Early Wednesday morning, state Senate Democrats chose to betray Senate Republicans, House Democrats and the people of Washington all to please their multi-million dollar campaign donor—the Washington Education Association. If you haven’t heard yet, Senate Democrats backtracked on a previous agreement and refused to vote for the suspension of the WEA’s money-grabbing Initiative 1351 unless the Senate first passed a completely unrelated bill.
The WEA-backed bill Democrats now demand would water down high school graduation standards. Senate Democrats’ refusal to abide by their word has left a $2 billion hole in the state budget, which assumes a $2 billion reduction of spending for I-1351. With no deal in sight, the Senate decided to adjourn until Friday.
The fact is that Senate Democrats not only broke a significant promise, but they are also now trying to blackmail Republicans. Democrats are, once again, holding the people’s business hostage to their special interests’ agenda.
This isn’t the first time Democrats prioritized special interests over the people’s interests, and it won’t be the last. This Throw Back Thursday, we’re taking a look back on three times Democrats picked special interests over the people this legislative session.
1. When Democrat lawmakers bowed to the will of the WEA and killed a bill that would have allowed Washington State to retain its No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal waiver.
Last year, just like they are doing right now, Democrat lawmakers caved into the WEA’s demands and ensured the failure of a bill that complied with federal standards to use student test scores as just an aspect of teacher evaluations. The bill made a simple adjustment to existing law and required (rather than recommended) student test scores to be used in teacher evaluations. The result of Democrats prioritizing special interests was that school districts across Washington State lost control of nearly $40 million in federal grants designated to low-income children. Additionally, parents across our state received letters that the school their children attended was failing.
This legislative session, the Republican-controlled state Senate passed a bill that would allow Washington State to regain its federal waiver—despite the WEA’s best efforts to thwart the bill. But, the Democrat-controlled state House did not even give the legislation a hearing. Democrats, once again, proved just how little they care for students, public schools and just how much they care about pleasing those who fund their campaigns.
2. When Democrat lawmakers exempted labor unions from their “workers’ rights” bills.
During this legislative session, Democrat lawmakers championed their support for a hike in the minimum wage and mandatory paid sick leave. Yet their hypocrisy came through loud and clear because Democrats did not extend these policies to all workers, exempting the unions that contribute heavily to their campaigns.
That’s right, all of the “workers’ rights” bills sponsored by Democrats contained exemption provisions for labor unions. The truth—which even socialists were able to see—quickly came out that the true purpose behind the bills was to encourage “employers to become union shops in order to take advantage of the exemptions.” The bills would make unionization a “low cost option for employers to avoid paying the otherwise mandated benefits.” More unionized employers means more union members which means more union dues, which means more campaign money for Democrat politicians.
State Senate Democrats revealed the true propose of the “workers’ rights” bills when they rejected a Republican-backed bill that sought to level the playing field and offer workers’ rights to all by eliminating the exemptions. Sens. Bob Hasegawa (a Teamster for 32 years and head of Local 174 for nine), Steve Conway (UFCW Local 81 secretary-treasurer for 21 years) and Karen Keiser (communications director of the Washington State Labor Council for 25 years) all voted against passing SB 5332, the amending bill, out of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee.
3. When Democrat lawmakers chose to protect special interests over increasing government transparency.
This legislative session, Senate Republicans sought to pass a bill that would have opened government collective bargaining negotiations to the public by removing union exemptions from the state Open Public Meetings Act. The bill met significant resistance from Democrats. So much so, that they refused to even consider Senate Republicans’ offer to extend them everything they asked for in terms of state employee pay raises in return for simple reforms to the collective bargaining process.
Jay Inslee also refused to support the bill. He said he did not think opening negotiations to the public would “fruitful… We have the final result. It’s available for an up or down vote. That’s what really important.” Of course, that’s not true. Not since Gov. Gary Locke signed the labor-supported policy have outcomes of secret negotiations between Democrat governors and the unions that give them big money been made available for an up-or-down vote. Rather, it has always folded into the state budget, as is the case in this year’s House Democrats’ spending plan.
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