{"id":1000,"date":"2015-10-15T08:44:21","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T12:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2015-10-15T08:44:21","modified_gmt":"2015-10-15T12:44:21","slug":"is-it-time-to-reign-in-public-union-political-contributions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/15\/is-it-time-to-reign-in-public-union-political-contributions\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it time to reign in public union political contributions?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NJEA\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Is it time to reign in public union political contributions? Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick thinks so. He said on October 14t<\/sup>h<\/sup><\/a> ,\u201cthat the state teachers union has mounted expensive campaigns against candidates from his party \u2014 not to improve the situation in schools, but to save their own pensions<\/em>.\u201d He is quite right and it disturbs me very much that a public workers union can and does wield so much political power.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Assemblyman further said, \u201cWhy should voters know that the teachers’ union \u2014 one entity in the state \u2014 is donating more money than the entire Republican party is able to raise by two times?<\/em>\u201d Bramnick asked. The answer, he said, \u201cis that the union wants to stop further pension reform by the state government.<\/em>\u201d This makes this union a very powerful political entity and this should bother all of us. In the past this union has controlled the legislature and has dictated policy to these same legislators. It did not stop until Governor Chris Christie was elected and stood up against them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Bramnick further pointed out that, \u201cWe don\u2019t automatically deduct dues from anybody. We don\u2019t automatically take mandatory dues and put it into a political fund. We don\u2019t have that option.<\/em>\u201d He is right to say that any public union can unduly influence the legislators by giving or even threatening to give money to their political opponent. This level of what I will call interference needs to be curtailed; yet if anyone thinks that this can happen they need to see the truth. The political truth is that public unions collect large amounts of money from their members and do not use it for the members direct benefit, but for the union\u2019s own.<\/span><\/p>\n

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From an article from NJ.com in September of 2014<\/a>, \u201cThe NJEA has spent $57 million since 1999 \u2013 including $19.5 million in 2013 alone, when it largely propped up the underfunded and unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Barbara Buono. \u201cNJEA is considered a powerhouse in Trenton and for good reason,\u201d wrote Jeff Brindle, ELEC\u2019s executive director. \u201cFew special interest groups come close to matching its financial clout,\u201d said Brindle.\u201d <\/em>This is ridiculous! No public workers union should be able to take its members dues and use them to control those who should be making laws that directly control what they can do.<\/span><\/p>\n

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It is time for the voting public to say no more and a law should be crafted that prevents any public workers union, like the NJEA, from making any political donations at all. Can or will this happen, the short answer is no. The long answer is that we need initiative and referendum to make this happen. There is no way in this political mess that our legislators will ever bite the hand that feeds their political campaigns. We as voters have no one to blame for this more than ourselves. By being so blas\u00e9 about what has been happening in our political system we have not done anything to make the politicians pay more attention to us the voters and ignore these public workers unions.<\/span><\/p>\n

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That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike<\/span><\/p>\n