Conservatives Court the Labor Unions?

 The day before Labor Day, prominent Republicans including Marco Rubio and Jeff Sessions released a joint statement on the potential for conservative-labor cooperation. They gave three reasons for this: 

1. Economic Prosperity. We believe that workers share more fully in our nation’s prosperity when they have a seat at the table. Free markets have proved their unmatched capacity to generate growth, wealth, and innovation, but they offer no guarantee that the gains will reach all participants. We pursue and celebrate tight labor markets because we know that the result is beneficial to workers and their families and communities; likewise, we should support institutions that reinforce those effects through economic agency and self-reliance, rather than retreat to dependence on redistribution.

2. Limited Government. We prefer the private ordering of bargains between workers and management to overbearing dictates from Washington. Policymakers have stepped into the void left by workers’ loss of collective representation with a vast and unwieldy edifice of employment regulation. By contrast, when workers have a seat at the table, discussions occur on a level playing field and the parties can make tradeoffs tailored to their circumstances and preferences, rendering much bureaucratic oversight superfluous. Layered atop extensive regulation, the process works poorly; as a substitute, it can yield fairer outcomes that better meet people’s needs.

3. Strong Communities. We consider solidarity indispensable to the health of our communities and the nation. Well-functioning private-sector worker organizations are vital mediating institutions for establishing stronger bonds among workers, facilitating mutual aid, and affording meaningful participation in the public square. Giving workers a seat at the table also fosters shared understanding and mutual respect between workers and the managers, owners, and political leaders who have become socially and economically isolated from the American mainstream.

Since Republicans rely heavily on working-class votes, it might make sense for conservatives to start courting labor unions -- especially as other demographic trends erode their typical voter bases. 

However, labor unions have traditionally fallen on the Democratic side of the party line and Biden is also betting on unions in the run-up to the elections. 

Potential Conservatives in Favor of Unions

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/briefing/coronavirus-california-wildfires-nfl-your-tuesday-briefing.html

Joe Biden is hinting at giving labor policy a resurgence in importance if elected which would benefit unions that have been declining in recent years.  However, some Republicans have announced the possibility of a "post-Trump Republican party" in which labor unions would be embraced more than before.  While these Republicans are in the minority thinking, this could be an intriguing prospect for unions after the Trump era.  

Advocacy for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

 

John N. Constantino et al., John N. Constantino. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Individuals With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Clinical and Scientific Priorities" (letter), American Journal of Psychiatry, August 28, 2020.

Finally, there is the Herculean task stakeholders and advocates have to ensure that public decision making and the massive mobilization of relief funds by federal, state, and local governments are equitably responsive to the needs and interests of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who require representation in all decisions that affect the population in a public health emergency of this scale. Preserving equitable attention to the voices of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, in addition to the already daunting enterprise of effective self-advocacy in the heat of a national crisis, creates inordinate challenges for people with limitations in communicative capacity to be heard effectively. In this context, advocacy therefore takes on unprecedented significance, given the consequences of oversight during such rapid mobilization of funds. Between March 6 and April 24, 2020, four COVID-19 emergency supplemental funding packages became law, and each has implications for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (see Table S3 in the online supplement).

Best-Ever Explanation of Super PACs

California Democrats Kill Gas and Oil Regulations After Campaign Donations

 https://jacobinmag.com/2020/09/california-democrats-oil-gas-fracking-ab345?fbclid=IwAR25zVY6dNnQ-Qk-s840v7kl4OYWuJAL7XgbyvA7O7ZBYKHBKk42Quda9vY

AB 345 was recently up for consideration in the CA legislature in their last weeks of this session. AB 345 would establish a 2,500-foot setback between future oil wells and homes, schools, or playgrounds. It was blocked 5-4 in a Senate committee from proceeding to a floor vote. Only 1 of the 9 votes was a Republican. Democratic Senators Ben Hueso, Andreas Borgeas, and Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg were all key No votes, and have all received large contributions from the fossil fuel industry which was lobbying against AB 345. 

This article also addresses behesting, in which Hueso behested tens of thousands of dollars from fossil fuel companies. It also examines "education trips" which have paid for members of the legislature to go on trips abroad to Europe sponsored by the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy, which is funded by companies such as Chevron and Shell. State law bans gifts of over $500, but exempts trips that allow lawmakers to travel and attend educational conferences paid for by 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

Additionally, Hertzberg has signed the "No Fossil Fuel Money" Pledge, which states "I pledge not to take contributions over $200 from oil, gas, and coal industry executives, lobbyists, and PACs and instead prioritize the health of our families, climate, and democracy over fossil fuel industry profits." Many of the donations he has accepted from the fossil fuel industry have come after he signed the pledge. 

Renewable Energy Lobbying Groups Forming

U.S. clean power giants to join forces to build lobbying muscle

By Bloomberg  

Friday, September 4, 2020, 6:31 AM MDT

 Some of the biggest U.S. clean-energy companies are joining forces with the nation’s top wind-power trade group to create a new lobbying organization ahead of a presidential election that could tip federal policy in favour of renewables.

The new group, called the American Clean Power Association, will include industry titans such as NextEra Energy Inc., Avangrid Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway Energy. The American Wind Energy Association, founded in 1974, plans to merge with the new organization with the goal of propelling “renewables to be the dominant power source in America,” it said in a letter to its members Thursday.

The November election will be pivotal for the energy industry. While President Donald Trump has vowed to protect oil and gas jobs, Democratic nominee Joe Biden aims to accelerate the country’s transition to clean energy with a $2 trillion plan that seeks to eliminate carbon from the power sector by 2035 — a prospect that would require an unprecedented building boom of solar panels, wind turbines and batteries. At the same time, the renewables industry is facing a large capital shortfall amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Coming in with a unified voice and a better co-ordinated voice helps give a clear message,” said Susan Nickey, a managing director at Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital Inc. and the treasurer of the wind association’s board.

Clean power has a much smaller footprint in Washington than their counterparts in the fossil-fuel sector. The renewables industry spent less than $18 million on lobbying in 2019, compared with more than $104 million spent by oil, gas and coal, according to Bloomberg government data. This year, lobbying spending by clean energy firms is about one-fifth of that of the fossil-fuel industry.

The new group’s priorities will include environmental policy, market reform and grid modernization. More than 30 companies — including utilities, developers, manufacturers and financial entities — participated in discussions this year about the new association, according to the AWEA letter.

The Solar Energy Industries Association — the sector’s biggest trade group — will remain a standalone group. But it will work with the new organization and has “identified several areas” where they can collaborate, including climate and trade policy as well as inclusion and justice issues, said Dan Whitten, a spokesman for the solar group.

© 2020 Bloomberg L.P.

DeJoy and Campaign Finance

Amber Philips at The Washington Post:

Campaign finance laws are set up to prevent precisely what former employees of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy allege he did in a new Washington Post report: lean on employees to donate money to political candidates and then reimburse them for it using company money.

“There are a lot of things in campaign finance law you can get away with, a lot of gray area or places where the law is weak,” said Meredith McGehee, the executive director of Issue One, which advocates for stronger campaign finance laws. “This is one place where the law is clear and has been enforced.”

The law is clear, but it’s less certain whether DeJoy could face consequences. Let’s walk through specific ways this could be illegal and what, if anything, could happen to DeJoy.

It is against the law to:

• Cover up the source of donations;
• Use corporate money for contributions to federal candidates;
• Coercing contributions from employees 

DeJoy probably won't be going to federal prison. More from the story:

The statute of limitations on federal campaign finance violations is five years. These donations seem to have petered out six years ago, according to Post reporting.

The federal agency that would open a civil investigation, the FEC, doesn’t have a quorum right now because of a lack of appointees.

DeJoy’s status as postmaster general during an election that will rely heavily on votes by mail may protect him. The Justice Department could open a criminal investigation. It has a long-standing policy of not opening election-related investigations this close to an election.

The allegations facing DeJoy also violate campaign finance laws in North Carolina, which is where New Breed was headquartered. There is no statute of limitations there, and Josh Stein, the state’s Democratic attorney general, released a statement acknowledging that he was aware of the story but not committing to an investigation.