It’s certainly not surprising that Gov. Jay Inslee and many of his Democratic counterparts in the Legislature routinely choose to act in the interest of state worker unions over the rest of us.
As the Democrats now control all branches of government in our state — to include the supposedly nonpartisan supreme court, by the estimation of many — they are now acting at the will of their largest political donors.
It’s a symbiotic relationship of sorts, but not one that includes the best interests of transparency and fairness for citizens not on the government’s payroll. The unions flood Democrats with millions of dollars in donations. Democrats then, in turn, act at their direction.
Take one look at Senate Bill 6079 for confirmation of this fact. The proposed legislation would exempt public employees from public disclosure requests, throwing a blanket of protection over the actions and employment histories of state workers.
Meanwhile, there’s Senate Bill 6199. From Thursday’s edition of The Chronicle: “SB 6199 would restructure how the state Department of Social and Human Services works with tens of thousands of home health care workers by contracting them under a private vendor.”
It’s an attempt to require home health care workers — people caring for ill family members included — to pay union fees and add to the coffers of the union. Some of that money would — you guessed it — end up back in the hands of Democratic politicians seeking to remain in power.
This is our state government at work.
Republicans have correctly noted that both bills were requested by the SEIU 775 labor union in an attempt to maintain membership after a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court decision rejected the notion that public employees must pay union fees even if they are not a member of the union.
Such a requirement in fact violated the First Amendment rights of non-members, the court ruled.
Meanwhile, Senate Bill 6079 is a naked attempt at preventing the Freedom Foundation from notifying state workers about their rights regarding the union dues and the 2014 decision. The foundation has apparently been successful in letting workers know they can keep their money. The union is telling Democrats to jump on the issue, and the lawmakers are responding “how high?”
While they say the purpose is to protect workers from fraud and identity theft, neither of those crimes have proven to be a problem due to public disclosure. Instead, what Democrats and the union find problematic is spreading the knowledge that folks who aren’t in unions don’t have to give unions their money.
As a result of this cockeyed perception of who they represent, the Democrats are about to take away a key tool in providing transparency for citizens and the press.
Without access to birth dates, for instance, journalists will be unable to track any number of bad actors operating within our government. That includes teachers who have been shuffled from district to district after claims of abuse or harassment, misbehaving law enforcement officers and information on worker arrests, malfeasance and other clashes with the law and justice system.
None of that seems to matter to Inslee and company.
Instead, Democrats are poised to act in a way that continues to fill their campaign coffers.
This week, the state announced a $1.3 billion windfall in tax collections. Republicans want to return that to the people in the form of property tax relief. Will the Democrats support that? Not likely.
They’re too busy working to make sure union money keeps flowing to them.
