Is Indiana Gov. Daniels Trying to Whistle Past the Right To Work Graveyard?

Is Indiana Gov. Daniels Trying to Whistle Past the Right To Work Graveyard?

According to an article at BigGovernment.com, the only thing holding Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels back from holding a Republican presidential primary frontrunner position is his holding back Indiana's Right To Work law passage.   Numerous calls and other contacts from our members in Indiana confirm that on several occasions Republican politicians have put the blame directly on Daniels' shoulders for the legislative hold-up on Right To Work.  Certainly, trying to avoid the issue will not enhance any presidential hopes that he may have nor help working Hoosiers breath free air again. From BigGovernment.com: The rise of the Tea Party movement illustrates that people are looking for political leaders who will forcibly address issues and stand on principle. Yet, according news reports, Gov. Daniels is trying to avoid a decision and even a debate on freedom that influences every worker and business in Indiana. This is not leadership. On the other hand, should Gov. Daniels embrace Right To Work legislation that provides all Hoosiers the right to choose or not to choose to pay into a union, then he could easily ride a wave of success and become the Republican Presidential Nominee to beat. Should Gov. Daniels sign the 23rd state Right To Work law, he will be able to bounce back-and-forth from appearances in early presidential primary Right To Work states like Iowa and South Carolina to ribbon cutting ceremonies for new businesses in Indiana boasting of rising employment numbers and a more stabilized state budget. Gov. Daniels will be able to say that he fought the Democrat party’s most fierce ally, Big Labor, and he won it for Hoosiers and that he will stand up for all Americans as well. Or, Gov. Daniels can let the golden opportunity for the citizens and businesses of Indiana, as well as for himself, slip through his hands in attempt to avoid Big Labor attacks – attacks that will come against any Republican presidential nominee regardless of their mollycoddling. Unfortunately, it appears that Gov. Daniels has chosen to make the Right To Work issue his Waterloo rather than his San Juan Hill.
Federal Candidate Survey Mobilizes Millions

Federal Candidate Survey Mobilizes Millions

(Source: December 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) The Committee's federal survey program ensured that politicians like the supposedly "independent" U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) were held accountable for their votes to expand Big Labor's forced-unionism privileges. Program Maximizes Right to Work Gains in 'Year of Opportunity' Thanks to National Right to Work Committee members' generous assistance, the Committee's federal-candidate Survey 2010 checked a massive Big Labor electioneering blitz and sharply increased support in Congress for repeal of federally-imposed forced union dues. To mobilize Right to Work supporters, the Committee distributed a record-smashing total of nearly 8.4 million federal candidate Survey "information packets" through the U.S. Postal Service this year. Above and beyond that, the 2010 program had a massive Internet component, including nearly half a million e-mails transmitted in October alone. All this plus radio, TV, and newspaper advertising. The packets, e-mails and ads let pro-Right to Work citizens know where their candidates stood on compulsory unionism. And most of the packets were mailed out during the during the last five weeks of the general election campaign to specifically targeted states and districts across the country. In a year in which voters were already extremely concerned about Big Labor encroachment of employee freedom and destruction of private-sector jobs, the fall program maximized Right to Work gains in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. Pro-Right to Work Candidates Won in 76 of 106 Targeted Congressional Contests Compared to the House that will permanently disband after a December "lame duck" session, the House that convenes in January will have 55 more members identified, based on their campaign pledges and voting records, as 100% Right to Work supporters. In the Senate, where just 37 out of 100 seats were up for election this year, compared to 435 out of 435 House seats, Right to Work reaped a net gain of five seats.
Iowans Repudiate Pro-Forced Unionism Governor

Iowans Repudiate Pro-Forced Unionism Governor

Right to Work Makes Major Gains in State Legislative Contests (Source: December 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) It takes a lot to convince Iowa citizens to oust a sitting governor. Until this fall, the last time a Hawkeye State chief executive failed to get another term after seeking one was in 1962! But over the past four years, Big Labor Democrat Gov. Chet Culver wore out Iowans' considerable patience. On November 2, he was one of 13 incumbent governors on the ballot across America. Eleven of these incumbents won, but Mr. Culver lost by a hefty 53% to 43% margin. What had Chet Culver done to receive such a harsh rebuke from normally amiable Midwesterners? He tried to gut Iowa's popular Right to Work law -- and he was sneaky about it. After saying nothing about the Right to Work issue during his successful 2006 gubernatorial campaign, Mr. Culver announced, almost as soon as the votes were counted, his support for legislation imposing forced union dues and fees on Iowa workers as a condition of employment. Since Mr. Culver's fellow Democrats controlled substantial majorities in both chambers of the Iowa Legislature that greeted him upon his inauguration in early 2007, it seemed Big Labor's stealthy scheme to bring back forced unionism to the state six decades after it had been banned would succeed. For four years, Gov. Culver tried to help union bosses extract forced fees from workers who choose not to join. But freedom-loving Iowans first thwarted him legislatively and then defeated him at the polls. But the National Right to Work Committee and the Iowans for Right to Work Committee were already mobilizing resistance. Pro-Right to Work Iowan Stopped Forced-Union-Fee Schemes in 2007 and 2009 Even before the new Legislature convened in January 2007, the National Committee began sending out a series of statewide and targeted mailings to members and supporters in Iowa, with a focus on selected House and Senate members in vulnerable seats.