For the third time in the past 14 years, California voters rejected an attempt—fueled by millions of out-of-state dollars—to shut working people out of the political process when they soundly defeated Proposition 32. California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski said working families:
Rejected a blatant power play by corporate special interests to silence the voice of working people. Despite weeks of misleading advertisements backing Prop. 32 paid for by billionaires and out-of-state super PACs, the margin of defeat was decisive. Prop. 32 backers spent more than $50 million in an effort to fool voters.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that $11 million of that war chest came from “a shadowy Arizona group that became entangled with the state’s Supreme Court over where it got its money.”
Ultimately, that money was traced back to two outside groups with ties to the billionaire oil tycoon brothers, David and Charles Koch, as well as to Karl Rove, the former top strategist to former President George W. Bush, whose web of super PACs and non-profit groups spread hundreds of millions of dollars in campaigns across the nation.
Prop. 32 would ban the use of voluntary payroll deductions by union members who want to contribute to their union’s political activity. It would do nothing to stop the campaign spending by secret corporate-backed PACs and the wealthy. Pulaski says:
Prop. 32 had the effect of driving millions of firefighters, electricians, nurses, teachers, plumbers and other working people to the polls today. This measure was nothing less than an attack on working people; an attack we took personally.
More than 40,000 union volunteers made more than 3 million voter contacts and distributed more than 5.1 million worksite leaflets.
As of this morning, Prop. 32 was losing by more than eight percentage points. Working families defeated similar measures in 2005 and 1998.
Working families also rallied to help pass Prop. 30 that will raise $6 billion to put the state’s education system back on track by ending cuts to schools and providing funds to rehire teachers, reduce class sizes and update textbooks. It’s paid for by asking the state’s wealthiest to pay their fair share. Learn more about Prop. 30.
This post was originally posted on AFL-CIO NOW on November 7, 2012. Reprinted with permission.
About the Author: Mike Hall is a former West Virginia newspaper reporter, staff writer for the United Mine Workers Journal and managing editor of the Seafarers Log. I came to the AFL- CIO in 1989 and have written for several federation publications, focusing on legislation and politics, especially grassroots mobilization and workplace safety.
