Union members ( & environmental activists) are the new terrorists?

[Omaha Steve]

http://coloradoindependent.com/9992/union-members-are-the-new-terrorists

By Erin Rosa 10/1/08 11:57 AM

Look out environmental activists, union members and their supporters may now be hot on your tail for the “terrorist” label if one Colorado politico has anything to say about it.

Jon Caldara, president of the conservative Independence Institute think tank, has made controversial remarks before, and when it came to the subject of unions he didn’t disappoint this week. According to an article in The Washington Times, he likened union supporters to terrorists.

Colorado Media Matters has now weighed in:

In a September 30 online article, The Washington Times quoted Jon Caldara, president of the “free market” Independence Institute, as saying, “You shouldn’t negotiate with terrorists” in reference to Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter’s efforts to persuade organized labor to remove four initiatives from the state’s November ballot. The article stated that Ritter’s efforts to get backers of the so-called “right to work” measure Amendment 47 to pull their ballot proposal in exchange for removal of the labor-backed ballot issues have “opened up debate over whether Mr. Ritter is doing the right thing by moving to protect the state’s economy — or buying more trouble by giving in to union blackmail.

Caldara is also supporting Amendments 49 and 54, two ballot measures that would prohibit certain unions from giving to political campaigns and restrict the way organized labor retains dues from state employees.

Then again, maybe Caldara should be concerned. If organized labor really is a haven for terrorists, its statewide base, which included 8.7 percent of the working population in 2007, is growing!