Dem Vice Chair Delgado-Polanco is a poor excuse for a labor leader

You have to wonder how some people become labor union leaders.  Most still work their way up through the ranks.  They serve as apprentices, learn their trade, spend years in the trenches, before their fellow brothers and sisters elevate them into leadership.  

But then there's this political appointee fast track.  The military has something like it too.  If you have a qualification they need, you spend two weeks learning how to salute, and then get a bar pinned on you.  No trenches required.  Labor unions have this too.  Just ask Troy Singleton.  He went from Joe Robert's bagman to a union rep in one easy fix... but can he swing a hammer? 

We don't know how Democrat Vice Chair Lizette Delgado-Polanco achieved her position in the hollowed Carpenters & Joiners Union.  We note that she was promoted up through the political side, where it is more important to recite the tired old lines of identity politics, than it is knowing a screw from a nail.  

Delgado-Polanco worked for Charles Kushner (Jared's dad, Ivanka's father-in-law) on Jim McGreevey's 2001 gubernatorial campaign.  She was rewarded for her efforts and given a job in management -- on the wrong side of the negotiating table -- in 2002.  

So how working class is she... really? 

What people like Delgado-Polanco forget is that identity politics is bullshit and what really determines your place in the world is economic class.  Rich one-percenters -- whether they be black, white, or galvanized -- they will have their asses fanned in all the world's garden spots.  And management -- no matter its color or gender or identity -- will always serve the corporation to squeeze the most out of its workers for the least.  Solidarity based on identity is a farce.  

On Tuesday, Delgado-Polanco put out a statement on behalf of the Democrat Party that is plainly out of step with the interests of the blue-collar workers who make up her union.  She put the crony capitalist policies of the Democrat Party of Governor Goldman-Sachs II ahead of the interests of her union brothers and sisters.

The Sanctuary movement doesn't help anybody except the crony capitalist establishment who want a steady stream of unorganized labor at near-slave wages.  It consigns those good people who come here to near-slave status and entraps them in whatever conditions the crony capitalist chooses to keep them in.

The creation of a permanent gray economy undermines any advances made by increasing the minimum wage or mandating benefits, because there will always be the lucrative alternative of going gray.  And the more this "gray" work force is supported by government programs -- the more jobs it will be able to perform at less cost to the crony capitalists who write these "sanctuary" laws (or pay lobbyists to do so).

How does creating a government-supported workforce to drive down wages and drive up competition for jobs benefit the brothers and sisters who make up trade unions like the Carpenters & Joiners Union? 

America's immigration laws are a mess for a reason.  They are purposefully designed to make it very difficult to get into the country and stay legally and very easy to stay illegally.  The system is purposefully designed to create a large pool of near-slave labor. 

Why grow that pool?  Why add to the gray economy of people being used to drive down labor costs?  It is unfair to the immigrant here illegally and most unfair to the skilled worker who must compete with low wage-earners or go without.  It is unfair to the consumers and taxpayers who are paying a high price for the product of unskilled workers.  It only benefits the crony capitalist in bed with the politician.  One gets more money, the other more votes (and some dough for the campaign, no doubt).

The way forward is to create a legal immigration process that takes into account the existing labor pool to protect their jobs and wages.  The great labor union movement once served to raise the working class up from poverty.  Don't allow a few misguided "leaders" to conspire with the political class and their crony capitalist paymasters to drive down wages and destroy the hopes and dreams of working people.

Lizette Delgado-Polanco... meditate on this...

Democrats want taxpayers to fund LGBT lobbyists

Yesterday we wrote about how Democrat legislators use public committee hearings to raise money from Garden State Equality (GSE), a notoriously political gay-rights lobbying and campaign organization.  We covered Monday's Assembly Budget Committee hearing, at which Democrat Assemblymen John "Porno" Burzichelli, "Hammerless Troy" Singleton, and Gary "The Hand" Schaer behaved like puppies trying to edge each other out in the effort lick the butt of their paymasters from Garden State Equality.

Today we follow that up with a piece of legislation designed to use the power of government itself -- and your tax dollars -- to fund Garden State Equality's lobbying and political efforts.  In effect, the Democrats want to create a program of government -funded lobbying and political campaign activity -- but only for one side. 

And this is being done expressly for Garden State Equality, a group with a history of threatening Democrats when they don't get their way.  Here is what happened when a few Democrats voted their conscience and opposed same-sex marriage in 2010:

Garden State Equality fires new broadside at Dems

By Max Pizarro | February 8th, 2010 - 10:41am

Smarting over the state Senate's refusal to pass marriage equality and disillusioned at the moment with the Democratic Party majority, Garden State Equality’s 85-member Board of Directors unanimously decided against giving financial contributions to political parties and their affiliated committees.  

Under the new policy, Garden State Equality will make financial contributions only to individual candidates and to non-party organizations that further equality for the LGBT community, according to a release issued this morning by the organization.

“No political party has a record good enough on LGBT civil rights that it can rightfully claim to be entitled to our money on a party-wide basis,” said Steven Goldstein, chair of Garden State Equality.  “No longer will we let any political party take our money and volunteers with one hand, and slap us in the face with the other when we seek full equality.

"Our Board of Directors felt so strongly about adopting this new policy," he added, "that it unanimously decided to include it in the organization's bylaws."

Garden State Equality estimates that since 2005 they have given $500,000 to Democratic Party candidates, while giving only minimally to Republicans.

"Is this a broadside at the Democratic Party?" asked Goldstein. "Of course, it is."

"With the exception of Speaker (Shelia) Oliver, who has had a long record of being a champion of equality, nobody in the Democratic Party's leadership reached out to us," said Goldstein. "Come on, if you're Steve Sweeney, pick up the phone. If you're John Wisniewski, pick up the phone. We have been the most unstintingly loyal organization to the party. Other than organized labor which is in its own league, no other constituency has been as loyal to the party."

Well it appears that Assemblyman Wisniewski got the message, because he's been subserviently sucking GSE ass ever since.  He sponsored A-4790, the GSE rip-off bill.  Here's what it does:

An Act providing for the issuance of “Equality” license plates and supplementing chapter 3 of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes.

   1.    a.  Upon proper application, the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission shall issue “Equality” license plates for any motor vehicle owned or leased and registered in this State.  In addition to the registration number and other markings or identification otherwise prescribed by law, the license plate shall display the Garden State Equality, LLC (“Garden State Equality”) emblem, consisting of: an image of a silhouette of the mathematical equivalency sign in the background and the shape of the State of New Jersey in a circle in the foreground.  The chief administrator shall select the design and color scheme, in consultation with Garden State Equality.  The “Equality” license plates shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 3 of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes, except as hereinafter otherwise specifically provided.

     b.    Application for issuance of an “Equality” license plate shall be made to the chief administrator on forms and in a manner prescribed by the chief administrator.  In order to be deemed complete, an application shall be accompanied by a fee of $50, payable to the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, which shall be in addition to the fees otherwise prescribed by law for the registration of a motor vehicle.  The chief administrator shall collect annually, subsequent to the year of issuance of the “Equality” license plates, a $10 fee for the license plates in addition to the fees otherwise prescribed by law for the registration of a motor vehicle.  The additional fees required by this subsection shall be deposited in the “Equality License Plate Fund” created pursuant to subsection c. of this section.

     c.     There is created in the Department of the Treasury a special non-lapsing fund to be known as the “Equality License Plate Fund.”  There shall be deposited in the fund the amount collected from all license plate fees collected pursuant to subsection b. of this section, less the amounts necessary to reimburse the commission for administrative costs pursuant to subsection d. of this section. Monies deposited in the fund shall be appropriated annually to Garden State Equality and shall be used to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy and educational programs in the State.  Monies deposited in the fund shall be held in interest-bearing accounts in public depositories as defined pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1970, c.236 (C.17:9-41), and may be invested or reinvested in securities approved by the State Treasurer.  Interest or other income earned on monies deposited into the fund, and any monies which may be appropriated or otherwise become available for the purposes of the fund, shall be credited to and deposited in the fund for use as set forth...

How's that for making government work for you!

So an organization that is involved in lobbying, political campaigns, and funding the Democrat Party is going to get its own government bank account and source of government funding.  WTF!

And while this lobbying and political action organization is getting its own license plate, guess who won't be... veterans!

That's right.  New Jersey is the only state in America, the only one, that does not have a license plate to honor veterans who have been honorably discharged. 

Oh it has been proposed.  Former Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose, whose husband served three tours overseas in the war against terrorism, proposed it again and again... but the Democrats stopped it every time.

The Democrats remain so focused on the groin, on genitals, on the sexuality of little children -- that they cannot be bothered with honoring the men and women who preserve their institutions, their freedom, their very being.  Screw veterans, say the Democrats... Ass Uber Alles!

Hopefully the Republican generalissimos responsible for defending and capturing legislative seats are paying attention, because if you can't design direct mail, cable, radio, and Internet advertising using this clear contrast -- then something is very wrong.  This is easy, clear-blue-water stuff that will drive up GOP turnout as it shames blue collar Democrats into taking a pass. 

Assemblyman Wisniewski, a normally thoughtful man, is allowing himself to be corrupted.  A-4790 is a very public shakedown by a lobby group/political action organization because it has the power to name and shame.  GSE is corrupt in the way that the mob is corrupt:  Do what we say or we will withhold money or use it against you or try to destroy your reputation. 

Anyone who cares about democracy and honest government will oppose A-4790.