UPDATE: After we published our blog post, the Freedom Foundation posted an update to theirs, correctly stating that the backers of IP 62 did not garner enough signatures for the 2016 ballot. It is good to know the Freedom Foundation is reading our materials. It is still curious that they would need to update a blog with an event that occurred nearly two weeks before the original post. The date of the blog post is July 19 and the deadline to turn in signatures for 2016 ballot measures in Oregon was July 8.
In a recent blog post, the “union experts” over at the Freedom Foundation wrote about IP 62, a proposed ballot measure in Oregon that was pushed by Nevada millionaire and amateur hypno-sex therapist, Loren Parks. The measure was an attempt to take away the rights of working families in Oregon and make it harder for workers to join together to fight for better wages and safer working conditions. Maxford Nelsen, the Freedom Foundation’s resident expert on labor policy, said: “…another labor reform initiative [IP 62], however, remains in play, at least for the moment.”
But here’s the thing: the deadline for getting measures on the 2016 ballot has passed and IP 62 did not make it. You’d think the group trying to undermine working families in Oregon and Washington would have a better idea as to what is happening around labor policy, but I guess this is the reason they haven’t been successful. Ultimately, the real issue is this: when you are funded by out-of-state rich guys, just like IP 62 was, it’s hard to have a good sense of what is actually happening with teachers, firefighters, nurses and other public servants.
This comes a week after their new California Director didn’t know what the acronym “AFSCME” stood for. He said that from his “research,” AFSCME is one of the big players in California and followed it up with: “…you’d have to remind me of what the acronym for that is but it’s something long…right…so a big long acronym.”
It’s clear the Freedom Foundation doesn’t know what is going on and cannot be trusted when it comes to policies that impact working families.