"Right to Work" Dead in the Water?

this councilman

will get traction if the media reads 'RTW' to the peoples and 1072 returns. Labor will spend millions and counter with their own inititive which gives ritter another reason to sign a 2008 version of 1072 ... then he goes up on the air (sans the Hickster) to say no to the inititives. Should be an excellent payday for the consultants and tons of exposure for the pols, including this guys run for another office.

Now where were we on consumer pocket money (aka the economy), water/hydro, our piss poor educational system, crime, children's issues, underfunded higher ed, the high cost of energy, immigration, roads, and econdvlp?

---

by: WaWie @ Thu Jun 28, 2007 at 11:04:09 AM CDT

Did you read the question?

“Would you favor or oppose a statewide ballot initiative that would do the following: prohibit all labor contracts that would require joining a labor organization to get or keep a job or that require the payment of dues to labor organizations to get or keep a job.

If you had to vote on this initiative today, would you vote yes or no on this initiative? (Is that strongly or just somewhat?)”

favor, oppose, prohibit, require, require...

Loaded question, done before the filing (April) with the expected skewed results.  Who paid Ritter for this garbage?

---

by: guesswho @ Thu Jun 28, 2007 at 11:39:35 AM CDT

That's what the ballot question says

---

by: Colorado Pols @ Thu Jun 28, 2007 at 11:42:38 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

and its ridder not ritter

---

by: Roger D @ Thu Jun 28, 2007 at 15:56:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

These results sound about right.

A recent article by Rick Perlstein in The Nation summarizes voter attitudes in a variety of major longitudinal surveys  and shows agreements with the results of this straw poll on right to work.  Here are a few findings related to labor unions and workers’ rights.

  "According to Gallup, a majority say they generally side with labor in disputes and only 34 percent with companies; 53 percent think unions help the economy and only 36 percent think they hurt.”
  “The proportion of Americans who believe government should guarantee every citizen enough to eat and a place to sleep is 69 percent, too - the highest since 1991. Even 69 percent of self-identified Republicans - and 75 percent of small-business owners! - favor raising the minimum wage by more than $2. [Pew Research Center for People and the Press, Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007]
  “Two-thirds want the government to guarantee health insurance for all citizens. Even among those who otherwise say they would prefer a smaller government, it's 57 percent - the same as the percentage of Americans making more than $75,000 a year who believe "labor unions are necessary to protect the working person." [Pew Center]

The point of this very interesting analysis is a discussion of the reasons that national voter attitudes are aligning with positions of the Democratic Party on a wide range of issues, yet these attitudes have not translated voter identification with Dems nor Dem electoral victory—but that’s another topic. 

In regard to the current measure, those who want to use anti-union sentiment as a wedge issue may be surprised by unintended consequences. 

Here is the link:  http://www.thenation...

---

by: RavenDawg @ Thu Jun 28, 2007 at 14:51:08 PM CDT

Wow. The tide has turned....

... Twenty seven years of bullshit,deception, "think" tanks, News Corp., lies, and the American public is finally realizing that they have been HAD.  "Are you better off than you were 27 years ago?"  The resounding answer is "No!"

Of course, some of us knew all along....  snark, snark.

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd." -Bertrand Russell

---

by: parsingreality @ Thu Jun 28, 2007 at 23:08:53 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The usual suspects

  The source of this disconnect according to the article is an overly timid (OK, you can say corporatist) Dem leadership and consultant class combined with mainstream media (and right wing propaganda) that perpetuates a false description of public consensus. 
  Sounds like a case for ***Superbloggers***!!!!

---

by: RavenDawg @ Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 13:01:24 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Where did you buy your cape and tights?

Inquiring libs want to know....

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd." -Bertrand Russell

---

by: parsingreality @ Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 18:08:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

work

Work is often thought as the definition of what makes a person.  Your work is thought to be what you ultimately are - but how silly is that?  (What if you service septic tanks for a living?)  The author, philosopher, historian, and mathematician Bertrand Russell once wrote an essay called In Praise of Idleness, and we often forget the simple pleasure of writing a poem or doing crosswords in the paper, or reading someone's memoirs, if it's interesting enough.  (The recollections of a business software engineer wouldn't count - boring!)  In modern life, we too often are caught up in work and forget to take time to do nothing.

---

by: KenK @ Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 05:39:47 AM CDT