Despite his laughable photo ops trumpeting workers, President Bush has built up a long record that shows his antipathy for the American labor force. Along with his executive orders aimed at weakening unions, he has packed the National Labor Relations Board with anti-worker ideologues, threatened to veto the creation of the Department of Homeland Security if employees were given union rights, and continues his effort to restrict workers from seeking legal redress against abusive employers.

Now, the crusade against American workers is hitting the heartland. While here in Montana, the state government is close to finalizing a laudable pay raise package with the state employees union, in other states, governors are expanding conservatives’ war against workers.

In Missouri and Indiana, Governors Matt Blunt and Mitch Daniels issued executive orders eliminating collective bargaining rights for some 50,000 total employees. The moves, within the governors’ first week in office, terminated workers’ rights to negotiate negotiate wages, health care and working conditions. Read more

A number right-wing Washington, D.C. politicians have headed back to their states as newly-elected governors. And their behavior, once they leave Beltway fantasyland for the real world, shows just how out of touch today’s conservative ideology is with solving real problems. For instance, as a congressman, Ernie Fletcher was a reliable vote for Bush administration cuts to health care and Medicaid. Now, as governor of Kentucky, Fletcher told Fox News in January that he’s “very concerned about any cuts” to Medicaid proposed by the President. Similarly, as a congressman, Bob Riley was a reliable vote for Bush-backed tax cuts to the richest 1 percent of the country. But as governor of Alabama, Riley pushed a statewide initiative to raise taxes on the rich and wealthy corporations.

But perhaps the biggest hypocrite of all is Mitch Daniels. As President Bush’s Budget Director, Daniels was a top point man in ramming massive tax cuts for the wealthy through Congress, and gutting spending for critical programs. Now, as governor of Indiana, he is facing the ramifications of his actions in Washington – and proposing exactly what he railed against. See for yourself:

THEN:
“It’s especially risky to talk about let alone a jack up today’s level of taxation.”
- White House Budget Director Mitch Daniels, 2/5/02

NOW:
“Gov. Mitch Daniels called for a one percent income tax increase to help balance Indiana’s budget.”
- Indianapolis Star, 2/20/05 Read more