State Employees Unions Waste Tax Dollars 3/03

I was listening to an AM talk radio show on my drive home today. A caller came to the defense of State employees by suggesting that they contribute a great deal to the local economy. He was upset that earlier callers, local businessmen, blamed State employees for our budget problems. He won agreement from the host who went on to explain that State employees spend their money in local stores and these storeowners ought to be grateful.

I wonder if either the caller or the host have considered who it is that provides the revenue that the State employees' paychecks are drawn on. To suggest that local merchants should be grateful that some of the taxes they pay make their way back home is an insult to our intelligence. It's like saying a bank should not complain about being robbed because the robber opened a checking account with part of his take.

I know a number of state employees that truly are workers but am sure that were it not for the unions, we would find that half of state employees are unnecessary. They exist as votes, purchased with our tax dollars, to be used to campaign against the will of the very taxpayers that support their existence.

The insult to the injury is that union leaders use our tax dollars to campaign for higher taxes with an endless barrage of radio ads. Religious institutions are not allowed to engage in political campaigning. Public employee unions ought to be subject to the same type of laws.

DRC