[EL] "Unions to Get Yet Another Obamacare Break?

[Bill Maurer]

Jim,

I can only quote from the AFL-CIO, which supports amending the Constitution to make it impossible for legal fictions who are not people (besides them, I mean) to spend unlimited funds in elections.


Congress should pass and the Supreme Court should uphold the necessary reforms to protect our democracy from the power of money. As long as Citizens United remains the law of the land, constitutional change may be the only option. Amending the U.S. Constitution should be a rare act, done with the greatest of care. To earn our support, any such amendment must be carefully and narrowly crafted to protect our democracy from the economic power of the 1%, while at the same time protecting the public’s right to organize politically through democratic organizations and movements.

Working people have a long and proud history of participating in our nation’s public life through our unions. Unions are by tradition and law democratic organizations, run on the basis of one member, one vote. In a union, dollars do not vote—people do. Our unions bring us together in our union halls, our workplaces and our homes to discuss the issues facing our nation and to come together to make our voices heard in the political process. Unions are transparent organizations—all of our spending, including our political spending, is disclosed in great detail to the general public and union members, as required by statute since 1959. Any campaign finance reform needs to recognize the fundamental distinction between the democratically governed communications among working people through unions and the unaccountable spending by corporations and the rich.
Available here:  http://www.aflcio.org/About/Exec-Council/EC-Statements/Restoring-Democracy

Bill



From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of JBoppjr at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2013 5:18 AM
To: rhasen at law.uci.edu; law-election at uci.edu
Subject: [EL] "Unions to Get Yet Another Obamacare Break?

Click here: The American Spectator : Unions to Get Yet Another Obamacare Break?<http://spectator.org/archives/2013/09/03/unions-to-get-yet-another-obam>

The article say:

In fact, the Washington Times reports<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/29/afl-cios-trumka-obamacare-still-needs-fixing/> that the unions are openly complaining that some of the promises they were made in those backroom deals have not been kept: “Several labor unions, including the powerful Teamsters, penned letters last month accusing Democratic leaders of breaking promises they made to unions in exchange for their support for Mr. Obama’s signature law.”

And ties this to union campaign contributions and expenditures.

Why don't the critics of Citizens United rarely raise the fact that unions also benefited from the decision and never support a law that would restrict them, but only target corporations?  I suspect a partisan motive here.

Ok, "reformers," is there a principled-based reason to reregulate corporations, but not unions? If not, my suspicion must be right.  Jim Bopp
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