NH INSIDER

The Mirage of Bi-partisan Health Care Meetings:  With the seating of newly elected Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, Barack Obama has now agreed to hold televised meetings with Republicans and Democrats on health care reform. This feeble attempt by Obama and the Democrats to look bipartisan is nothing more than calculated damage control trying to prevent the inevitable losses in the coming 2010 mid-term elections.

A Vote for Becker is a Vote for Card Check:  Becker, who works as a lawyer for the AFL-CIO, previously published an opinion stating that union-election rules, such as those addressed by card check, should be rewritten by the National Labor Relations Board to favor labor, without the consent of Congress.

The New Discrimination:  The election of a president of mixed race was supposed to mark an end to discrimination in America. Instead it has ushered in a new era of blatant discrimination.

Letting the Public Sector Sleep in Peace:  Newly seated Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown has triggered a firestorm by having the audacity to go on ABC's "This Week" and suggest: "We need to put a freeze on federal hires and federal raises because, as you know, federal employees are making twice as much as their private counterparts."

N.C. Schools:  "Those who erase history...":  It is one thing to forget, ignore or misinterpret our nation's history, but a group of uber-liberal educrats in North Carolina is taking the radical revisionism of America one step further. These politically-correct, taxpayer-funded "thought police" are actually trying to erase American history from our children's textbooks.

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"The role of the radical Craig Becker at NLRB would be to implement

by fiat what the Obama Administration cannot achieve legislatively — and

Senators have every reason to assume that includes the implementation

of 'card check' and the elimination of the secret ballot."—ALG President Bill Wilson

February 8^th, 2010—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged the Senate to reject Barack Obama's nominee for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Craig Becker whom Wilson said "would work around the clock to force tens of millions of workers into unwanted unions."

"Craig Becker is just the latest in a long line of radicals nominated by Barack Obama, and until the Senate actually rejects a nominee, the White House will not get the message," Wilson said, terming Becker's views as "far outside the mainstream."

"For example," Wilson noted, "Becker has stated that radical changes to the National Labor Relations Act, could be made by NLRB fiat even if Congress did not amend the statute.  That alone should disqualify him."

According to a report published by Americans for Limited Government, "Militant on a Mission," Becker wrote in 1993 that "employers should have no right to raise questions concerning voter eligibility or campaign conduct" and "employers should have no right to be heard in either a representation case or an unfair labor practice case." Both views conflict with longstanding interpretations of national labor relations laws.

Adding to the controversy, Becker has stated that his proposals could be achieved without Congressional approval: "The [National Labor Relations] Board should return to the principle that a union election is not a contest between the employer and the union... Unlike the other proposals, however, it could be achieved with almost no alteration to the statutory framework."

The ALG report suggests that "This unilateral imposition of his views regardless of Congressional approval may apply to Card Check legislation as well." In 2006, Becker opined, "With only eight percent of people in the private sector represented by unions, how can anyone say that we should close off or narrow the means by which employees can obtain union representation?"

Under current law, unions have to provide for a secret ballot when they are organized. Unions have lobbied the Obama administration and Congress for a "card check" system that would allow unions to be organized without any ballot.

"The confirmation of Craig Becker would be nothing short of a radical departure from current laws protecting the secret ballot of workers, who have a right to decide free of intimidation whether they want to organize a union or not," Wilson declared.

Wilson warned Senators that "A vote for Becker will be viewed as an undemocratic vote against secret ballots."

In a recent letter to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, Senator Tom Harkin, Senator John McCain wrote, "I have concerns regarding Mr. Becker's written views, which indicate that he would prevent employers from having a role in union representation elections in their workplaces by doing away with requiring fair, secret ballot union elections when requested by an employer and I would like the opportunity to question Mr. Becker about these positions in person and in public."

McCain currently has a legislative hold on the Becker nomination now, meaning it will take 60 votes to invoke cloture on the nomination before it can proceed to an up-or-down vote.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Becker was also responsible for the drafting of several pro-union executive orders while serving simultaneously on the Barack Obama's presidential transition team and on the SEIU payroll.

Testifying about the orders, Becker said, "I was asked to provide advice and information concerning a possible executive order of the sort described. I was involved in researching, analyzing, preliminary drafting, and consulting with other members of the Transition team."

In addition, the ALG report charges that Becker "instituted new policies to force political contributions from union locals in potential violation of the law; was implicated in the scandal surrounding disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich; endured major financial scandals; engaged in alleged intimidation of its members; pursued union contracts that would have prevented unionized nursing home workers from reporting elder abuse; gave millions of dollars to the scandal-plagued group ACORN;  and hired private detectives to spy on union members."

Wilson concluded, "The role of the radical Craig Becker at NLRB would be to implement by fiat what the Obama Administration cannot achieve legislatively — and Senators have every reason to assume that includes the implementation of 'card check' and the elimination of the secret ballot."

Attachments:
"Militant on a Mission: Report on Craig Becker, Nominee to the National Labor Relations Board," Americans for Limited Government, January 2010.

Senator McCain's Letter to Senator Tom Harkin, October 20th, 2009.

ALG Nominee Alert, Craig Becker, August 2009.

Tea parties are a new Great Awakening
Washington Examiner (Glenn Reynolds) -

"This past weekend's National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tenn., made it clear that the Tea Party movement is part of something bigger: America's Third Great Awakening.

"America's prior Great Awakenings, in the 18th and 19th centuries, were religious in nature. Unimpressed with self-serving, ossified and often corrupt religious institutions, Americans responded with a bottom-up reassertion of faith and independence.

"This time, it's different. It's not America's churches and seminaries that are in trouble: It's America's politicians and parties. They've grown corrupt, venal and out-of-touch with the values, and the people, whom they're supposed to represent. So the people, once again, are reasserting themselves."

The Front

To distract from half-truths, distortions, and outright lies Sununu resorts to childish taunts

Concord - Today, Chairman of the Republican Party John H. Sununu took his "I Hate NH Tour" to New Hampshire Public Radio's program The Exchange.  Within the first 30 seconds of being on the air Sununu lied three times in quick succession.

He began by lying once again about the responsible and balanced budget passed by Democrats this biennium.  Sununu claimed that spending was up more than 10% when in fact, Democrats reduced general fund spending.  And during Sununu's tenure as governor, he raised spending by an average of 22.25% per biennium, increased taxes, and left the 1983 and 1984 budgets in deficit.

He went on to claim that Democrats implemented 38 to 45 new taxes and fees.   But in reality virtually every tax and fee in New Hampshire was implemented and raised by Republicans.

And once again Sununu claimed that New Hampshire is ruined.  He has repeated this outrageous attack on the Granite State for months, even though New Hampshire leads the country on virtually every key metric:

News Alert

John Murtha
Dies at 77

Vietnam veteran, lawmaker was an outspoken critic of the Iraq war

U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha has dedicated his life to serving his country both in the military and in Congress. He had a distinguished 37-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps, retiring as a Marine Corps Reserve colonel in 1990. He was the first combat veteran of Vietnam elected to Congress, and has served the people of the 12th Congressional District since 1974. Of the nearly 10,650 men and women who have served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1789, only 80 have served longer than he has.
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