-By Warner Todd Huston
A gaggle of State Senators in the State of Washington have signed a letter written on official state Legislature letterhead threatening to remove state funding from an Olympia-based health care service, Behavioral Health Resources. The problem is, this harassment is illegal and has landed these union thugs masquerading as legislators in hot water.
Several Democratic legislators may have violated state ethics laws when they signed a letter scolding a private nonprofit mental-health-care provider for using “hostile” and “anti-union” bargaining tactics in recent contract talks.
The letter, which was sent this month to the director of Olympia-based Behavioral Health Resources (BHR), was written on official Washington state Legislature letterhead.
The Legislative Ethics Board has ruled recently that it is illegal for lawmakers to use public resources to advocate for one side in a private dispute.
Oopsie!
So, how did this come about?
The letters were done at the behest of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1199, which at the time was in the midst of a bitter contract fight with BHR.
Not only are these so-called legislators lending their power to union thugs, they didn’t even bother to write the darn letter themselves!
In the letters, which actually were drafted by the SEIU, the lawmakers touted the funding increase for mental-health providers. Instead of giving workers the pay raises lawmakers intended, the letters said, BHR was demanding cuts in benefits and job protections.
Finally, the lawmakers reminded Masterson “your agency is funded largely through the state budget. … As elected officials responsible for that budget, we call on you to change course, and to negotiate a fair settlement with your unionized staff.”
Obviously, these faux legislators didn’t have the first clue what was really going on with the labor dispute they were asked to intervene in. Worse, they didn’t care if their actions were even illegal as they simply assumed their power in government made their action right. As usual, for a Democrat, the ends justifies the means. Legality be damned!
Now, tell us that Democrats aren’t in the pockets of big labor? Tell us that Democrats are only interested in the truth and in being fair and honest lawmakers.
Go on… try.
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Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, men’snewsdaily.com and americandaily.com among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a guest on several radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston