Fun with the 2005 Special Statewide Election Voter Information Guide: Prop. 75
There are a lot of names printed in the voter information guide. Most often in the arguments pro/con, you hear who the proposition is supposed to support, who the proposition is supposed to hurt, who supports and who doesn’t support the proposition. Handy each and every one! Can we can make a decision based solely on this information?
Proposition 75 is titled Public Employee Union Dues. Restrictions on Public Contributions. Employee Consent Requirement. Initiative Statute. For brevity’s sake, we’ll gather our list of names from the argument summaries:
PRO
Proposition 75 protects public employee union members from having political contributions made from their dues without their annual permission. Currently public employee union members are forced to contribute their hard earned money to political candidates or issues they may oppose. Yes on Proposition 75 will make those contributions clearly voluntary.
So according to the argument PRO, Prop. 75 will help:
- public employee union members
Similarly, it will hurt:
- political candidates or issues opposed by public employee union members
It’s short, sweet, and to the point. Three cheers for efficiency! Let’s look at the other argument.
CON
Prop. 75 is unfair to teachers, nurses, police and firefighters. It makes their labor unions play by different rules than big corporations. It’s unnecessary. The U.S. Supreme Court says no public employee can be forced to join a union and contribute to politics. It’s sponsored by corporations who oppose unions.
so if the argument CON is to be believed, Prop. 75 hurts:
- teachers
- nurses
- police
- firefighters
it helps:
- big corporations
Further, the argument CON is backed up by:
- The Supreme Court
Now we’ve heard both arguments and we’ve got five lists. That’s way too many. Let’s boil that down to two lists, FOR75 — the groups identified by PRO and CON as being helped by 75 — and AGAINST75 — the groups identified by PRO and CON as being hurt by 75. We’ll put CON’s claimed supporters in to the AGAINST75 list for good measure. At the end of the day, we have:
FOR75:
- public employee union members
- big corporations
AGAINST75:
- teachers
- nurses
- police
- firefighters
- political candidates or issues opposed by public employees
- The Supreme Court
The FOR75 list looks awfully funny. I personally can’t imagine “big corporations” getting in the same boat as public employees if their lives depended upon it. Public employees are fussy types who want to be paid well and have benefits and sound retirement programs; that’s just not the big corporation style. Also funny, AGAINST75 has teachers, nurses, etc. in with political candidates or issues that they oppose. What’s with that?
These annoying details aside, we have a pretty straightforward set of lists that we can choose between. Do we go for the dynamic duo of big corporations and public employees, or the tasty melange of public employees, their political adversaries and The Supreme Court? The choice is yours.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that there may be better ways to make a call on these propositions than the method outlined above. I encourage you to visit the League of Women Voters page on Prop. 75, read the available material and make up your own mind.