How Public Employees Unions Took Over Government

City Journal has a great article from Steve Malanga titled "Beholden to the State" about how government employees' unions took over the state of California.  He goes way back to WWII to trace the takeover.  A must-read in my opinion. 

Some quotes:

Consider the California Teachers Association. Much of the CTA’s clout derives from the fact that, like all government unions, it can help elect the very politicians who negotiate and approve its members’ salaries and benefits. Soon after Proposition 13 became law, the union launched a coordinated statewide effort to support friendly candidates in school-board races, in which turnout is frequently low and special interests can have a disproportionate influence. In often bitter campaigns, union-backed candidates began sweeping out independent board members. By 1987, even conservative-leaning Orange County saw 83 percent of board seats up for grabs going to union-backed candidates. The resulting change in school-board composition made the boards close allies of the CTA.

and

In the aftermath of World War II, at the height of its influence, organized labor was dominated by private workers; as a result, union members were often culturally conservative and economically pro-growth. But as government workers have come to dominate the movement, it has moved left. By the mid-nineties, the CTA was supporting causes well beyond its purview as a collective bargaining agent for teachers. In 1994, for instance, it opposed an initiative that prohibited illegal immigrants from using state government programs and another that banned the state from recognizing gay marriages performed elsewhere. Some union members began to complain that their dues were helping to advance a political agenda that they disagreed with. “They take our money and spend it as they see fit,” says Larry Sand, founder of the California Teachers Empowerment Network, an organization of teachers and former teachers opposed to the CTA’s noneducational politicking.

A New Hero for Conservatives

Item 1: One of the early indications that the country was losing it's infatuation with President Hope 'n' Change was the November '09 elections where Republicans replaced Democrats as governors in Virginia, and surprisingly, heavily Democratic New Jersey.  We now see that that was a precursor to the earthquake that happened in Massechusetts.  The name of the Republican who won in New Jersey is Chris Christie, who was a US Attorney in the District of New Jersey.

Item 2: A consistent theme of RTP&GG is the intractable and devastating problem of exploding government debt caused by unsustainable entitlements granted to government employee union benefits packages, social security and Medicaid/Medicare recipients, and soon to be compounded with Obamacare.  This is not to mention the problem that has been discussed here quite a bit of the ever-expanding size of American government.

It has been generally acknowledged that current and past government leaders have been unable to make any headway against the government unions exemplified by NEA and SEIU.  Numerous RTP&GG posts explain the reasons for this failure, which I won't go into here. 

We cheered Wisconsin Rep Paul Ryan when he stood up to Obama during Obama's attempt to appear bipartisan at his Health Care Summit.  A clearly intelligent, able debater that wouldn't back down.  That's what we've desperately needed to push our viewpoint in the national media.  But as with Obama himself, and, to a lesser extent Sarah Palin, Paul Ryan still has a thin resume.  I think experience is actually going to count for something in the next election as opposed to solely a candidate's ability to flap his or her lips.

Well, Chris Christie doesn't yet have a lot of executive experience, but he's setting himself up to go get him some real quick or die trying:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie refused to back down Tuesday from his demand that teachers take a pay freeze and start contributing to their health care benefits as the state teachers union declined to take action against a local boss who prayed for the governor's death.

And here is the nub of the whole great big problem:

He added that the state's system is unsustainable because teachers who contribute $124,000 during their lifetime for their pensions get $3.3 million in pension payments and $500,000 in health care benefits

That's a taste.  Read the whole thing.  Let's be honest: no worker would be happy to see what he's attempting to force on the teachers of New Jersey. But guess what, in this increasingly bad economy, all the rest of us poor proles have already had it forced on us. And whether they like it or not, government employees are going to have to face the music sometime.  The question is whether the nation and all the local governments man-up and do what needs to be done before Adam Smith's Invisible Hand does it for us.  If Christie can rein in the New Jersey unions, particularly with all that goes along with unions in New Jersey, he will have proven that he is a guy who can Get Things Done, which is exactly what Fiscally Responsible Conservatives need.

IF he can succeed in his mission in New Jersey, I think in 2012, he could be a top contender.  I think (again, assuming Christie is successful) a Christie/Ryan ticket would be unstoppable.

However, I'm not a blind follower of Messiahs (well, at least not 21st century ones) and I admit that he still has to follow through with what he's not just talked about, but actually begun.  If the goombas in New Jersey stop him cold, then he's just another Republican governor, not Conservatives Great Big Hope.

Go Big Man!