A corrupt bargain with unions

MADISON, WI - FEBRUARY 21: Protesters rally i...Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Washington Examiner Editorial:

Wisconsin's Democratic state senators and leaders of the Badger State's government employee unions have given taxpayers nationwide an illustration of the corrupt political bargain at the heart of collective bargaining wherever it is found in the public sector.

One side of this corrupt bargain is seen in the fact that public employee unions in Wisconsin contributed more than $130,000 in the 2010 election cycle to Democrats in the state legislature, compared with a mere $8,050 to Republicans. As The Washington Examiner reported last week, nearly half of the Democrat total went to the unions' favorite state legislator in his unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor; a victory would have set him up for the governorship. The hard data on campaign contributions don't include significant independent spending by the public-sector unions on behalf of Wisconsin Democrats, nor does it count the value to them of union volunteers licking envelopes, manning telephone banks and doing get-out-the-vote work on their behalf.

The other side of the corrupt bargain is the excessively generous, tax-paid compensation and benefits for public-sector employees, approved by the very same legislators who benefited from their campaign contributions. In Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median annual household income -- including families with two incomes -- is $52,000, while the average single-income family brings in only $40,500. By comparison, the average full-time individual Wisconsin state employee receives, depending upon a variety of factors, between $50,000 and $60,000 annually in combined salary and benefits, while contributing little toward either pensions or health insurance.

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Taxpayers in states that allow this corrupt bargain are getting screwed. Many of them have had enough. Some left for states that don't allow this corrupt bargain with its inherent conflict of interest. Those that remained voted for Republicans to change things. The labor thugs are throwing a tantrum. They should be thrown out of their jobs if they don't get back to work.
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