Threatening Their Own

In February, the NH House passed a so-called, Right to Work law. Right to work has been trying to gain a foothold in NH since the 1990's. This keeps coming from a special interest group calling itself the National Right to Work Committee, a group based in Maryland. The NH Labor Commissioner testified at the hearing:

The state’s labor commissioner, George Copadis, testified against the bill and said the six previous labor commissioners going back decades also had opposed right-to-work legislation.

“As we have heard often, right-to-work offers workers one thing: the right to work for less,’’ he said.

Copadis said he had held meetings with 2,000 New Hampshire businesses over the six years he has been commissioner and the issue of right-to-work legislation never came up.

“This issue is just not on anyone’s radar screen other than when I come to testify before this committee,’’ he said.

Yesterday, Doug Foote mentioned NH when he wrote about Republicans turning on their own. The Right to Work bill is now before the NH Senate, and they aren't just turning on their own - they're making threats.

From the NH Union Leader:

Police are keeping a watchful eye on Sen. Sharon Carson's home after the legislator received a threatening phone call about her stand on right-to-work legislation from a man who identified himself as Newmarket Republican Town Committee Chairman Joe Barton on Sunday morning.

Senator Carson is a Republican.

Carson was a four-term state representative who was elected to the Senate in 2008. She sits on the education, judiciary and executive departments and administration committees.

The senator said she doesn't support right to work because "New Hampshire already has laws to protect its workers."

and

Motioning to a hefty pile of constituent cards and letters on her desk Sunday, Sen. Carson said she's been asked by many constituents not to sponsor the legislation, though efforts made by the out-of-state special interest group National Right to Work have been canvassing her neighborhood, presumably in response to her stance on this issue. She believes Barton is affiliated with this group.

In addition to threatening Senator Carson, this group is also harassing her neighbors.

Joe Barton is a member of the NH Tea Party group FreedomWorks. The NH Tea Partiers love to paint union members as "thugs," but Joe Barton, threatening a member of the majority party because she isn't marching in lockstep is a perfect illustration of the term "thug."

NH Governor John Lynch has said he will veto this bill if it reaches his desk. Stay tuned.


cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org