Stay-home orders increase incidence of suicide......
4
Freedom Foundation again files suit against PDC ...
5
When workers learn they can opt out, they do ......
JUNE 2020
11
LIVING LIBERTY A Publication of the Freedom Foundation
Freedom Foundation Labor Policy Director Max Nelsen being interviewed by Laura Ingraham on Fox News about Washington overstating its Covid-19 death numbers.
FF probe exposes scheme to inflate the number of Covid-19 deaths in Washington By DORI MONSON Reprinted from MYNORTHWEST.com
J
Electronic Service Requested
Freedom Foundation PO Box 552 Olympia, WA 98507
ay Inslee is constantly talking about “data” — about how he is using facts and statistics to help guide him as Washington recovers from a devastating economic
meltdown. But what if the governor’s data is greatly exaggerated? And what would be the reason for the state cooking the books on such a vital matter? In a stunning analysis of the actual numbers, the Freedom Foundation claims that the state Department of Health has over-reported the actual death count from Coronavirus, perhaps by as much as 13 percent. Freedom Foundation research indicates the DOH’s reported COVID-19 death total is inflated due to state’s practice of counting every person who tests positive for COVID-19 and subsequently dies, even if the death was not directly caused by COVID-19. What this means is that, if a person tests positive for coronavirus in March, and then dies in a car accident in May, the state is calling that a coronavirus death. The state of Colorado was using the same shady calculations for its death count un-
til the practice was busted last week by local media there. That leads to the obvious question: For a governor who talks incessantly about facts and data, what is the political motivation to exaggerate his state’s COVID-19 death count? At his Monday press conference, Inslee did not deny the state’s faulty data. He claimed to not know about the issue. And then he bizarrely complained about the reporting being the work of conspiracy theorists. “I have no reason to doubt the fatality numbers we’re using in the State of Washington right now,” Inslee said. “The problem is, you’ve got some people out there who are fanning these conspiracy flames from the planet Pluto. And it’s just disgusting what they’re trying to say with all these crazy, deep-state malarkey.” Inslee says he’s using data to reopen the state. But then complains about reporting that shows his data is off by a significant margin. How can he be trusted to bring us back from the economic abyss? Shockingly, not one member of the media asked Inslee about what he revealed with his own words to be a huge part of his agenda. Part of the media’s inability to do its job is carefully crafted by the governor and his staff. Certain reporters are not allowed to ask questions. Those who do get through are immediately muted after their question, making follow-up queries impossible. Exaggerating the death count. Seeing families’ financial lives in ruin as a climate opportunity. And a press-conference structure designed to give Inslee a free pass on all of this. That is a toxic combo brewing in Olympia.
VOLUME 31, ISSUE 4
Our mission is to advance individual liberty, free enterprise, and limited, accountable government.
Publisher: Tom McCabe Editor: Jeff Rhodes
CONTACT Freedom Foundation PO Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507
(360) 956-3482 FreedomFoundation.com
“Quote”
[2 ]
LIVING LIBERTY
|
A PUBL ICAT ION O F THE FREEDOM FOUNDATION
CONTENTS PAGE 3 LEADERSHIP MEMO By TOM McCABE Inslee’s response to pandemicshows why we don’t give our ‘leaders’ that kind of power.
PAGE 4
THE CASE FOR FREEDOM By ROLF BOONE Reprinted from THE OLYMPIAN Thurston County mental health calls, concerns rise during Covid-19 pandemic.
By HUNTER TOWER Reprinted from BROAD & LIBERTY It’s high time unions started making some sacrifices like the rest of Americans are being asked to.
PAGE 5
What They Said & What They Meant
LITIGATING FREEDOM By MAXFORD NELSEN Freedom Foundation files complaint against Washington PDC for violating campaign finance laws.
PAGES 6 & 7
~ of the month ~
RE-OPEN
THIS STATE!
Thousands gather at Washington State Capitol to protest state’s stay-at-home edict and the governor who issued it.
PAGE 9
PAGE 8
SPOTLIGHT ON CALIFORNIA
OREGON UPDATE
“We’re not interested in solving their pension problems for them. We’re not interested in rescuing them from bad decisions they’ve made in the past, and we’re not going to let them take advantage of this pandemic to solve a lot of problems that they created themselves (with) bad decisions in the past.”
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, U.S. Senate Majority Leader
On whether a future stimulus would include a bailout for states with budget problems caused largely by their overly generous pension packages for public employees. April 25, 2020
Nothing in this publication should be construed as an attempt to aid or hinder the election of any elected official or candidate.
By AARON WITHE & JEFF KROPF Reprinted from the BEND BULLETIN
By SAMUEL COLEMAN Attack on Prop 13 a scheme to grow government, unions.
Brown, unions exploit Covid-19 scare to shut down charter schools.
By BOB WICKERS Comlpaint alleges California HR office refused to honor information request to shield its union friends.
By MIKE NEARMAN With unions, you always have to follow the money.
PAGE 10
FREEDOM IN ACTION EDITORIAL Reprinted from the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL When workers learn they can opt out of their union, a large number of them do just that.
PAGE 11
FREEDOM IN THE NEWS
By LINDSEY QUEEN Reprinted from RED STATE It’s high time Ohio’s governor, administrative services office reined in the state’s lawless unions.
PAGE 12
Freedom Foundation’s Friends, Foes Weigh in On Our Actions.
ACTION TIMELINE
A PUBL ICAT ION OF THE FREEDOM FOUNDATION
Inslee’s response to pandemic shows why we don’t give our ‘leaders’ that kind of power
T
he Freedom Foundation didn’t sponsor the May 9 protest of Gov. Jay Inslee’s massive Covid-19 overreaction at the Capitol campus in Olympia, but we were well-represented at the event. And rightly so, because it aligns perfectly with our mission statement of promoting “free markets and limited, accountable government.” While about 99 percent of the time our work entails battling the best-financed, best-organized and most ruthless opponent of those ideals — government employee unions — we’re flexible enough to respond to other threats, too. And make no mistake, Inslee’s scheme to play winners and losers by leaving the choice of which businesses are “essential” and which can be closed and left to die of neglect is as naked a threat to “free markets” as I’ve witnessed in my lifetime. Likewise, seizing the power to take such action is the complete antithesis of “limited, accountable government.” The Constitution arguably authorizes presidents and governors to take extraordinary steps in the event of a national emergency, but it remains to be seen whether history will agree the Coronavirus pandemic rose to that standard. Early indications are that it won’t. In fact, as the front page story in this issue of Living Liberty chronicles, a Freedom Foundation probe has revealed state health authorities might well be exaggerating the number of Covid-19 deaths, presumably in hopes of qualifying for more federal bailout money. Let’s be clear: No one is saying the illness a serious matter, that those killed by it shouldn’t be mourned or that we shouldn’t be taking reasonable steps to contain and eradicate it. But our efforts should reflect reality. As of May 14, for example, a total of 17,122 cases of Covid have been diagnosed, resulting in 945 deaths. More than half of these — 518, in fact — were concentrated in King County, where public hygiene is made all but impossible by Inslee’s epic mishandling of the homelessness issue and dozens of deaths can be traced to a single nursing home in Kirkland at which a multitude of health code violations have been alleged. By contrast, here in Thurston County the current number of deaths attributed to the virus is one. Meanwhile, authorities have reported 12 suicides in the community during the same span — and many of these cases can be directly linked to the isolation and resulting depression that comes from being quarantined at home away from co-workers and loved ones. Matt Hayward, the Freedom Foundation’s outreach director, spoke movingly during the May 9 event about one such casualty, his close friend Tamen Miller. Tamen, 35, suffered from a variety of physical and emotional challenges, but seemed to thrive on his interaction with government employees as one of the Freedom Foundation’s most active canvassers. In this capacity, Tamen personally visited the homes and
3
MEMO
|
offices of hundreds of workers who might otherwise never have known that, since the By TOM McCABE, CEO U.S. Supreme Court two years ago issued its ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, they could no longer be forced to support the union designated for them with either their membership or dues. And he was good at it. Tamen’s passion and reassurance probably emboldened as many public employees to exercise their right to opt out as any canvasser ever hired by the Freedom Foundation. But all that was taken away from him when the Coronavirus pandemic swept the country earlier this spring and Tamen was no longer able to interact face-to-face with people. Before long, he was sucked into the familiar spiral of depression and depair again. Tamen took his own life on April 10, and it was Matt who discovered his friend’s body in the woods behind his apartment building. It would be unfair to blame the governor directly for the death of someone already plagued with a multitude of demons. At the same time, Inslee’s policies — and his politics — absolutely played a role in the outcome. As Matt expressed it during his singularly moving address at Saturday’s protest, “I’m positive if it was not for the ‘stay-at-homeand-suffer’ policy, Tamen would be standing up here today speaking to you instead of me.” The difficult lesson I draw from this experience is that actions have consequences. We’re told social distancing and all the other preventive steps we’ve taken during this pandemic have saved lives, but it’s impossible to say how many. On the other hand, in Thurston County there’s no disputing we’ve lost 12 times as many lives to the cure as we have to the disease — and that even doesn’t include the lives that haven’t been ended but have been ruined nonetheless by unemployment, despair and financial ruin. The power our elected leaders wield is too often literally that of life and death. And deaths caused by government policies that result in suicide are at least as tragic — and decidedly more preventable — than those attributable to the disease itself.
“
LEADERSHIP
LIVING LIBERTY
The power our elected leaders wield is too often literally that of life and death. And deaths caused by government policies that result in suicide are at least as tragic ... (as) those attributable to the disease itself.
”
D O S O M E T H I N G F O R F R E E D O M T O D AY
SUPPORT THE FIGHT!
The Freedom Foundation is the only organization on the West Coast that
takes on the hard fights. Every day we stand up to ensure freedom for future generations. Every gift is an investment in the future.
CALL (360) 956-3482, OR VISIT WWW.FREEDOMFOUNDATION.COM
4
LIVING LIBERTY
|
A P U B LICAT ION O F T HE FR EED OM FOUNDAT ION
THE CASE FOR FREEDOM
Thurston County health calls, concerns on the rise during ongoing Covid-19 pandemic
By ROLF BOONE Reprinted from THE OLYMPIAN May 11, 2020
T
hurston County mental health professionals, and others close to those in crisis, say they have seen an increase in people reaching out for help during the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus has forced people to stay home, cut off from employment in many cases, and has resulted in some county residents feeling depressed, anxious and isolated. And some have taken that next tragic step. Olympia resident Matthew Hayward found a longtime friend behind his apartment building last month, the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. For Hayward, (outreach director for the Freedom Foundation) the moment became both emotional and political. He now refers to Gov. Jay Inslee’s stayat-home order as the “stay home and suffer” order. Hayward said he planned to protest that order May 9 on the Capitol Campus. Although he’s not comfortable speaking in public, he planned to talk about his friend. He says it’s his way to process what happened. “I kind of clammed up about it,” said Hayward after his friend took his life in early April. “It’s important for me to talk about it.” Thurston County Coroner Gary Warnock confirmed Hayward’s friend’s death, saying the 35-year-old man died April 10. Warnock also confirmed an increase in suicides in Thurston County. There were seven in April, and possibly an eighth case for the month that is still pending, he said. And already there have been two suicides in May. Warnock said in two of those cases,
the victims left notes behind, saying they thought they had contracted the novel coronavirus. And in a third case, a man took his own life after his wife’s business suffered a steep decline in revenue. It forced him out of retirement and back to work, something he apparently wasn’t ready for. “It’s kind of what we’re dealing with right now,” Warnock said. Just last week, Olympia police responded to two attempted suicides and a third case of self-harm involving someone police know has long-standing mental health issues, Lt. Paul Lower said. Given the effects of COVID-19 on the community and economy, police are keeping an eye on suicide-related data, he said. Recent calls to South Sound Behavioral Hospital in Lacey remind Chief Executive Toni Long, who also is a longtime mental health counselor, of past existential crises the country has faced, such as the Gulf wars and 9/11. In some ways, though, COVID-19 is very different. “There is a heightened level of confusion about what to do because it is so unfamiliar,” she said. Adding to the confusion is how different parts of the country are addressing the pandemic in different ways, leading residents to ask: What is the right way? What should I be doing and what do I need to do to be safe? she said. Long thinks Washington state has taken the right approach to address the pandemic. “We’re getting it right here,” she said. For residents feeling stressed and anxious, she reminds them to get enough sleep and exercise and to eat right. They also
should check in with friends and family and know that they are not alone in how they feel, she said. The Crisis Clinic of Thurston and Mason Counties has seen an increase in calls from those feeling isolated and lonely, said board member CB Bowers. The Crisis Clinic’s larger mission is to connect those in crisis with the services or resources they need. “We are not a chat room,” said Bowers about its 24/7 crisis phone line, although they have made a recent exception because so many in the community just need to talk. Bowers thinks that many understand and agree with the governor’s stay-at-home order, but they are “not prepared for what that actually looks like,” she said. “They need a conversation,” she said. “They know all the facts, the issue now is feeling isolated.” Hayward and his friend both attended The Evergreen State College. Hayward described him as an avid reader, a passionate supporter of legal marijuana who was politically engaged. He recalled when his friend was more of a socialist and supporter of former consumer advocate and presidential candidate Ralph Nader, before becoming intrigued with former presidential candidate Ron Paul and the Libertarian Party. His friend also suffered from mental health problems, Hayward said. He said his friend could become fixated on something that then seemed to play like a loop in his head. He felt that social interactions helped his friend, Hayward said. But during the outbreak, his friend lost his job and was stuck at home. Hayward regularly stayed in touch with him, but was worried. Later, his friend’s father in Idaho reached out to Hayward with a plan to get his son moved back home. Finally, Hayward was asked to check on him in person after his friend’s father said that his son was suicidal. As Hayward retold this story, there suddenly was a pause. An image of what he had found had come back to him, he said. “It’s heightened my concern tremendously, “ he said about the stay-at-home order. “It’s very emotional for me.”
It’s high time unions started making some sacrifices, too Reprinted from BROAD & LIBERTY On March 23, Gov. Tom Wolf imposed stay-at-home orders for most Pennsylvania workers, in addition to canceling virtually every public event and closing thousands of “non-essential” businesses. This was an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The unhappy result has been that Pennsylvania now leads the nation in jobless claims — a number that’s reached a staggering 1.5 million and keeps climbing every day with no end in sight. One in five Pennsylvania workers are now without a job due to the governor’s delayed and wholly inadequate efforts to put money in people’s pockets and this state back to work. The moves were couched in language that stressed the need for everyone to share the pain. Here in the Commonwealth, lawmakers and Gov. Wolf introduced a loan assistance program for small businesses. They received nearly 900 applications totaling more than $75 million in loan requests for the program, which had only $61 million available. The program quickly ran short by $14 mil-
By HUNTER TOWER, Pennsylvania Director
lion, and small businesses and workers were left out in the cold. The tragedy is that the governor and his minions had that much and far more at their fingertips, if only they’d had the will to use it. The Freedom Foundation, in late March, sent Gov. Wolf a letter urging him to impose a three-month moratorium on union dues paid by the state’s public employees — a proposal that would generate an additional $63 million for the Keystone State without costing the taxpayers a dime. Obviously, this idea was never seriously considered, because public-sector unions have spent years quietly becoming the most influential special interest in Pennsylvania by donating tens of millions of dollars to liberal politicians in power. From 2007 to 2017, Pennsylvania’s top government unions spent more than $114 million on political activism. Roughly 40 percent of that number (almost $48 million) was political action committee (PAC) donations to candidates. The remaining $67 million comes from membership dues. As of 2019, public-sector unions boasted roughly 320,000 members in Pennsylvania and raked in an estimated
$21.2 million every month. In Pennsylvania alone, public employee unions like SEIU, AFSCME and the teachers’ union (PSEA) deduct an average of $800 in dues every year from almost 320,000 workers. And regardless of whether the workers are currently still on the job or sitting at home, their paychecks continue to arrive — minus the union’s cut, that is. If Gov. Wolf were to place a three-month moratorium on public employee union dues collection, it would put $63 million back into the pockets of the hard-working Pennsylvanians who earned it. Their added spending, in turn, would provide an even greater economic stimulus than other government giveaways, because it wouldn’t cost the taxpayers a dime. Every public employee should be calling this governor asking him to give him or her a break from union dues. Pennsylvanians need this money to pay rent, put food on the table, or buy medication. In these days of stress and uncertainty, we’re being asked — and in many cases, told — we all need to do our share. The government unions have the same obligation. And if they won’t live up to it voluntarily, Gov. Wolf should impose it, or let the unions explain what they’re doing with all that money that’s more important.
LIVING LIBERTY
|
A PUBL ICAT ION OF THE FREEDOM FOUNDATION
LITIGATING FREEDOM Freedom Foundation again sues PDC, for violating campaign finance laws
T
he Freedom Foundation filed litigation this week against the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) in Thurston County Superior Court — its third such lawsuit pending against the state’s campaign finance watchdog over its failure to hold labor unions accountable for breaking state election laws. The newest action involves the PDC’s unfounded dismissal of the Freedom Foundation’s December 2018 complaint alleging the Amalgamated Transit Union Legislative Council of Washington (ATULC) failed to register with the PDC as a political committee and disclose its political expenditures. The complaint was assigned PDC Case No. 43940. Under Washington’s Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA), any entity that: (1) receives contributions of funds to spend influencing elections; and/or (2) has as one of its primary purposes spending money to influence elections must register with the PDC as a political committee and publicly disclose all the money it receives and spends. As the Freedom Foundation documented in its 250-page complaint, ATULC is funded by contributions it receives from — and is run by volunteer officers of — the various Amalgamated Transit Union locals in Washington. Other than administrative expenses, ATULC’s only expenditures are for lobbying the state Legislature and making political contributions to candidates and political committees. ATULC has also described its purpose in explicitly political terms. In a filing with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claiming tax status as a “political organization,” ATULC described its purpose, under penalty of perjury, as “promot(ing) legislation and candidates supportive for Amalgamated Transit Union member(s) in the state of Washington.” It also falsely told the IRS it reported its political activity to officials in Washington state which, had it been true, would have freed ATULC from the obligation to report the same information to the IRS. ATULC’s own website even describes its purposes as engaging in “political activity,” “(promoting) and (supporting) new legislation… by lobbying,” forming “a stronger political bond of cohesion with the Washington State Labor Council” and encouraging ATU members “to be politically alert.” In its response to the complaint, the ATULC invented a new description of its purpose, cleansed of political references and unsupported by any evidence: “(F)unctioning as a forum for Washington State ATU locals and providing educational training for those locals and their members, as well as to support substantial lobbying efforts at ATULC’s expense.” While ATULC readily acknowledged lobbying as one of its primary purposes, in some years it spent nearly twice as much on political contributions as it did on lobbying, yet claimed that political activity was not one of its primary purposes. Such spending indicates that electoral political activity is at least one of ATULC’s primary purposes, if not the primary purpose. ATULC also understated the amount of money it spent on politics. Asked by the PDC how much it spent each year, it initially responded that, “The best accounting of ATULC’s ‘PDC contributions,’ as defined above, will be found in the PDC’s database, as all of those contributions would have been reported by the recipients.” This is precisely the method the Freedom Foundation used to document ATULC’s political expenditures in its original complaint, and subsequent research uncovered even more expenditures. All told, PDC records indicate ATULC’s political expenditures were at least $24,650 in 2014, $45,550 in 2016, and $32,150 in 2018, accounting for 31, 45 and 31 percent of its total annual expenditures, respectively. Overall, it spent
By MAXFORD NELSEN, Labor Policy Director
more than $110,000 on Washington elections from 2014 to 2018. And yet, when pressed by the PDC, ATULC claimed, without any documentation, it only spent $18,745 on politics in 2014, $35,451 in 2016, and $31,367 in 2018, accounting for 23, 35 and 30 percent of its total annual expenditures respectively. Incomprehensibly, the PDC agreed ATULC did not qualify as a political committee, dismissing the complaint on April 8 (although it did fine ATULC $150 for filing a lobbyist form a year late, a violation not included in the Freedom Foundation’s complaint). The PDC did not explain: • why it ignored the records in its own database showing ATULC spent more on politics than its attorney claimed; • how ATULC could spend 45 percent of its total expenditures on politics in 2016, yet not have political activity qualify as one of its primary purposes given that, mathematically, it could only have one purpose greater than politics and, in which case, political activity would still be at least one of its primary purposes; • how, under PDC regulations, an out-ofstate political committee with limited reporting obligations becomes a political committee with full reporting obligations if more than 20 percent of its expenditures, at any point in a calendar year, are for Washington elections, but ATULC is somehow not a political committee despite admittedly crossing this threshold each election year; • how lobbying is always a primary purpose of ATULC but electoral politics never is, even though ATULC spent more on politics than lobbying in some election years; or • why it disregarded ATULC’s documented, explicitly political descriptions of its purpose and accepted the unsupported, non-political description invented by the union’s attorney. The Freedom Foundation explained these issues to the PDC and asked it to take another look at the case, but the agency refused to do so, leaving the Foundation no choice but to take the matter to court. In similar ongoing lawsuits, the PDC has taken the position that decisions by its staff to dismiss a complaint are final and entirely unreviewable. According to the PDC, not only are such decisions immune from court review, but a complainant cannot even appeal the staff’s decision to the five PDC commissioners appointed by the governor. This level of discretion on the part of PDC staff, if ultimately upheld by state courts, would effectively give unelected bureaucrats the ability to shield anyone they wish from consequences for violating campaign finance laws. Unfortunately, evidence continues to mount that PDC staff are willing let unions off the hook for even serious violations. Historically, the FCPA permitted persons alleging violations of campaign finance rules to file litigation in state courts against the alleged violator if state authorities refused to take action. This “citizen action” process served as an important check on the power of the PDC. Nonetheless, the Legislature effectively did away with the decades-old process in 2018. Hopefully state courts reject the PDC’s sweeping assertions of discretion and recognize at least some mechanism for judicial review of PDC actions. Regardless, the Legislature should reinstate the citizen action process that, for so long, helped ensure all political players in Washington played by the same rules.
5
What They
&
What They What she said: “The Freedom Foundation is an anti-union organization (and) I am a union member.” What she meant: “Let’s
follow this reasoning to its logical conclusion. The Freedom Foundation spends KAY BOGER all day every day Spokane Valley, Wash. trying to inform Facebook post, April 24, 2020 people about their rights. If that’s ‘anti-union,’ what’s the ‘pro-union’ position? Suppressing those rights and keeping members in the dark so they aren’t tempted to act in their own best interest rather than doing what best serves the union. And this is a good thing because...” n n n He said: “What real freeedoms does the so-called Freedom Foundation actually champion?” What he meant: “The only freedom that actually matters ... the freedom to decide for myself what’s in my own MITCHELL FOX best interest Sequim, Wash. and the best Retired teacher interests of my Facebook post, family. I, on the May 4, 2020 other hand, define freedom as the ability to blindly accept what my union tells me without having to think for myself ” n n n What she said: “The Freedom Foundation is a group of greedy people who worship profit and power. Disgusting. What she meant: “I have no concept of CHRIS KUSSKE even basic Spokane, Wash. economics. Facebook post It simply May 2, 2020 doesn’t occur to me that in a free market profits only happen when you provide large numbers of people with what they need or want. The most profitable companies are those that manage to persuade consumers to voluntarily purchase their goods and services. As a government employee, I couldn’t care less about profits because I’m paid with tax dollars, and I have no earthly idea where they come from.”
6
LIVING LIBERTY
|
A P U B LICAT ION O F T HE FR EED OM FOUNDAT ION
A plane flies above the May 9 Olympia rally protesting Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-home-order because of Covid-19 reminds attendees who’s actually essential and who isn’t.
RE-OPEN
THIS STATE! Thousands gather in Olympia to demand state’s Covid-19 shutdown order be lifted
A
Above: One of the roughly 2,000 attendees carrying a sign calling attention to the fundamental injustice and absence of logic to the shut-down order. Below: Rep. Bob Sutherland (R-Granite Falls) was another of those addressing the crowd.
crowd of nearly 2,000 gathered on the grounds of the Washington State Capitol in Olympia on May 9 to protest Gov. Jay Inslee and the stay-home order he imposed in early March in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and still hasn’t lifted. The event wasn’t officially a Freedom Foundation function, but the organization was well-represented with numerous current and former staffers — including CEO Tom McCabe — in attendance. Outreach Director Matt Hayward, in fact, was one of the protest’s organizers and delivered perhaps the most impassioned speech of the day. “The governor and local governments can pass rules and laws all day long to infringe on our liberties, but talk is cheap,” he said. “We will not comply. If they want our liberty, they’re going to have to come and take it.” Earlier in the afternoon, state troopers had confronted Hayward, ordering him to take down the tent he had pitched offering attendees shelter from the 85-degree heat and bottles of water with specially crafted labels proclaiming “Inslee is Non-Essential.” The same message was trailed behind an airplane flying above the event — much to the enjoyment of the crowd. Both slogans were a response to Inslee’s quarantine order, which allowed certain employers — including labor unions — to remain open for business while thousands of restaurants and other service providers were ordered to close because Inslee and his advisors classified them as “non-essential.”
“Who are they to give us permission to feed our children,” said Lania Moore, a hairstylist cutting hair on the Capitol grounds during the protest in defiance of Inslee’s order. “Who are they? They don’t control us.” According to Washington state health officials, a total of 16,674 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Washington, including 921 fatalities as of Saturday. But 526 of the deaths were concentrated in King County, with its massive population and all the hygiene problems associated with its well-publicized homeless problem. King County is also the home of the Kirkland nursing home where dozens of cases of the Covid virus were reported because of widespread code violations at the facility. In Thurston County, meanwhile, only 123 cases of the disease have been reported, but only one death. None of the Washington fatalities was under 30. “No one is saying we shouldn’t be informed about the threat we’re facing and that reasonable precautions shouldn’t be taken,” McCabe said. “But by now it’s clear we’ve massively over-reacted and we need to start lifting the restrictions and getting people back to work.” Inslee’s reluctance to do so has less to do with health concerns than it does his thirst for power, McCabe said. “People in a free society are perfectly capable of doing what it takes to keep themselves safe,” he said. “But that would deny tyrants like Jay Inslee the ability to impose policies by force that voters won’t authorize at the ballot box.”
LIVING LIBERTY
|
A PUBL ICAT ION OF THE FREEDOM FOUNDATION
7
Stay-home -and-suffer policy takes more lives than it saves Without question the highlight of the May 9 rally on the grounds of the State Capitol in Olympia was the address delivered by Freedom Foundation Outreach Director Matt Hawward on the death of his friend Tamen Million. It is reprinted below. n n n
Top: Freedom Foundation Outreach Director Matt Hayward speaks to the crowd of 2,000 gathered on the grounds of the Washington State Capitol to protest Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-at-home order to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.
Above: Hayward argues with Washington State Patrol officers who asked him to take down the tent he had put up on the site to shield visitors from the 85-degree sun. He refused to comply. At left: Bottles of water lined up in the tent, each reminder the drinker that Gov. Jay Inslee is “non-essential.”
Tamen Miller isn’t here today and will never be at a rally again. Tamen was a victim of the stayat-home-and-suffer policy. I want to tell you a little bit about Tamen Tamen grew up in Kansas and at 16 attended Wichita State University and became the youngest pledge president in the history of the national Kappa Sigma fraternity. At 17, he had a seizure that left him with a mental health issue. Irrational ideas would get stuck in his head and he would spiral out. He had terrible bouts of anxiety. Despite his issues, Tamen served in AmeriCorps, volunteered at Stand Up For Kids, a nonprofit organization in Olympia, which helps homeless youth get on their feet. We attended Evergreen State College together and started a club — the Conservative Support Group. We needed more support. Tamen was a kind and gentle soul who loved God, people and animals. He was an activist who stood up for what he believed. His intellect, sense of humor, friendship and love will be greatly missed by family and friends. Tamen was a casualty of Jay Inelss’s policy of picking winners and losers, both in the economy as well as life itself. Socializing was critical for Tamen’s mental health. He may have been nervous and overly self-conscious, but he forced himself to get out. He spoke in front of the city council, he spoke at rallies, he collected signatures for initiatives he believed in, and both volunteered and worked with me going door to door to educate people about their rights. As we transitioned into “stay-athome-and-suffer,” Tamen could no longer volunteer or work, his job selling cars was over, he was suffering. We talked daily and his suffering turned into an irrational fear that he had contracted COVID 19. I took him groceries, vitamins and whatever he needed and left them on his porch. Things took a turn for the worse and Tamen went to the hospital struggling to breathe and unable to sleep for several days. They did some tests, but refused to test for COVID19, and sent him back home to suffer. On Friday, April 10th, I found Tamen’s body in the bushes behind his apartment. The suffering overwhelmed him and he took his own life. Rest in peace, my friend.
8
LIVING LIBERTY
|
A P U BL IC AT I ON OF T HE FREEDOM FOUNDAT I ON
Brown, unions shut down charter schools By AARON WITHE & JEFF KROPF Reprinted from the BEND BULLETIN MARCH 21, 2020
I
n a time of national emergency, when our leaders need to be thinking outside the box and giving struggling families more choices rather than fewer, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown instead decided to pay back political favors by shutting down online charter schools. On paper, online charter schools that allow students to proceed at their own pace and learn from the comfort and security of their own home is the ideal response to a pandemic that has just closed the state’s schools for the remainder of the academic year. Closing brick and mortar schools will especially hurt large numbers of students who are already struggling academically. Most high school seniors need just a few more credits to graduate so they can
attend college in the fall, credits they may not be able to get without an online charter school. Allowing such an option will help these seniors catch up to where they should be at this point in the semester and perhaps even graduate on time and as planned. In reality, however, the charter school model has always been construed as a threat by teachers’ unions with a vested interest in preserving a status quo that produced mediocrity under the best of circumstances. And because the Oregon Education Association (OEA) is a major donor to the governor’s political campaigns, her decision to exploit an opportunity to snuff out the competition was never in doubt. What makes logical sense to most
Oregon Update
A closer look at the successes being achieved by the Freedom Foundation’s office in the Beaver State.
people is that online education be encouraged, not banned during the Coronavirus and stay-at-home order. After all, the alternative for a lot of parents is no education at all. But while online education may help improve student’s education around the state, that’s not what Gov. Brown and her special interest political donors actually care about. The OEA’s fear is that students who can’t attend typical brick-and-mortar schools will discover the advantages of online charter schools — and many won’t return even when the Coronavirus crisis has passed. And those concerns are quite valid. Oregon’s Connections Academy has seen a huge uptick in enrollment in the past couple of weeks. In fact, nearly 1,600 students have attempted to enroll in order to continue their education, rather than rely solely on their parents for instruction, or worse, no instruction at all. The OEA’s motivation is clear. The unions leaders worry that once students find a home in online charter schools, they won’t turn back. All of this would ultimately affect the OEA’s bottom line as funding for those students would go with them. And for Gov. Brown, that would mean she and her political allies would have fewer campaign contributions from the OEA. Students are the ones who are going to suffer due to Gov. Brown’s and OEA’s actions. At least now we can say without a doubt that the OEA’s motivation is not our children’s education; rather they care more for their bottom line and political power. Please join us in urging the governor in putting kids first in the midst of this crisis. Aaron Withe is the national director of the Freedom Foundation, and the Jeff Kropf is the founder and president of Oregon Connections Academy Board of Directors.
With unions, you always need to follow the money
E
veryone is caught up with all the stress of dealing with the health and economic fallout of the COVID-19 outbreak. Perhaps it’s too early to start number crunching and doing some objective analysis, but if the state isn’t going to let me go to work, I’ll play the “idle hands” card and start the conversation. Let me first say, it’s an awful disease. I can’t imagine the horror of suffering or dying from any respiratory disease. My heart goes out to those who have died and those who have lost loved ones. Likewise, it’s an awful thing the government has done to the economy. May we all survive both. It’s axiomatic to say this will be devastating to Oregon’s economy. How devastating is not yet known, but’s not inconceivable the impact might cause the state gross domestic product to take a hit in the range of 30 to 50 percent. In a state that is highly — perhaps disproportionately dependent on income tax, such an economic hit will almost certainly impact government at the same rate. So, at a time when revenues are certainly, reasonably expected to plummet, it’s fair to ask what steps the state is preparing to take to limit expenditures. One of the industries that is arguably the most impacted, if not the most visible, is the restaurant and bar industry. This industry is host to much
By MIKE NEARMAN, Senior Fellow
of the lottery activity in Oregon, so I would think it would be reasonable for the Oregon Lottery to quickly cut staff. I asked the agency about its plans and received this response on April 28: “Executive team staff are currently working to identify furloughs, layoffs and salary reductions in their areas. We’re looking for the right balance between fiscal responsibility and maintenance of critical work. Those plans should be finalized later this week, and communicated to staff shortly after that. We know the situation is constantly evolving, so our plans may need to adjust as new information becomes available.” In other words, we’re starting to start to think about possible reductions. Meanwhile, the state is hiring. The Employment Department has “doubled the number of staff dedicated to taking claims and is in the process of tripling it.” Maybe they could just hire some of the people who are calling their overwhelmed phone banks. Or is that too simple? “Thank you for continuing to hold. The operator may offer you a position in the Employment Department, which
will invalidate the claim for which you’re holding. To continue to hold, press 1.” There’s more hiring elsewhere in state government. In a May 1 press release, Gov. Brown announced her “contact-tracing plan sets a goal of training at least 600 contact tracers” (Emphasis mine). These contact tracers are not just your garden-variety, off-the-shelf contact tracers, either. The plan has “a focus on recruiting individuals with cultural and linguistic competence for the populations they serve,” which certainly increases their price. The headline for this post promised some math, which means I’m not going to get out of this article without doing some, so here goes. The Legislative Fiscal Office uses the figure of $250,000 per biennium as an estimate for the cost of hiring a new employee. That includes salary, benefits, overhead, a computer, a cubicle, a boss, etc., so if you divide the biennial cost by two, that means $125,000 per year. Multiply that times 600 workers and you get a cool $75 million. That doesn’t even count the new Employment Department hires. Just so you know, 1.75 percent of that $75 million or — even more math — over $1.3 million goes to union dues, just in time for the November elections. Maybe we can just use the guys from the Oregon Lottery as contact tracers.
LIVING LIBERTY
|
A PUBLI CATION OF THE FREED OM FOU NDATION
Attack on Prop 13 a scheme to grow government, unions
D
uring this difficult time, you would imagine that the “pro-worker” unions would be doing everything in their power to help their dues payers. After all, they’re the only people in America who have the workers backs, right? Wrong. A few weeks back, the California Teachers Association and the Service Employees International Union, two of the largest unions in California, unveiled one of the special projects they’ve been working on — trying to repeal California’s much-loved Proposition 13. Prop 13, enacted in 1978 by a two-thirds majority of eligible voters, rolled back property tax rates to their pre-1976 levels and froze new increases by a maximum of 2 percent per year. When it went into effect, most people in California enjoyed an average property tax decrease of 57 percent. Almost immediately, however, government unions began scheming to undermine it. After all, less revenue for
By SAMUEL COLEMAN, Outreach Manager
the state means fewer government employees — which means less dues money and the leverage that goes with it for the unions. This was unacceptable. The lifeblood of a government workers union is their ability to expand their revenue base and grow. Without revenue increases year after year, slowly taking more money out of the pockets of hard-working Californians, government unions begin to stagnate. This was a problem even before the U.S. Supreme Court in Janus v. AFSCME (2018) banned mandatory union membership and dues, but it’s an existential threat now that their dues-payers can actually cease paying dues entirely. The group leading this charge is called Schools and Communities First, which claims to be a broad coalition of state leaders and “orga-
nizers.” But the latter — a euphemism for union thugs — is the real driving force behind this movement. The California Teachers Association, which represents more than 330,000 teachers across California, has already given Schools and Communities First more than $3 million, while the other largest funder, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has donated over $1.6 million. Other unions, such as the California Federation of Teachers, have also made large donations. During a time when more
Complaint alleges California HR Office denied information request to shield union friends
A
complaint filed on May 12 against California’s Department of Human Resources seeks to establish whether the agency works for the state residents and taxpayers or for the powerful labor unions that control most of its public employees. The action, filed in Sacramento Superior Court, alleges officials at Human Resources wrongly refused to comply with two sets of information requests filed by the Freedom Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy organization specializing in exposing abuses by government employee unions. “Both requests were submitted correctly, and the information sought is undeniably disclosable under the California Public Records Act (CPRA),” said Bob Wickers, the Freedom Foundation’s California director. “If any other organization had asked for these documents, the state would have handed them over without a second thought. But the unions are terrified of the Freedom Foundation and the HR Department believes it’s their job to protect the unions — even if that means breaking the law.” On Jan. 23, the Freedom Foundation submitted a request for the total number of state employees paid by the State of California in each month of 2018 and 2019 and, for each of the 21 state of California bargaining units, the following information: n name of bargaining unit representative (labor organization); n agencies/departments represented; n the total number of employees in the bargaining unit who were paid by the state of California in each month of 2018 and 2019; n the total number of employees in the bargaining unit who were paid by the state of California and who had
than 3.6 million Californians are looking for work, a massive property tax increase for their potential employers seems like a bad idea. Regardless, Schools and Communities First recently submitted more than 1.7 million signatures — mostly purchased through paid signature gatherers — to place this on the November ballot. The ballot measure claims that it would introduce an additional $12 billion in state revenue every year, mostly going toward education. However, it’s highly unlikely this would actually increase education spending by $12 billion every year. Much like the lottery, it’s unclear exactly how much it actually benefits the education budget. Through state budgetary magic, money can be shifted away from their intended goal into other projects.
Spotlight on
California
By BOB WICKERS, California Director
union dues or fees withheld from their pay in each month of 2018 and 2019; and, n the total amount of union dues/fees withheld by the state of California from the pay of employees in the bargaining unit in each month of 2018 and 2019. After several delays, HR Department officials on Feb. 24 denied the request, claiming that, under the CPRA, they could not release records that are “part of the collective bargaining process.” On March 12, the Freedom Foundation submitted a second information request, this time seeking for every public employee in the state: n full name; n month and year of birth (excluding day); n job classification title and code; n employee identification number; n hire date; n current pay rate/salary; n FTE status/percentage; n work email address; n worksite/duty station address; and, bargaining unit number. Once again, the request was denied, citing the same reasons as in the first request and adding that they did not own the records in question and therefore could not release them. “Their excuses don’t pass the laugh test,” Wickers said. “It doesn’t matter whether HR owns the records in dispute. They have to disclose anything ‘prepared, owned, used or retained by it.’ And none of the documents requested are related to state ‘deliberative process
A closer look at the successes being achieved by the Freedom Foundation’s office in the Golden State.
es or to the training of employees who do not have full collective b argaining and representation.’ The Freedom Foun-| dation is entitled to these records.” The Freedom Foundation makes no secret of why it wants the information. “We want to contact public employees to notify them about a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that did away with mandatory union membership and dues in the public sector,” Wickers said. “ “We understand why the unions want to kee the members in the dark about their rights,” he said. “What we don’t understand is why a taxpayer-funded state agency feels it needs to be a partner in the conspiracy.” Wickers said the complaint filed on May 4 asks that HR either provide the requested information or show cause why the court “should not issue such a writ and thereafter issue a peremptory writ compelling defendant to perform its public duty as set forth above.”
9
10
LIVING LIBERTY
|
A P U B LICAT ION O F T HE FR EED OM FOUNDAT ION
FREEDOM in ACTION
When workers learn they can opt out of their union, they do EDITORIAL Reprinted from the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
FAN MAIL
March 24, 2020
“I received a direct deposit from (my union) for two months of union dues, and on my (recent) check they did not take out the union dues … thank you so much for your help in this matter. I really appreciate you!!” – JANET n
n
n
“I really appreciate your time and efforts to help people like myself who have been “fairshare” fee objectors over the years and are grateful for this opportunity to further reduce the financial contribution to a political agenda I do not support.” – JENNIFER n
n
n
Thank you for all your help. I appreciate your time, effort and understanding through the process of opting out of my union. The Freedom Foundation equals hope and I’m grateful you are here for us who want to fight for justice.” – BETH n
n
What helped was using the forms provided by your website. Thank you so much for your support. – CLAUDIA n
n
“Thank you very much. Unions have outlasted their worth, I’m tired of being bullied into contracts that don’t represent my values. I really appreciate what your group is doing.” – AUSTIN n
n
to convince them that your services are worth upward of $1,000 a year or more. Businesses face a similar problem every day. In a free marketplace, customers may take their business somewhere else if they aren’t satisfied with the product or think its price is too high. Absent government interference, businesses have to remain focused on their customers. That’s one reason why customer service is typically so much better in the private sector than in government. But ask any business owner — that type of work is hard. It’s why government unions have doubled down on their preference for a captive audience. Even after the Janus ruling, the Washington state union didn’t tell its members they had the option to leave. The Freedom Foundation did. It’s undertaken sustained campaigns in several states to let government employees know they can opt out of their union. Its efforts have resulted in
n
““You and the Freedom Foundation have been beyond helpful and supportive and were the only ones that were there when each of us hit a dead end in trying to opt out.” – JEREMY
more than 70,000 workers opting out. Workers should certainly have the right to join or form a union. But those who decline to become part of such an association should be free to make their own choices, too. Instead of improving their services, unions are increasingly dependent on artificial hurdles and government-granted advantages to retain members. Some unions let workers leave only during a short window each year. In the Clark County Education Association, for instance, teachers may drop their membership by submitting written notice from July 1 to July 15. In some places, the law allows unions to give presentations during new employee orientation. When they get truly desperate, there’s evidence of unions forging signatures on membership cards. Unions shouldn’t focus on making it harder for workers to leave. They should instead focus on providing a service that makes them attractive enough to voluntarily gain more members.
It’s high time Ohio’s governer, admin services office reined in lawless unions By LINDSEY QUEEN Reprinted from RED STATE
n
“My district and local union did honor my request to opt out right away.
n
T
wo years later, it’s obvious why unions were so opposed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME. Janus affirmed the right of every government employee in the country to opt out of union membership. Before that, only public employees in right-towork states were legally able to stop paying union dues. But the high court ruled that it violated the First Amendment rights of workers to force them to give money to a labor union as a condition of government employment. The Washington Public Employees Association represents around 2,200 state workers. Before Janus, almost every one of them had union dues forcibly withheld from their paychecks. By February, however, 25 percent of them had stopped the union’s deductions, according to the Freedom Foundation. No wonder unions didn’t want workers to have such freedom. Turns out it’s much easier to collect dues from workers as a condition of employment than
May 2, 2020 On May 1, the Freedom Foundation sent Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine a formal request from 462 public employees who all want out of their government unions. Since last October, the Freedom Foundation has been assisting public employees in the state who want to opt out, and hundreds have successfully done so. However, unions like the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have prevented hundreds more from exercising that right. The Department of Administrative Services (DAS), which is partly responsible for directing the state’s labor relations and human resources policies, also received requests. They are collectively responsible and potentially liable for deducting union dues from public employees who have requested the deductions stop. The Freedom Foundation opened its Ohio office in October 2019 and has been working tirelessly ever since to help ed-
ucate more than 330,000 public employees about their First Amendment right to opt out of their union. Since our arrival in the Buckeye State, we’ve canvassed more than 5,000 homes and government office buildings, sent tens of thousands of emails and mail to government employees, informing them of their Constitutional right to leave their union. Meanwhile, opt-outs have averaged nearly 100 per month, a number that’s expected to exponentially grow as we continue with outreach efforts over the summer. The Freedom Foundation’s efforts to educate Ohio’s public workforce are starting to work. Unfortunately, the unions are making it difficult for many to leave. Despite what these unions believe, they are not allowed to ignore — and essentially deny — a member’s request to leave their union. That ended in 2018, with the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME — a ruling
that granted all government employees the freedom of choice regarding union membership. State Sen. Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson) stated, “I was delighted when the U.S. Supreme Court decided Janus in favor of freedom for the worker and did away with the shackles of union dues. I’m thankful the Freedom Foundation is here in Ohio and fighting for workers’ rights.” State Rep. Craig Riedel (R-Defiance) added, “The Janus decision is crystal clear. No public employee should ever have his money stolen again by a union. I highly suggest DAS follow the United States Supreme Court’s ruling and stop collecting these unlawful fees on behalf of the unions.” These public employees have said they want out of their unions. For their requests to be completely ignored is a disgrace and an injustice. The governor needs to make the correct decision and right this monstrous wrong. Lindsey Queen is the Ohio state director for the Freedom Foundation, a free-market organization committed to helping free public-sector employees from union tyranny.
LIVING LIBERTY
|
A PUBL ICAT ION OF THE FREEDOM FOUNDATION
11
FREEDOM in the NEWS ONLINE
May 19, 2020
ON
ONLINE
May 19, 2020
Report: Is Washington State Over-Inflating the Number of Covid-19 deaths?
Inslee Disputes Freedom Foundation Report Accusing State of Exaggeratng Covid-19 Deaths
“The Freedom Foundation released an extensive report Monday afternoon, showing Washington State’s COVID-19 fatality numbers could be inflated as much as 13 percent due to their method of reporting. The Foundation has studied the various methods used by the state to report COVID-19 deaths, and found that persons who die who have tested positive for the virus are listed as ‘victims’ even if COVID-19 was not the direct cause of death.”
“The Freedom Foundation, an Olympia-based free-market think tank, said Monday that the state’s reported COVID-19 death total is inflated by as much as 13 percent because of its practice of counting every person who tests positive for COVID-19 and subsequently dies, even if the death was not caused by COVID-19.
IN PRINT
May 19, 2020
Freedom Foundation Says State Health Authorities Inflating Covid-19 Deaths “On Monday, the Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank, asserted the state is inflating the number of COVID-19 deaths and Inslee’s use of higher figures politicize its response to the pandemic.The organization contended the actual number of people who lost their lives due to the disease may be as much as 13 percent lower than reported by the state. It cites the state Department of Health’s policy to include in its daily figure any individual who has a positive COVID-19 test and subsequently dies.want to get out of those unions.”
IN PRINT
May 19, 2020
Inslee criticizes Trump over testing comment, Freedom Foundation for questioning of death count “The Freedom Foundation — which advocates for limited government and free enterprise solutions — said an analysis of the way the state counts deaths includes people who tested positive for the virus but did not die from it. About 13 percent of the recorded deaths may be in that category, said Maxford Nelsen, the foundation’s director of labor policy.”
Freedom Foundation names new board chair Staff Reports
S
pring was marked by a change at the top of the Freedom Foundation’s organizational chart as Charlie Conner replaced Steve Neighbors as chairman of the organization’s board. It was the first such change in five years. Conner is a long-time supporter and member of the Freedom Foundation’s board and he, like his predecessor is a living tribute to its commitment to free enterprise, having built his family-owned company, Conner Homes, into one of the Northwest’s most successful and respected contractors. Neighbors, who is retiring and plans to spend much of his time in Arizona, founded Terra Staffing, one of the region’s most active temporary employment agency in 1983. He succeeded Hans Stoker as the Freedom Foundation’s board chairman in 2015. The organization has enjoyed some of its greatest successes under Neighbors’ leadership. He arrived two years after Tom McCabe was named CEO of the Freedom Foundation and just a year after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in Harris v. Quinn, affirming the right of home-based caregivers and childcare providers to opt out of union membership and dues. The Freedom Foundation launched its
Outgoing Freedom Foundation board chairman Steve Neighbors passes the gavel to Charlie Conner.
formidable canvassing and outreach program in the wake of Harris and, when the court subsequently extended opt-out rights to every public employee four years later in Janus v. AFSCME, the Freedom Foundation became a national force to be reckoned with. Under Neighbors’ watch, the Freedom Foundation has grown from a Washington-only operation to maintaining offices in five states. Along the way, it has helped more than 75,000 public employees opt out of their union in just the past two years. Not coincidentally, the organization has broken its own annually fundraising records in each of Neighbors’ five years at the helm.
Both Neighbors and Conner have been the target of savage attacks on their personal lives and their businesses over the years from the unions’ attack wing, the Northwest Accountability Project. “Neither of these guys ever flinched,” McCabe said. “Instead of being intimidated, every reprehensible act by the union just strengthened their resolve to work even harder to make sure we’re the ones left standing when the battle has been won. “The Freedom Foundation is blessed with the finest board of directors I’ve ever been associated with,” he said. “That’s always been the case, and I have no doubt whatsoever that proud tradition will continue.”
12
LIVING LIBERTY
|
A P U BL IC AT I ON OF T HE FREEDOM FOUNDAT I ON
ACTION TIMELINE SPOTLIGHTING SOME OF THE FREEDOM FOUNDATION’S NOTEWORTHY ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE PAST MONTH April 24 The Freedom Foundation files a formal comment supporting a proposed regulation under consideration by the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), which oversees collective bargaining between federal government agencies and unions representing federal employees. The comment involves “official time,” a benefit often granted to unions that allows public employees who are also union officers to engage in union business while on the clock, effectively forcing taxpayers to subsidize union operations. May 1 The Freedom Foundation sends Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine a formal request from 462 Ohio public employees who all want out of the unions designated to represent them. Their Constitutional right to do just that without penalty was affirmed two years ago next month by the U.S. Supreme Court in Janus v. AFSCME. Since last October, the Freedom Foundation has been assisting public employees in the state who want to opt out, and hundreds have successfully done so. May 8 The Freedom Foundation filed litigation this week against the Washington State Public Dis-
closure Commission (PDC) in Thurston County Superior Court — its third such lawsuit pending against the state’s campaign finance watchdog over its failure to hold labor unions accountable for breaking state election laws. The newest action involves the PDC’s unfounded dismissal of the Freedom Foundation’s December 2018 complaint alleging the Amalgamated Transit Union Legislative Council of Washington (ATULC) failed to register with the PDC as a political committee and disclose its political expenditures. May 9 Around 2,000 Washingtonians flock to the grounds of the State Capitol in Olympia to protest the stay-at-home order issued in March by Gov. Jay Inslee to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Freedom Foundation Outreach Director Matthew Hayward delivers an impassioned speech, calling it the “stay-home-andsuffer” directive and vowing, “We will not comply.” May 12 A complaint filed against California’s Department of Human Resources seeks to establish whether the agency works for the state residents and taxpayers or for the powerful labor unions that control most of its public employees.
BY THE NUMBERS On May 1, the Freedom Foundation sent Gov. Mike DeWine a formal request from 462 Ohio public employees who all want out of the unions. These government workers all signed opt-out cards but continue to be held captive by their public-sector union. n
n
n
On May 14, the California Globe published a story about the Freedom Foundation’s recent lawsuit against the state of California for denying our request for clearly disclosable records under suspicious circumstances. Within a day, more than 50 state workers from SEIU 1000 alone had decided to part ways with their union. In total, nearly 80 public employees opted out of their unions in California. For a union like SEIU 1000, which charges its members close to $900 every year, a loss of 50 members translates to $45,000 the union can never again collect. The action, filed in Sacramento Superior Court, alleges officials at Human Resources wrongly refused to comply with two sets of information requests filed by the Freedom Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy organization specializing in exposing abuses by government employee unions.
Essential? Now more than ever. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on March 22 responded to the Coronavirus pandemic by imposing a temporary stay-at-home order on Washington residents and thousands of businesses deemed “nonessential” by the governor’s advisors. In April, it was extended to May 4. Among those granted an exemption from the edict, however, were SEIU, WFSE, the Washington Education Association and every other union claiming to represent the state’s myriad government employees. While countless Washingtonians lost their livelihoods with the stroke of an Olympia bureaucrat’s pen, the state’s wealthiest and most powerful special interests were allowed to continue confiscating dues as though nothing had happened. But it turns out the same loophole created for “unions and labor advocates” can also be applied to the Freedom Foundation — without a doubt the state of Washington’s premier advocate for worker freedom. We’re still here. Whether from home or the office, the Freedom Foundation is on the job every day performing its “essential” mission. And, thanks to supporters like you, we’ll still be making life miserable for Gov. Inslee and his union cronies long after history concludes they’re the ones who are truly nonessential.