Suicidal Republicans?

Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy here puts his finger exactly on the right point. It should come as no surprise to anyone that union leaders – who may or may not be acting in the best interest of the rank and file – want to control the propaganda they send to union members. But the Yankee Institute is not a part of the negotiations, and it stands, in respect to those negotiations, exactly as any other news organization might. Attorney General George Jepsen, one may hope, will tell the union “leaders” to take a hike. On the other hand, Mr. Jepsen did represent unions for a stretch as a private attorney before he became attorney general.

There is no doubt where editorial page editors should come down on this question. It’s still a free country – though, God knows, some people are trying to make it less so.

This is the Republican Party Chairman that disgruntled elements in the Republican Party want to replace:

Unions Get a Dose of Yankee Medicine


By Chris Healy


The truth hurts and the Yankee Institute is ladling it out large doses of it. And like a child wincing at gulping Castor oil, the mouth pieces at the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) are gasping. They have accused the conservative think tank with "meddling" or 'misinforming" their membership on the details and implications of the proposed union contracts that being subject to votes by the 34 collective bargaining units.

As part of the Democrat budget farce, which includes a budget out of balance by $400 million, each bargaining unit is now voting on the proposal by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to trim some benefits, delay raises and scramble the financial deck chairs of the state. SEBAC Friday accused the Yankee Institute of sending emails to state employees with fictitious names - raising doubts about the proposed changes in union contracts that are up for approval.

SEBAC says these acts constitute a conspiracy of misinformation. SEBAC has sent a letter to Democrat George Jepsen asking him to investigate Yankee, because they are distributing facts and information in lightening speed to the general public.

Jepsen, who has turned out to be one of the few bright spots of the 2010 Election, is likely to put this request in the outbox. The unions are getting a dose of their own tactics and they are being exposed for their own boorishness.

What is emerging in this public debate is something we used to be call political free speech - which the unions have done a masterful job of monopolizing through its iron-fist control of the Legislature and promulgation of state election laws which constrict the ability of alternative voices from raising the money needed to combat the lies and theft of public wealth by Democrats for two decades.

The Yankee Institute, a once moribund 501-c-3, has emerged as a primary voice for free enterprise, free markets and common sense under the new leadership of Fergus Cullen, former New Hampshire Republican Chairman, Heath Fahle, former Executive Director of the Connecticut Republican Party and reporter Zach Janwoski, an intrepid researcher and reporter.

Cullen knows how to communicate and he knows tactics. He is a smart operator and a disciple of Sun Tzu and a devote reader of the "Art of War." Yankee added a C-4 component that will allow it to take its message to more audiences. It is a welcome to see conservative ideas being brought into the mainstream of political discourse.

The Yankee message is getting through to the public at large. The wholesale collapse of the Malloy budget in the public eye began this week by two polls which showed Malloy's popularity at an historic low - due solely to his liberal approach to governance. A poll paid for by the Yankee Institute shows Malloy with a 42 percent approval rating while Quinnipiac, the gold standard for public opinion had the rookie Governor at 37 percent favorable. Malloy' budget was also a stinker, according to the Q Poll, with 50 percent opposing it.

Most people are onto to the big tax increase that will kick in on July 1st and be retroactive to January 1st of this year. And the clock is ticking on union rank and file approval of the kid gloves labor 'concessions" which Malloy and Democrats are boasting will bring the budget to heal. At least 80 percent of all union members must approve the package for it to stick. Amazingly, union members are grousing over the deal they are getting which is pretty sweet by any measure.

With private sector unemployment at 9.1 percent in Connecticut, unemployment for state employees remains at a stubborn 0.0 percent with four years of no layoffs proposed by Gov. Malloy in exchange for postponing raises for two years. Still, two unions have given the package the thumbs down and complained that it was too draconian. You wonder who is living off vapors here - Malloy - who is banking on a $1billion surplus from over-taxation or the union leadership, who feel they are somehow being gamed for putting off raises for two years.

In any event, the public debate has now finally centered on the abject failure of the ruling class - the Democrats - to convince Connecticut taxpayers that the path toward economic recovery and growth is through the meticulous leadership of government and punishing taxes and regulation.

Free speech is a bitch, ain't it?