your state legislator’s contact information here, as well as finding out who your state senator and representative are if you do not have that information.

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Editor’s Note: Guest Post is a occasional feature at the watercooler… if you’d like to post a piece please email it to me, and I will put post it. Same rules apply as to the cooler contributors. You have to be a real person, no screen names… and it’s got to be watercooler topical. - Ed

Specter’s Homecoming….
Louis R. Petolicchio
Myerstown, PA

Now that US Senator Arlen Specter has finally decided to come out of the closet and embrace his liberal side, it should come as no surprise that the Democrats are playing up the party switch as a monumental victory for the DNC while Republican liberals are denouncing the conservatives of the GOP for chasing out ‘one of our own.’

From the perspective of rank-and-file Republicans, however, the Specter defection means far more than simple political maneuvering by two national political parties.

To begin with, Specter’s decision to switch parties has been a long time in coming, and for many grassroots party members, it is a matter of relief. For years, Specter has been a phantom, fading from conservative to liberal and back again. Since he first ran as a Republican in 1980 (yes, he was a Democrat before running for the US Senate), he has never been able to carry the Republican brand in a consistent manner.

Indeed, one of the first betrayals of the Republican Party and Ronald Reagan was his uniting with liberal Democrats to destroy the name and honor of Robert Bork, who had been nominated by President Reagan to the US Supreme Court.

Second, it cannot be emphasized enough that Specter’s switch is driven solely by political ambition. He had dismissed and denigrated the conservative base of the Republican Party so often, and consistently won the GOP primary, that he took it for granted that he would win re-nomination as a Republican.

Specter never envisioned that he would lose the GOP primary, and was aghast that his primary opponent – Pat Toomey – was not only polling consistently higher than he was, but that he was consistently polling below the 40% threshold expected of a long-term incumbent – even after running a slew of attack ads against Toomey.

Put bluntly, Specter only switched to the Democrat Party as a last, desperate effort to keep a waning grip on an office he has held for far too long. Specter’s switch had nothing to do with conscience or conviction of issues; it was pure political expediency to avoid a primary he was sure to lose.

Third, neither Arlen Specter nor the Democrats who are now rushing to embrace him have any idea what lies ahead. The rank-and-file base weren’t happy with Specter before his switch; now, they are chomping at the bit to see him defeated. The Pennsylvania Republican Party, as inept as it is, has been embarrassed by Specter’s switch-hitting and they need to see Specter lose in 2010 to prove that he made a huge mistake by bailing out on them.

And no one should presume that Specter will just roll over for the Democrat Party agenda. Remember, the biggest thing in Specter’s life is his own ego, and he likes it stroked. Part and parcel of that character trait is the fact that he needs to be the center of attention, and he will do whatever is necessary to be the focus of notoriety – including betraying Democrats. Democrats may see themselves as one step closer to their magical filibuster proof majority, but they do not realize that he is a loose cannon. Just as Specter was thorn in the flesh of the GOP, so shall he be for the Democrats.

And no one should discount the disdain some Democrats will have for Specter. For where Specter has had to defend his “conservative” credentials among grassroots Republicans by pointing out his support of Justices Roberts, Alito and Thomas, he will now have to defend himself against attacks from liberal Democrats on those same issues.

Specter has built a reputation as a middle-of-the-road moderate, but he has never learned that the only thing that happens when one plays in the street is getting hit by a truck.

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Donald Petrille writes an open letter to Congressman Patrick Murphy. -ed

Dear Congressman Murphy:

I have heard a lot from you and the President-elect about bi-partisanship recently. I do not believe that your record in the most recent Congress reflects that you are truly a bi-partisan representative who values principle over politics. In the spirit of true bi-partisanship, I would like to propose that you make a pledge to support the following principals, all of which have broad support among the American people:

1. Support Freedom of Political Speech on the Public Airwaves. Our founders valued the free exchange of ideas and sought to protect it unconditionally in the Constitution. Government should not monitor the content of speech, or attempt to balance opinions. Let ideas achieve broad popular support in the free marketplace of idea. Please pledge that you will oppose any attempt to pass legislation which restricts or attempts to balance any opinion broadcast by radio, television, satellite, internet or any other means.

2. Protect the Integrity of the Secret Ballot and Support Workers’ Rights to Privacy. When ballots are not secret in any electoral process, individual workers, including the poor and disenfranchised are easily intimidated, and may not vote their conscience. Please join 78% of all Americans and Senator George McGovern in opposing the wrongly named “Employee Free Choice Act”. This act allows union organizers to intimidate workers into joining a union by checking a card, rather than participating in a secret ballot election monitored by the National Labor Relations Board.

3. America Must Become Free From Dependence on Foreign Energy. While we are developing the technologies for renewable, green energy, we must stop importing our energy for both economic and security reasons. We have tremendous natural resources in terms of oil, coal and shale. We have technology to permit the safe use of nuclear energy. Oil prices have dropped an amazing 55% since the Presidential and Congressional bans on offshore drilling have expired. Please pledge to allow a) offshore drilling (greater than 50 miles off the coast), b) use of oil shale; c) production of clean coal plants; d) construction of new oil refineries and e) construction of nuclear power plants, while we are developing new wind, solar and other renewable sources of energy.

4. America Must Stop Its Deficit Spending. The United States has an estimated $63 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities, including a $10 trillion in actual debt. Medicare and Social Security obligations are about to explode. We can not continue to borrow money from foreign countries in order to finance our social programs. Please pledge not to create any new entitlement programs which will require additional spending or tax increases. You have been one of the largest beneficiaries of earmark spending in the most recent Congressional sessions, despite campaigning against the practice in 2006.

If you can pledge to support these principles, all of which are well-grounded in the Constitution, and have the broad support of the American people, you may truly call yourself a bi-partisan politician. If, however, you believe that you need to pander to special interest groups and not follow the principals outlined above, the citizens of your district will know that you are either a pawn of your party’s leadership or an ideologue.

Your recent vote in favor of rules changes that greatly diminish the amount of influence the minority party can have over pending legislation is disheartening. The reforms of 1995 term limited committee chairs, and allowed the minority party a greater voice on the floor of the House. My understanding is that your party’s leadership did not appreciate that the Republican caucus used these rules in an effective way to alter legislation during the 2007-2008 legislative sessions. Evidently, their memories were short, however, as the Democratic caucus used the same rules to make legislation more palatable when it was in the minority. It seems that certain of outcome is more important to the Democratic caucus than fairness of process and minority party rights.

I would ask that you respond to this letter in writing. I am disappointed that my other inquiries of your office, including a phone call about Representative Pence’s bill which would eliminate the poorly named “Fairness Doctrine” and my email regarding the pending TARP legislation were not answered. If you can not pledge to support the above principles, I would ask that you stop trying to convince voters you are a bi-partisan politician, and proudly broadcast your record supporting causes of the far left.

Respectfully,

Donald Petrille, Jr.
Bedminster Township

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Editor’s Note: Guest Post is a new feature at the watercooler… if you’d like to post a piece please email it to me, and I will put post it. Same rules apply as to the cooler contributors. You have to be a real person, no screen names… and it’s got to be watercooler topical. – Ed

Let’s suppose a presidential candidate has a millionaire friend and political supporter who is very involved in pay to play politics. And let’s suppose that the candidate’s friend and supporter was connected to a pay to play culture that corrupted a city government.

You would think that Philadelphia voters would have heard or read countless stories about the candidate’s friend during this year’s presidential campaign. Right.

Well, you would be wrong if that is what you thought.

With less than one month remaining in this year’s presidential contest, Philadelphia voters have yet to hear or read one word about Barack Obama longtime relationship with a major player of pay to play politics. And I’m not talking about Tony Rezko or Robert Blackwell, Jr.

Tuesday was the fifth anniversary of one of the most memorable events in the history of Philadelphia. Most people in Philadelphia would like to forget about October 7, 2003. That was the day Philadelphia Police Department discovered an electronic surveillance device in the office of Mayor John Street. The discovery of the bug received national news coverage. It also changed the course of the 2003 mayoral election.

Unbeknownst to most citizens was another event of significance that occurred on that day.

On October 7, 2003, The FBI intercepted a telephone call between Ron White, friend and political supporter of Mayor Street and James Reynolds, Jr., millionaire friend and political supporter of Barack Obama. White and Reynolds were discussing a pay to play deal.

James Reynolds, Jr. is a Chicago business executive. He is the chairman of Loop Capital Markets. Loop Capital Markets is a prominent investment banker and broker dealer.

Reynolds is a close friend of Barack and Michelle Obama. He sits on the board of trustees of the institution where Michelle Obama is employed. Obama’s brother-in-law once worked for Reynolds firm.

James Reynolds, Jr. has been a major financial supporter of Barack Obama state and national political campaigns. He is a member of Obama’s presidential campaign national finance committee. Reynolds is credited with raising at least $200,000 for Obama for America.

Reynolds used Ron White to help secure bond business from the Street administration. The Reynolds/White business relationship was one the most egregious examples of how pay to play politics bred political immorality and municipal corruption.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Reynolds firm (unnamed in a federal indictment) concealed a monthly fee of $5,000 to White by making the payments to a business controlled by White’s paramour. White’s girlfriend was convicted of lying to the FBI.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Reynolds firm donated $12,500 to the Ronald A. White Scholarship at Wesleyan University. It was also alleged that Reynolds firm donated several thousand dollars to a charitable organization created by White.

The Federal Election Commission records show that Loop Capital Markets made an illegal corporate contribution of $5,000 to one of White’s political action committees.

And at the urging of White, Reynolds made a contribution to the presidential campaign of Al Sharpton. Reynolds wife and business partner also contributed to Sharpton’s campaign.

Loop Capital Markets, which was not indicted, was selected to participate on several bond deals by former City Treasurer Corey Kemp. Kemp was convicted of 27 charges including fraud and conspiracy. He was sentence to 10 years in prison. Federal prosecutors alleged that White controlled Kemp.

Ron White was under a federal indictment when he died of cancer in November of 2004.

The pay to play corruption probe that lead to the federal indictments of White, Kemp and others cost Philadelphia millions of dollars. The city could sure use that money right now.

There is no love for pay to play politicians and players in the City of Brotherly Love.

John Street was vilified for allowing pay to play politics to corrupt city government.

The former mayor was accused of hearing and seeing no evil when it came to pay to play politics. His legacy will forever be tarnished by the criminal deeds perpetrated by his friends and political supporters.

Barack Obama sells himself as a new agent of change. Yet when comes to his pay to play friend, he sees and hears no evil.

Barack Obama’s legacy. The jury is still out.

Barry Hicks resides in the Delaware Valley.

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Editor’s Note: Guest Post is a new feature at the watercooler… if you’d like to post a piece please email it to me, and I will put post it. Same rules apply as to the cooler contributors. You have to be a real person, no screen names… and it’s got to be watercooler topical. – Ed

“The inconveniences of too little government are far less harmful than the inconveniences of too much.”… Thomas Jefferson

With the potential for the most radical shift in Labor law in decades, it comes as no surprise that Big Labor is spending record funds estimated at over $1 billion in mostly compulsory dues—on the [Democratic] 2008 elections.” (Doug Stafford, the Eureka Reporter Online, 9/01/08)

The 10 top biggest money givers in American politics since 1989 (compiled by the Center for responsive Politics) shows which party each giver favored: 6 of the top 10 are labor unions, giving 92%-98% of their campaign money to Democrats, leaving the scraps going to Republicans. The remaining four givers included nonunion affiliated AT&T, Inc., Realtor( NAR), American Association for Justice, and Goldman Sachs, (Human Review Online, 8/26/08)

Major unions chronicled included county and municipal employees (AFSCME), electrical workers (IBEW), teachers (NEA), laborers union (LU), service international employees (SEIU), and carpenters and joiners (C&JU).

It should be no surprise, then, that all indications suggest Big Labor is again making a billion-dollar bet on our 2008 fall elections to elect not only their Presidential candidate- Senator Barack Obama, but every available member of the Democratic Party to join him in Congress.

Presidential-nominee Obama is not only an enthusiastic supporter of the ill-named “Employee Free Choice Act” – their “card-check” scheme to take away the private vote of workers to organize a union in their place of work—but in fact, he “introduced the so-called Patriot Employer Act, which offers tax advantages to those companies agreeing to the so-called ‘neutrality’ and use of card check (not yet mandated).” (Ibid)

But there is more!

Union lobbyists and their chosen nominee are pushing for an unfunded mandate that would force states and cities to bargain with union bosses as the monopoly bargaining agent of public safety personnel, and the federal government would take over the labor relations of states that refuse to comply… In the last 12 years, 16 state legislatures have rejected legislation that would force police, firefighters and paramedics into union collectives and force many to pay dues or fees to unions as a condition of employment.

In contrast, Presidential candidate Senator John McCain voted against the “Card Check” Act. This year’s Republican National Convention approved a party platform calling for a “creative and flexible workforce,” and a “modernization” of federal labor laws, stating, “Republicans believe that the employer-employee relationship of the future will be built upon employee empowerment and workplace flexibility…”

“While affirming the rights of workers to participate in labor organizations and bargain collectively and the rights of states to enact Right to Work laws,” the platform states “we will conscientiously enforce federal law requiring financial reporting and transparency by labor unions. We advocate paycheck protection laws to guard the integrity of the political process and the security of workers’ earnings.

Furthermore, decrying the Democrat’s recent attempt to enact the card-check scheme (H.R. 800, S. 1041)… the GOP platform states, “denying workers a secret ballot would be an assault on a fundamental principle of labor law, as well as on the dignity and honor of the U.S. workforce.” DLR Online, 172, 9/05/08, BNA, Inc., 2008)

Samuel Gompers, Founder of the American Federation of Labor and heralded by the nations’ unionists and nonunion workers across the country for decades, clearly is no longer cherished or honored by today’s union boss actions or demands. His initial dream has been abandoned:
“I want to urge devotion to the fundamentals of human liberty—the principles of voluntarism. No lasting gain has ever come from compulsion.”

Whatever the outcome of this election, we will face a tremendous assault on our American freedom with the looming possibility of “Card Check “(H.R. 800, S. 1041) becoming law. While federal unions have been dying, with over 80% of the population no longer feeling the need for their existence, they have now turned to buying into politics what they can’t earn in the hearts of American workers.

Our forefathers built this nation on the principle that the job of government is to protect our freedom. Let us honor them in our work, in our laws, and in our lives. Let us work to return “human liberty—the principles of voluntarism—to every individual seeking freedom from compulsion. The freedom that is guaranteed by Right to Work laws should be our states’ and our nation’s promise.

Pennsylvania should be in the forefront!

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