NEWS RELEASE
Friday, March 11, 2011

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CLT MEMO TO THE LEGISLATURE

Public Employee Union Kick-Back

The following memo was sent today to every state representative and senator at the State House,
and to the media statewide.

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To:  Members of the Massachusetts General Court
Re:  Public employee union kick-back

Please excuse this memo if it insults your intelligence, it’s not intended to imply anyone would actually vote for the “public employee union kick-back proposal.”

We are quite sure legislators won’t give local public employee unions a kick-back as part of the Mass. Municipal Association bill to give local management control over health insurance costs. The proposal is so absurd that we are tempted to just laugh and ignore it, but we have learned that it is always safer to back up legislators who argue for common sense and fiscal responsibility.

We also promised MMA, thirty years ago, that we would support its efforts to get more management control over budgets. With Proposition 2½, we repealed compulsory binding arbitration and school board fiscal autonomy, and forbade future unfunded state mandates.

Now we support the mayors and other municipal officials who are asking for control over health care costs, with ability to join the GIC despite union opposition. The era of union power is over. After the media exposés on public sector pension and health care abuses, and now the face of the unions on the BCBS board of directors, caught giving millions to a fat-cat health insurance company CEO, politicians need not fear retaliation from public employee unions in the next election. The voters will back their officials along with the support of newspaper editorials all over the state, and will be grateful for your pro-management vote, which we will count in the CLT annual legislative rating.

Thank you for your attention.

Barbara Anderson

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Citizens for Limited Taxation  ▪  PO Box 1147  ▪  Marblehead, MA 01945  ▪  508-915-3665