Hiram Johnson, the
legendary California reformer, famously remarked that "the first casualty when war
comes is truth."
So it is that
California unions are bludgeoning the truth in their desperate campaign to dissaude voters
from passing Proposition 226, the ballot measure that would require the unions get the
permission of their members before spending their dues or fees for political purposes...
For example, (a
union) commercial... claims the ballot measure aims to "weaken patient protections
against HMOs, privatize education, and export American jobs. But there is absolutely
nothing in the language of the measure that has anything whatsoever to do with HMOs,
education, or jobs. The commercial is not merely misleading -- it's a lie...
The most despicable
lie that unions are telling about Proposition 226 (is) that it will place the lives of
California law enforcement officers at risk by requiring that their home addresses be
published...
George Will relates
that when one Californian asked the union representative to substantiate the claim, the
representative said he didn't know anything about it, that he was merely reading from a
script...