"Fair" Elections Ballot Initiates Are Anti-Union

There are several ballot initiatives going that I really support in their concept. But the language makes it almost impossible for me to support several of them. The advocates of these initiatives are going to lose their mind when they read this and say I'm not progressive because I don't support their poorly worded ballot language, but its not my fault they took a good idea and didn't execute it well. 

Thats entirely their fault. 

And they are mostly pushed by El Paso's "white saviors". 

The concepts are great, but when you actually take time to analyze the impact of the language, its clear that what you are voting for has some bad implications. The first one I want to go over is the Fair Elections initiative. 

I think most liberals like myself agree that the 5 white guys that control El Paso have entirely too much political influence. We've got to have a way to create more equity between business and people. And now more than ever, their money matters to candidates. 

Why? Because a group of "progressives" several years ago decided to move the municipal elections from May to November, allegedly to give more El Pasoans a chance to participate in city elections. I don't think that was the actual reason it was done. I think it was done as a deliberate effort to increase the influence the white wealthy. 

How so? I'm glad you asked. Because it costs more money to be competitive in a November election and therefore, they will have more influence in the outcome of those elections. The other benefit it has to some is that it makes it easier for incumbents to win. Obviously that was some self-serving shit. 

You wanna take away a big chunk of the wealthy's political influence? Then move the elections back to May. Nothing prevents an El Pasoan from voting in May. May elections are more competitive because while the turnout numbers are lower, the voters are more informed and those "little campaigns that could" have a much better chance of winning elections. 

It costs less money to run in May, therefore the influence of the wealthy takes a big hit. 

Now I don't want to be accused of taking the advocates for this initiatives words out of context, so this screenshot is from their website. 

"This proposition will tie their hands."

Remember that line, I'll come back to that. 

Impact on Labor

The political game is rigged against working families in Texas. This is a Right to Fire state - they call it a Right to Work state, but what it really means is that an employer can fire you for literally anything and there is no consequence to them whatsoever. The wealthy and big business write fat checks to politicians in order to get their way. It happens all the time and has happened for well-over a hundred years. 

As a result, tons of anti-worker, pro-business legislation has been written. And there has been a steady and strategic effort made toward taking away all protections for workers in the workplace. As if that wasn't bad enough for working families, then they went after unions. Union contracts are the ONLY way that workers can have any protections in the workplace in black and white because the law no longer protects workers. So the wealthy and big business started attacking Unions and writing laws against Unions that will in the words of the Fair Election advocates, "tie their hands". 

And they were very successful at just that, which is why it is so difficult for Unions to operate in Texas. The rules are stacked against them by the people who pay legislators to make the rules. 

So how do working families stand a chance? How do they fight back? 

Well, they can't write fat checks like the wealthy and big business. But what they can do is contribute small dollar amounts every month to their Union COPE funds. COPE is the Committee on Political Education. Thats the legislative advocacy fund for Unions to fight back. So workers give $2 here and $5 there like a colecta and pretty soon, that money ads up and Unions have a fund to support candidates and elected officials that will fight for the workers, not the wealthy. 

Union dues don't go to supporting candidates. Its prohibited. Workers have to elect to contribute money on top of their dues to support those candidates and elected officials that fight for them. 

That is literally the only way working families have to fight back. 

This ballot initiative limits the amount of money individuals can contribute to a campaign, it limits the amount of money an individual can spend of their own money, and it limits the money political action committees can contribute. 

IT LIMITS THE AMOUNT OF MONEY A UNION CAN SPEND ON A CANDIDATE. 

Its bad enough that working families have had protections in the workplace written out of existence from the Republican Party, but this is an attack on working families from progressives. The very people who should be finding ways to help working families have MORE influence over elected officials, not less. 

This is a textbook example of how a well-intentioned idea that sounds good on paper, actually has some pretty bad implications. 

Because this initiative, specifically as it relates to unions....

....

will "tie their hands". 

And that is not good policy. It is, by definition, anti-Union. 

Don't even get me started on the fact that its also an assault on the 1st Amendment and a ridiculous attack on personal freedom to spend your own fucking money they way you fucking want to. 

And let me clarify, I said early that the language was "poorly worded". Part of me thinks maybe they knew exactly what they were doing. 

Again, their own words from their own website:

"...run without the pressure of caving into big money interests to fund their campaigns".

The Union campaign funds were created so that there could be some equity and to level the playing field for working families. This initiative limits working families fight-back funds and calls it "big money interests". 

I doubt any railroad worker, electrician, sheet metal worker, trucker, postal carrier, cop, healthcare worker, or teacher that is part of union in El Paso would call themselves a big money interest. 

Unions have supported progressive candidates in local elections like Congresswoman Escobar, State Rep Ordaz Perez, and Commissioner David Stout. And more and more unions are taking an interest in municipal elections. 

Municipal elections are "non-partisan" but they are backing Democratic candidates against Republicans, like City Rep Claudia Rodriguez. But this ballot initiative, as stated by so many of the "white-saviors" that support the effort, will in effect, tie the hands, of working families that want to push back. 

There is nothing good about that. 

And that is why if you support unions and workers who want a voice in their pay and working conditions, you can't support this item. 

Because its anti-worker, anti-union, and anti-working families.