There are two sides to every story–in this case one side is told by the Washington Examiner yesterday and one side is told by the New York Times yesterday.   The story itself is the recall elections in Wisconsin.  The New York Times states that the fact that two Republicans were successfully recalled is a warning to ‘union busters’ that there is a price on their activities.  Well, that is an interesting premise, but the facts don’t back it up.

The Washington Examiner takes a look at the two Republicans that lost:

“…the union-backed Democrats picked up only two state Senate seats in Wisconsin last night, at a staggering cost in time, effort, and of course money. One of the seats was solidly Democratic, held by a Republican due to an apparent fluke of nature. The other was held by an alleged adulterer who had moved outside his district to live with his young mistress, and whose wife was supporting his recall.”

I don’t mean to be cynical here, but I think if your wife leads the recall effort, you might have a problem.  Somehow the New York Times article omitted these facts.

A website called Ohio Commentary reported in July:

“Nancy Pelosi is holding a high-dollar fundraiser in D.C. for her PAC (America Votes Action Fund), with the money going to the Wisconsin recall election campaign.  Just two days ago, the national AFL-CIO and AFSCME both sent money to Wisconsin, over a million dollars, for the purpose of “educating” voters about atrocities committed by the Republican Senators.”

I am thrilled to know that the unions could not buy this election. 

The New York Times article concluded:

“It was probably a stretch for union supporters to go after six incumbent senators, rather than concentrate their forces on the most vulnerable. Nonetheless, voters around the country who oppose the widespread efforts to undermine public unions — largely financed by corporate interests — should draw strength from Tuesday’s success, not discouragement.”

I would like to publicly state that I am not a corporate interest.  I am opposed to what unions have done to local governments because I am watching cities and towns struggle to pay their bills due to increasing pressure from unions to raise wages and benefits above those in the private sector.  Central Falls, Rhode Island, has recently gone bankrupt due to unfunded liabilities involving pensions and medical insurance for union members.  No one is trying to break the unions, they are simply trying to bring union demands into line with fiscal responsibility so that both municipal governments and unions can survive.