Clean Money

Over the weekend, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Proposition 89 "endangers labor-business truce". A cease-fire between California business and labor groups that followed last year's contentious statewide special election is threatened by a November ballot proposition that would establish a system of public financing of state political campaigns. But that doesn't quite seem right, particularly after the shop of Gale Kaufman, the California Teachers Association's political consultant sent out an email today announcing a business and labor coalition working together to stop Prop. 89. Indeed, the only major union backing the measure that I know of is the California Nurses Association. Here's what Kaufman Campaigns had to say: A diverse coalition of business, labor and nonprofit community groups is building to fight Prop. 89, a deceptive initiative filed by the California Nurses Association. Prop. 89 is poorly crafted initiative that would silence the voice of businesses and non-profit groups. Significant portions of similar measures in other states have been declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court." People quoted in the release include Allen Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce, Bill Hauck, President of the California Business Roundtable, and Larry McCarthy, President of the California Taxpayers Organization and Barbara Kerr, president of the California Teachers Association. The threat of publicly financed campaigns--and the possibility of weakening the hand of top unions and business groups--has actually brought labor and business closer together.