Those Courageous Dems; Like Cockroaches, They Hate The Light

From the level of their rhetoric, you'd think that Democrats in Virginia's House of Delegates had been forced to voted in favor of homosexual pervers... er, child molesters.

But no, it was just a bill introduced by Alexandria perv... er, Democrat Adam Ebbin to grant a special privilege to Virginia labor bosses, and to give public employee unions a preferred status in the debate over scarce public resources. Democrats wanted to dodge a vote, and it was initially defeated unanimously with only two Democrats voting. However, Republicans forced a roll-call vote, which produced a vote of 82-0, against.

It went something like this, according to the official House website: "Per House Rule 69, the following members were present and failed to vote and upon demand by a member were counted in the negative: Alexander, Amundson, Armstrong, BaCote, Barlow, Bouchard, Bowling, Brink, Caputo, Eisenberg, Englin, Marsden, Mathieson, Miller, P.J., Moran, Morrissey, Nichols, Plum, Poisson, Shannon, Shuler, Sickles, Toscano, Valentine, and Ward."

So these Dems didn't even have the courage to stand up one way or another?

Predictably, the WaPo made Democrats forced to vote for one of their constituencies' requests look like victims of dirty GOP tactics.

On the other hand, being identified with one of your core constituencies can be embarrassing, particularly when you're a Democrat.

The reporterette also gets it wrong when she asserts that "it would have reversed Virginia's long-standing status as a right-to-work state." All that Ebbin's HB 852 would have done was repeal the bar on public employee monopoly bargaining (a bill passed with the sponsorship of Prince William Democrat David Brickley), which gives labor bosses the special privilege of "representing" all employees in a bargaining unit, including those who want to have nothing to do with them. Moreover, monopoly bargaining obliges public officials to give labor bosses a preferred seat at the table in the allocation of scarce public resources, requiring an agreement.

Imagine, for a minute, if you (assuming you're not a labor boss) went to Richmond and asked your state legislator to introduce a bill giving you such a preferred seat at the table, and requiring that a public official negotiate and reach agreement with you over the County budget.

Of course, monopoly bargaining has nothing to do with being forced to pay union dues, except that it gives labor bosses the excuse to spin elaborate yarns about so-called "free riders."

What was particularly hilarious was Ebbin's effort to withdraw his bill when the GOP forced a vote on it, a privilege usually granted.

It seems to me rather stupid to introduce a bill upon which you're not prepared to vote.