"Smart" Lobbying
...with back-up
The iron is that it may be CA’s salvation…
Officials in the governor’s office say a politically powerful union may have had inappropriate influence over the Obama administration’s decision to withhold billions of dollars in federal stimulus money from California if the state does not reverse a scheduled wage cut for the labor group’s workers.
An honest person would b squalling like a scalded baboon. Ahnold, has his office say “may have.”
The officials say they are particularly troubled that the Service Employees International Union, which lobbied the federal government to step in, was included in a conference call in which state and federal officials reviewed the wage cut and the terms of the stimulus package.
...California Secretary of Health and Human Services Kim Belshe said ..."The involvement of a stakeholder in this kind of state-federal deliberative process is unusual at best,... This was really atypical and outside any norm I am familiar with.” [including] d an SEIU associate general counsel in Washington, a lobbyist for SEIU in California and a representative from SEIU’s policy staff in California,
SEIU was among the biggest donors to President Obama’s campaign, contributing $33 million. The union is also consistently among the biggest donors to Democrats in Sacramento and had aggressively fought the wage cut during state budget negotiations.
Te beef is about “home health-care workers.” Like if your Granny isn’t doing so well and you go over to help her out with her housework, you can get paid for that. Not by Granny. Now some of these folks are legitimate angels of mercy helping out older or disabled people: some are fraudulent relatives dropping by to have a beer with “Granny” and getting a fat check to split with her.
...The [$74-million] cut lowers the state’s maximum contribution to home health workers’ pay from $12.10 per hour to $10.10. ...
The wages go to some 300,000 people who care for the elderly and ill in their homes. Those workers collectively pay millions of dollars in dues each month to SEIU and another union. ...
This is the telling para:
The California officials on the call, who requested anonymity for fear of antagonizing the Obama administration, said they needed the savings to help balance the state budget.
Thugocracy.
The Obama administration has ruled that California must revoke the wage cut—which would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature and thus would need GOP support—or lose $6.8 billion in federal stimulus funds.
Therein lies our hope; which will shatter as we watch our legislators knuckle under, bend over, cave, backpedal, surrender, bootlick…
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