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Meet the New Kochs: The DeVos Clan's Plan to Defund the Left ("Right to work" laws)
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/devos-michigan-labor-politics-gop(emphases my own)
"In early December, the Michigan Freedom Fund unleashed its freedom-to-work ad campaign. The group also enlisted GOP pollster and communications guru Frank Luntz to help craft a message "bible" that was distributed to every Republican state lawmaker for use during the right-to-work push; it included prepackaged answers to potential questions from constituents and reporters. ("Q. Isn't this really just about trying to break unions? A. Freedom-to-work is about restoring workplace fairness and equality, not curtailing unions." The Freedom Fund even brought Luntz to Lansing to rally lawmakers. This is your chance to make history, Luntz exhorted them. It's now or never.
On December 6, Snyder shocked the state by announcing that lawmakers would vote on right-to-work that day and that he would sign the legislation when it got to his desk. DeVos worked the phones all the way to the end, even calling several lawmakers on their cellphones as they prepared to cast their votes."
On December 6, Snyder shocked the state by announcing that lawmakers would vote on right-to-work that day and that he would sign the legislation when it got to his desk. DeVos worked the phones all the way to the end, even calling several lawmakers on their cellphones as they prepared to cast their votes."
"Passing right-to-work in Michigan was more than a policy victory. It was a major score for Republicans who have long sought to weaken the Democratic Party by attacking its sources of funding and organizing muscle. "Michigan big labor literally controls one of the major political parties," Dick DeVos said last January. "I'm not suggesting they have influence; I'm saying they hold total dominance, command, and control." So DeVos and his allies hit laborand the Democratic Partywhere it hurt: their bank accounts. By attacking their opponents' revenue stream, they could help put Michigan into play for the GOP heading into the 2016 presidential raceas it was more than three decades earlier, when the state's Reagan Democrats were key to winning the White House.
More broadly, the Michigan fight has given hopeand a road mapto conservatives across the country working to cripple organized labor and defund the left. Whereas party activists had for years viewed right-to-work as a pipe dream, a determined and very wealthy family, putting in place all the elements of a classic political campaign, was able to move the needle in a matter of months. "Michigan is Stalingrad, man," one prominent conservative activist told me. "It's where the battle will be won or lost." "
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Meet the New Kochs: The DeVos Clan's Plan to Defund the Left ("Right to work" laws) (Original Post)
Bill USA
Mar 2014
OP
louis-t
(23,199 posts)1. To think this fucker DeVos was almost governor.
Snyder is just as bad. Only slightly smarter. Hey asshole, Michigan isn't Stalingrad yet, but with the help of you and your buddies we just might get there.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)2. Hang on Kiddies
this is going to be a really big story. If you have been watching Michigan,you can see how this is going to shake out. Remember Benton Harbor,well,now the city says it has plenty of money. Whirlpool headed to Jersey,tax payers paying for the move. Making way for a 1%er Lake Side Resort,watch and see. If you have every had the chance to be in Benton Harbor you would see a very rare view of the big lake. Yup,bring in the big yachts and sailboats,replace good paying jobs with more minimum wage part time service jobs. This is the new Rethug jobs program.