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APRIL 2020
LIVING LIBERTY A Publication of the Freedom Foundation
A new billboard at the corner of Legion Way and Adams Street in downtown Olympia will feature the face of recently retired WFSE chief Greg Devereux.
The Freedom Foundation constructs a monument to Devereux’s hypocrisy
Electronic Service Requested
Freedom Foundation PO Box 552 Olympia, WA 98507
T
he irony — make that hypocrisy — of WFSE Executive Director Greg Devereux availing himself of an option his union has stubbornly denied many of its members was too rich to keep to ourselves. So the Freedom Foundation purchased a billboard to share it with the world. Devereux ended his reign of terror as head of the Washington Federation of State Employees, Council 28, in late February. According to a press release posted to the organization’s website, he stepped down in January after nearly 40 years in the labor movement. What makes the news paradoxical is that, under Devereux, WFSE was among the nation’s most unapologetic opponents of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Janus v. AFSCME that affirmed the rights of public employees at all levels of government to decline to finance their union’s activities. Labor activists will insist Devereux’s decision to retire is nothing like a worker opting out of union membership and dues. After 40 years of loyal service, they would argue, he’s earned the right to reap his just rewards and depart on his own terms.
By JEFF RHODES Managing Editor
But that reasoning just illustrates their willful ignorance about what’s at stake from the very beginning. Rights aren’t earned, nor are they conferred by unions or even the Supreme Court. As the U.S. Constitution makes clear, our rights come from our Creator, and not even a majority of the voters can suppress them. As such, every government employee has just as much right as Greg Devereux to wake up one morning and decide it makes sense to be a free agent. But when they do, the union will almost certainly spend his or her own dues money to thwart their will. Greg Devereux is a 5-star phony who believes the rules only apply to the little people who’ve been paying his bloated salary for all these years. And now this fraud is being exposed as thousands of commuters have the opportunity to contemplate the union double standard every day. The first Devereux ad went up this month along Legion Way and Adams Street in downtown Olympia — as close as possible to the WFSE offices, not coincidentally. “In one respect, we’re having a little fun at their expense,” said Freedom Foundation Executive Vice President Brian Minnich. “After all, the billboard doesn’t even identify Devereux, so it’s sort of an inside joke. “At the same time,” he said, “it highlights the fundamental point we try to hammer home every day: Greg Devereux doesn’t care about you. He only cares about your paychecks because that’s what he intends to ride off into the sunset with while you’re denied the same right to exercise your free will that he reserves to himself.”