Politics
SCOTUS set to strike down forced union dues for non-union member public employees
The Supreme Court announced it will hear oral arguments Feb. 26 in the Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 case, when plaintiffs will demand relief from forced union dues for government employees, who are not members of a union.
“Teachers, librarians, firefighters and other public sector workers should have the right to decide for themselves whether to join a union and pay dues,” said Trey Kovacs, a labor policy expert at the Washington-based Competitive Enterprise Institute.
“In the Janus case, the Supreme Court should protect public employees’ right to free speech and strike down laws that force workers to fund political activities and candidates they disagree with,” he said.
The plaintiff in the case is Mark Janus, an employee of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, who was stunned to learn that he was required to pay dues to a union he did not join.
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“I’ve negotiated my own salary and benefits at plenty of jobs before I started working for the state,” he said.
Janus said he figured he was not the only one in the same situation.
“I just look at it as an average guy standing up for his own rights of free speech,” he said.
Although, he is becoming the center of the legal world’s attention, Janus said he did not deserve special attention, even though his case could save millions of government employees millions of dollars. “I don’t look at it like I’m anybody special or anybody extraordinary.”
What makes the case so significant is that it challenges the high court’s 1977 D. Louis Abood v. Detroit Board of Education decision.
Jacob Huebert, director of litigation at the Liberty Justice Center, said, “We are pleased the Supreme Court has agreed to take up this case and revisit a 40-year-old precedent that has allowed governments to violate the First Amendment rights of millions of workers.”
The Abood decision affirmed the authority of government force its employees to pay dues to unions they did not belong to.
Huebert said because of Abood public sectors workers need relief.
Mark Janus was forced to pay a union he doesn’t support, which uses his money to advocate public policy positions he does not agree with. Thankfully #SCOTUS has a huge opportunity to end this coercion! https://t.co/EznGi005QP
— AFP (@AFPhq) January 26, 2018
“Right now, public sector employees in Illinois and many other states aren’t given a choice: They’re automatically forced to give their money to a union. Janus v. AFSCME presents an opportunity to restore fairness and First Amendment rights to millions of American workers by giving them the right to choose whether to support a union with their money,” he said.
National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation President Mark Mix said, “With the Supreme Court agreeing to hear the Janus case, we are now one step closer to freeing over five million public sector teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other employees from the injustice of being forced to subsidize a union as a condition of working for their own government.”
NRTW President Mark Mix: "We welcome the support of the Solicitor General for Mark Janus, in his fight to free every public school teacher, firefighter, police officer, and other government worker from being required to hand over part of their paycheck to union officials." 1/2
— Right To Work (@RightToWork) December 7, 2017
Watch this video about Mark Janus:
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A Senator running for reelection in Missouri has been hit with allegations that her husband is storing investment money in an offshore bank account in order to evade taxes.
“Joseph Shepard’s investment in Matrix Capital Management has earned him between $230,000 and $2.1 million in income since he first invested in 2013, according to McCaskill’s financial disclosure forms. Such forms only show a range of income,” said a Kansas City Star article.
Shepard is the husband of Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri.
According to the report, Shepard has invested $1 million in a hedge in the Cayman Islands, a “notorious tax haven.” The capital gains tax in the Caymans is much lower than the income tax rate paid by the ordinary American citizen.
Campaign finance law mandates that candidates for office must declare the income of spouses.
McCaskill co-sponsored the 2009 Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, but has declined to release her tax returns until later this year. She will not release Shepard’s tax returns. The bill, which was not passed, targeted the Caymans among countries and would have subjected income earned there to be taxed at the same rate as U.S. Corporations.
“Secretive hedge funds seek outsized profits and are open only to the ultra-wealthy, who are considered sophisticated investors and can withstand big losses,” said the report. “These funds do not have to disclose their investors to regulators.”
So far, mum is the word from McCaskill’s office.
“Claire does not make decisions on public policy based on what’s best for her husband; she makes decisions based on what is best for the people of Missouri,” Meira Benstein, a McCaskill campaign spokesperson told the Kansas City Star.
Big League Politics reached out to McCaskill’s office, but they refused to comment.
2018 Midterms
Ted Cruz Endorses Pro-Trump U.S. House Candidate Lee Bright
This is a solid pro-Trump endorsement.
Tuesday morning, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) endorsed Lee Bright, a former State Senator in South Carolina who is seeking the Republican nomination for South Carolina’s 4th Congressional District seat. Bright is running against who has been described as the establishment pick, state Sen. William Timmons.
"In the 4th District Congressional runoff, I am proud to endorse Lee Bright, and I urge voters there to join me by supporting him.” – @tedcruz https://t.co/b8T70RjNI8 pic.twitter.com/pp14kolIIw
— Lee Bright (@leebright) June 19, 2018
Sen. Cruz made his support for Bright loud-and-clear in a statement:
“A healthy republic requires active participation, and it’s encouraging when conservatives step forward to run for office. I’m asking voters in South Carolina’s 4th District to carefully consider the choices before them, and to stand with the candidate who best reflects their conservative convictions. In the 4th District Congressional runoff, I am proud to endorse Lee Bright, and I urge voters there to join me by supporting him.”
Bright and Timmons will face off in next week’s South Carolina run-off election. Bright already beat Timmons by over five points in the state’s primary election last week, but because South Carolina is a runoff election state, a candidate must gain 50% of the vote to win in a primary election.
A win for Lee Bright would be a major boost for President Donald Trump’s agenda. On every one of the President’s main tenants, Bright touts his 100% commitment to stand with the President, and excitement to join in his crusade to “drain the swamp.”
On the other side, Sen. Timmons is endorsed by notorious #NeverTrumper Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).
Along with Sen. Cruz, Bright has been endorsed by conservative heavyweights Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Steve King (R-IA), who are hoping to have Bright by their side in the U.S. House.
Congressman Thomas Massie Endorses Lee Bright
BREAKING: "I am pleased to endorse Lee and I look forward to having him help me drain the swamp.” – Thomas Massie for Congress 👍🇺🇸🇺🇸
Posted by Lee Bright on Thursday, May 10, 2018
.@LeeBright Congratulations on topping the field for the 4th Congressional District of South Carolina! Lee Bright for Congress! Go get ‘em in the runoff! Together we will get immigration right!
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) June 13, 2018
This is truly a race between the pro-Trump insurgency of the Republican Party and the establishment wing. South Carolina’s runoff election will occur on June 26th.
Big League Politics will keep you updated on this important race.
In what ABC is describing as a mistake, the network aired a segment with a news banner stating that Trump’s former campaign Chairman Paul Manafort had plead guilty to five charges of manslaughter. After seeing this, President Donald Trump blasted ABC in a Trump-like fashion on Twitter, calling the “Fake ABC.”
Look what Fake ABC News put out. I guess they had it prepared from the 13 Angry Democrats leading the Witch Hunt! #StopTheBias pic.twitter.com/c0XOk1btEQ
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2018
ABC was quickly forced to apologize for the egregious error.
Statement from @ABC News: We regret and apologize for the false lower third graphic that aired during our special report. We are investigating how incorrect information was in our system and how and why it was allowed to air. (1/2)
— ABCNews PR (@ABCNewsPR) June 20, 2018
(cont.) We apologize to our viewers and to Mr. Manafort. There simply is no excuse for this sort of mistake. (2/2)
— ABCNews PR (@ABCNewsPR) June 20, 2018
While Manafort has been indicted on a number of charges, none of which stemming from his work on President Trump’s campaign, he has not plead guilty, and none of the charges are anything close to manslaughter.
The charges that Manafort is facing relate to alleged money laundering and tax fraud. Manafort was initially granted bail, but that bail was revoked just days ago for supposed “witness tampering.”
As previously reported at Big League Politics:
“The former campaign chairmen for President Donald J. Trump has been ordered to jail pending trial for alleged money laundering and failure to register as an agent of a foreign government.
“The harm in this case is harm to the administration of justice and harm to the integrity of the court’s system,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson told Paul Manafort in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Manafort is accused of calling and texting potential witnesses in upcoming trial. He was originally given a $10 million bail and sentenced to house arrest while his charges were pending. Manafort also entered a not guilty plea for witness tampering charges. His trial is set for September.”
This is just another example of the fake media blasting out entirely fake stories about President Donald Trump, and those close to him. While this may be the most egregious example, it will almost definitely not be the last example.
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