Will independents vote in California?

Published by Soren Dayton on

Rules fights are fun, obscure, and usually well behind the scenes. Not the fight over whether independents (normal speak for California’s "Decline to State" or DTS) can vote in the GOP primary. They can in the Democrat’s primary.

For the most part, this fight is breaking down along ideological lines. Moderates want DTSers to vote. Conservatives do not. There was a forum earlier in the week in California about this issue. The Flash Report has details:

I will mercifully spare you the host of arguments made in support and opposition to such a suggestion, if only because it really boiled down to two fundamental considerations:  The practical reality that allowing DTS voters to participate would likely increase the number of votes cast in support of Republicans and, in contrast, the belief held by Fleischman, me and many others in the party that electoral gains are not a sufficient justification for diluting and, in limited exceptions, rejecting fundamental Republican principles.

The interesting question is going to be whether Presidential politics really enters into it.

The room for possible conflict is Rudy Giuliani. Rudy is a moderate who probably does better with DTSers voting. But a good chunk of his in-state infrastructure is from the conservative wing of the party which strongly opposes this change. If the campaign decides that they need DTSers, then will they try to put pressure on their delegates at the CRP convention?

There’s another way that this could play. There is jockeying among the moderates between Rudy and John McCain. Will this become a test of "moderateness" among the moderates?

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Soren Dayton

Soren Dayton is an advocacy professional in Washington, DC who has worked in policy, politics, and in human rights, including in India. Soren grew up in Chicago.

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Asya Tilman, was told to sign "a petition to protect our rights," and it was not until "a few months ago that I realized that, through their lies, they try to move me to a different union." After Asya signed, she was then asked whether her daughter, also a home care worker, was at home, "and he said that I could sign under her name. And that is what I did."

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While one local is claiming thuggery in San Francisco, at first under the direction of a criminal and now by a dissident organization, the national organization is claiming that coercion doesn't happen in union battles. Curious, eh?

 Note: The first version of this post misunderstand the relationships between the various California locals. I thank a union official for a correction. However, the core messaging problem still stands, and in some way is strengthened. An SEIU is claiming union thuggery, while the national denies it. After a several-year-long campaign of thuggery against a dissident. As in East Chicago, this is just how union infighting looks.

0
Your rating: None

California

ACORN’s tactics in SEIU’s takeover attempt in California

Internecine battles that go public always tell you more about how an organization operates. For example, a court battle after a Democratic primary in East Chicago, Indiana led to both sides testifying against each other in court about how they stole votes and 32 convictions on voter fraud. Whenever reporters and liberals claim that voter fraud doesn't happen, just refer them to the court testimony. By the way, these are absentee ballot fraud, the same sort of at-home coercion that occurs in "card-check" union organizing drives.

A similar battle is going on California. last year, the San Francisco-based SEIU-UHW (United Healthcare Workers West) had been under attack by the SEIU national organization and the Los Angeles-based local whose head Tyrone Freeman, an Andy Stern protege, was forced to step down after charges of embezzling local funds. Eventually, Sal Roselli, the head of the San Francisco organization was kicked out. He is now counter-attacking as National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).

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Examples of the tactics used by NUHW, which home care workers share on video and can be viewed here, include:

Asya Tilman, was told to sign "a petition to protect our rights," and it was not until "a few months ago that I realized that, through their lies, they try to move me to a different union." After Asya signed, she was then asked whether her daughter, also a home care worker, was at home, "and he said that I could sign under her name. And that is what I did."

Yuk Wan Leung was overwhelmed when two workers from the hotel union knocked at her door pressuring her to sign a petition. They told her the petition was for their voting freedom and it would not affect her union. Then they refused to leave until she signed.

Mei Fong Tsoi was approached while walking to work and was told to sign the petition to support the union, "I am a working member and I know my union. I even signed for my husband because he is also a homecare provider." 

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 Note: The first version of this post misunderstand the relationships between the various California locals. I thank a union official for a correction. However, the core messaging problem still stands, and in some way is strengthened. An SEIU is claiming union thuggery, while the national denies it. After a several-year-long campaign of thuggery against a dissident. As in East Chicago, this is just how union infighting looks.

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Internecine battles that go public always tell you more about how an organization operates. For example, a court battle after a Democratic primary in East Chicago, Indiana led to both sides testifying against each other in court about how they stole votes and 32 convictions on voter fraud. Whenever reporters and liberals claim that voter fraud doesn't happen, just refer them to the court testimony. By the way, these are absentee ballot fraud, the same sort of at-home coercion that occurs in "card-check" union organizing drives.

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0
Your rating: None