Nobody anywhere wants to take on the public employee unions. First of all, while the problem with the unions is not the members, but the leadership, it is hard to make that clear if the latter are running an "independent" ad campaign tearing you apart. Second, while businesses can take advantage of "soft money" provisions in elections, they so far have been shy about doing so; they have mixed constituencies, after all, and they are afraid of retribution. But labor unions toil under no such inhibitions. Third, unlike the business sector or manufacturing unions, public sector unions are not being hurt much by the recession. But they are very alarmed that future cutbacks may reach them. That means they currently have money to spend on political campaigns, along with ample motivation to spend it.
The role of the unions in politics is back in the news in England, where some old timers recall that resistance to union abuse in the 70s is what propelled Margaret Thatcher to power and maintained her there.
In the US, meanwhile, the unions lost their multi-million dollar bid to remove Sen. Blanche Lincoln's bid for re-election in Arkansas this spring, but they have come back strong in key efforts to elevate pro-union Democrats in New York, Maryland, and, especially, the District of Columbia. This, as veteran observer Michael Barone has noticed, is causing a rift with another part of the Democratic base, educated urban liberals.
Folks in both parties who care about education improvements can only be appalled at what just happened in the District, the defeat of the reform minded mayor who backed a program that led at last to the dismissal of incompetent teachers, but had aroused the ire of teachers unions. In a primary battle, the union backed candidate defeated the reform mayor.
Writes Barone, "Gentry liberals and public employee unions were allies in the Obama campaign in 2008. But now they're in a civil war, in city and state politics. This raises the question of whether the Democratic Party favors public employee unions that want more money and less accountability, or gentry liberals and others who care about the quality of public services. Right now, the unions are winning."
Many voices are raised on behalf of campaign "reform". But almost no one dares confront the public employee unions' vast political spending--yet.
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