I always leave a TV or radio appearance thinking, "I wish I said _____." This week I was interviewed by Tim White and Ian Donnis on Newsmakers along side Pat Crowley of the NEA-RI. The show was half full of a lot of _____, but I only left wishing I had said one more thing.
 
Channel 12 is pretty good at uploading the video, so it might even be available by the time you get this email (so check HERE). If you are not familiar with Pat Crowley, he is the political advocate who is with the Lincoln Democratic Committee, Justice for Janitors, owner of the "Progressive" blog RI Future, and the assistant executive director for the teachers' union (NEA-RI). Maybe more. The show's subject was Labor influence in RI.
 
I presented anecdotal evidence that indeed Labor was running the show and gave as many statistics as possible to illustrate the disparity between the public and private sector compensation (not to mention the work environment, such as hours on the job) as evidence of that influence.
 
Pat explained the unions' view that it is the rich elite controlling RI, not Labor, and the current compensation packages are simply providing a "living wage."
 
I suggest you watch the tape and decide for yourself. But the one point I wish I emphasized was this - Only when citizens have the facts will they become empowered to make the correct decisions. But Labor, as part of a larger political machine with a vast sphere of influence reaching from the tops of corporate America to the bowels of Academia, has a tremendous amount of influence over what America learns.
 
I mentioned some examples during the interview but I'll expand a bit here ...
 
Monday's Providence Journal reported on the Johnston teachers' contract and said this:
           
"The most experienced teachers (at the 10th step) will receive a 1.75 percent raise during the upcoming 2009-2010 school year while teachers at all lower steps will see no increase in their wages."
 
All the taxpayers in the private sector know what it feels like to have "no increase" of wages, but you don't know what that means for public sector workers. 
 
What was not mentioned in the article is that the teachers will still receive "step" increases (for teachers on steps 1-9) or "longevity" bonuses (for teachers on step 10 and beyond) that equal nearly 7% and 6% respectively.

The ProJo article is either an example of poor journalism or misleading journalism, but examples of the media only telling part of the story is not uncommon.
 
On Tuesday, the story broke that ABC news will be airing a show called, 'Prescription for America', that will discuss the Obama Healthcare Plan. It will be broadcast from the East Room of the White House and will "exclude opposing voices on the debate." 
 
Wednesday, we hear that the RNC requested time to rebut and a free market healthcare advocate tried to purchase advertising space during the show. They were both refused.
 
Thursday morning I read in the Providence Journal, "... pay raises of 1 percent, for top step teachers only, in year one; and across-the-board 2 ¼ percent increase in years two and three."
 
Like the example on Monday, what would have been more accurate to say is, "pay raises of 1 percent, plus 6% average longevity, totaling 7%, for top step teachers only, but bottom step teachers will still get "step" increases averaging 7%, in year one; and across-the-board 2 ¼ percent increases in years two and three, which when combined with steps and longevity rise to 8 ¼ percent and 9 ¼ percent respectively."
 
These are just the examples of media control and misinformation given to the pubic that I noticed THIS WEEK.  During the interview, I said that the Obama Administration had moved the LM-2 documents from the Dept of Labor website. My point was that it was one more example of information being withheld from the public for the benefits of special interests. It's the old-boy network on steroids.
 
So, when Tim White, who I found to be a remarkably good host, asked me why Obama didn't come to RI and cross the firefighter picket line during the governor's convention, I can only say, "Because Obama owes a lot to the unions for getting him elected and paybacks are a _______."
 

Onward and upward,

 

Bill

 

PS. NEA-RI dispersed $6.7m last year and of that, $84,623 went to Pat Crowley. But fear not, according to the LM-2 report (available at the Transparency Train), only $5 of that is for "political activity." That means that only 0.0059% of his time is spent on political activity (and he was one of very few who claimed any time at all).
 
So, that leaves us with 3 options as an answer to today's question, "do the unions control RI?" 

1. No, the unions don't have much influence in the state,

2. Yes, they have influence and are able to acquire it with very little cost,

3. Yes, but the reported costs aren't accurate.