Unable to Win, Union Bosses Try to Change Election Rules

My younger brother Matt and I often enjoy an intense pickup one-on-one basketball game. Being seven years older, I had the advantage for a long time. As kids, I was taller, faster, stronger, and better. But once Matt grew up, and I grew older, the advantage shifted. He is now several inches taller, quicker, in far better condition, and a better shooter than me. But I can still keep the games close.

How? I will knock Matt to the ground rather than let him get a layup. I literally tackle him onto the blacktop and say, “Oops, my bad; take it up top.”

This is exactly how government union bosses try to hold onto power when they can’t win playing by the rules. In Pennsbury School District, voters have elected a taxpayer-friendly school board. The board has looked into competitive bidding of school bus services and has refused to raise property taxes. Most threatening to unions’ grasp on political power is that the school board has balked at a contract that would forcibly deduct dues from employees’ paychecks and write checks from the district to the union. Rather, the board would make union leaders collect dues themselves.

Unable to make their case to voters, the union is now trying to change the rules of the election. The two unions representing school employees have sued to redraw the district lines from which school board members are elected. The local union leaders admit that the suit would shift the balance of power on the school board.

In a document filed with the court, Pennsbury Education Association president George Miller suggests that that the proposed districts would make it “virtually impossible for [current Pennsbury school board vice president Simon] Campbell to maintain his majority position on the board.” The former union president, who led the drive for the court filing, notes their preferred plan “provides the opportunity to cut off the head of the snake by denying Campbell a seat to run for. Why not go for the kill?”

Unable to win voters legitimately with their policies, union bosses are doing the same thing I do when I deliberately foul my brother Matt: ignore the rules to keep the other guy from winning. Matt doesn’t stand for it in basketball, and neither should Pennsbury voters when it comes to their school board.