Dueling California Measures Set to Tax Rich, Gut Unions

Two ballot measures for Californians this fall could shape the state's politics--a millionaire's tax, or a historic attack on unions' ability to influence campaigns.

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For the SEIU state council, which has spent $8.2 million on both measures, the disparity runs 3:1.

Josh Pechthalt, president of the much smaller CFT, predicts that national unions will jump in against Prop 32.

“California is seen as an exception against the Republican right-wing juggernaut,” he said. “So if this were to pass it would deflate the Democrats and labor and it would have national implications.”

Martha Kuhl, a nurse and delegate to an East Bay labor council, says the council’s phonebanking has focused on 32. “It would completely flop the entire system on its head and give the big money interests even more power than they currently have,” she said. “Who else speaks up for working people besides unions?"

CRADLE OF CITIZENS UNITED

It’s no coincidence that Prop 32’s originators were also behind Citizens United.

The court case grew out of a film the conservative advocacy group made for showing during the 2008 primaries. Citizens United’s film, “Hillary: The Movie,” was partly funded by the Lincoln Club of Orange County, a group of wealthy businessmen now backing Prop 32.

The Clinton-bashing film was explicitly designed as a challenge to the McCain-Feingold election rules that banned the broadcast of ads paid for by corporations during election season. When the Supreme Court majority used the lawsuit to take the reins off corporate spending in politics, the Lincoln Club hailed the decision as a victory for free speech.

Jane Slaughter is an editor at Labor notes. She is the author of Concessions and How To Beat Them and co-author, with Mike Parker, of Choosing Sides: Unions and the Team Concept and Working Smart: A Union Guide to Participation Programs and Reengineering. She is the editor of A Troublemaker's Handbook 2.