Shadowbosses: Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind (37 page)

Government employee unions are a threat not only to our economy, but to our fundamental American way of life—our respect for workers’ freedoms, our right to petition our government, our free and fair elections, and at the very heart of the matter—our democracy.

In 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization proclaimed a strike against the government, hoping for a huge increase in pay and a thirty-two-hour workweek. President Ronald Reagan responded: “Let me make one thing plain. I respect the right of workers in the private sector to strike. Indeed, as president of my own union, I led the first strike ever called by that union. I guess I’m maybe the first one to ever hold this office who is a lifetime member of an AFL-CIO union. But we cannot compare labor-management relations in the private sector with government. Government cannot close down the assembly line. It has to provide without interruption the protective services which are government’s reason for being.”
⁷

President Reagan fired the striking workers—over 11,300 of them. Replacement workers were found, and American air travel went on uninterrupted. The air traffic controllers union was disbanded, only to be formed again a few years later.

But today, we must all remember the words—and the actions—of President Reagan. The Shadowbosses must be toppled.

Now is the time.

Let’s get started.

My wife, Elizabeth, and I came to this project after years of interest in how labor unions affect our nation and with a sinking feeling that our nation was heading in the wrong direction. But we had no idea when we started where the project would lead and what it would uncover.

A million thanks to our terrific editor, Kate Hartson, who had faith in the idea of publishing a book on government employee unions for a general audience and in us to write it. Thanks, Kate, for expertly guiding us through the publishing process and producing this beautiful book. Thanks to our esteemed publisher, Rolf Zettersten, who saw the wisdom of publishing titles like this one and who supported our vision for this project. Thanks to our wonderful team at Hachette who saw this project through to fruition and taught us a lot about publishing—especially Harry Helm, Andrea Glickson and Shanon Stowe. We also greatly appreciate the help of our agent, Gene Brissie, who helped us find the right publisher for this project and gave us wise counsel at every turn. We really appreciate Nancy Mace for bringing my website,
MalloryFactor.com
, to life. I also want to thank Keith Urbahn of Javelin, and Matthew Swift and Nicholas Logothetis of Legacy Management Group for bringing
Shadowbosses
to a greater audience.

This book could not have been written without the help of a number of people to whom we are greatly indebted. We have been blessed with help from Stanley Greer and Don Loos, who were critical to this project and who work tirelessly to bring right-to-work freedoms to all workers. Thank you both for always being available to answer our questions and tracking down every lead, no matter how late at night we asked you. We are extremely grateful for the legal expertise of Milton Chappell and William Messenger, who were extremely generous with
their time for this project. We thank each of you for your life’s work in defense of workers’ freedoms.

Ben Shapiro was absolutely critical to this project and a pleasure to work with. Ben, thanks for bringing your intelligence and commitment to
Shadowbosses
. We can’t wait to see what you will do next with your immense talent.

We also want to sincerely thank Joe Ricketts for inspiring work in this area and for his efforts to bring attention to many of the problems we discuss in this book. Thanks also to Brian Baker for his valuable insights. We thank you both for your continued interest in bringing the important subject of government employee unions to a wider audience and for all you do for our nation.

Thanks to our trusted friend Mark W. Smith, who gave us an honest appraisal of our work and helped us to shape this book. And to Donna Wiesner Keene and David A. Keene, who have been so instrumental in this and many of our other projects, we thank you for your friendship. And thanks to John Fund, who helped us understand how unions steal elections and for his excellent work on voter fraud.

Many knowledgeable experts offered their own insights and research on the subjects covered in our book: Steve Forbes; Pat Pizzella, former assistant secretary of labor for administration and management; John Tamny of Real Clear Markets and
Forbes.com
; Daniel DiSalvo of the Manhattan Institute; Don Todd; Mike Antonucci of Education Intelligence Agency; Barry Hirsch of Georgia State University; David Macpherson of Trinity University; Vincent Vernuccio of the Competitive Enterprise Institute; Pat Caddell of Fox News; James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation; Terry Moe of Stanford University; and Art Laffer. We are so much richer for your insights and your work, although any errors in this book remain our own.

We also want to thank the many, many people who shared with us their own experiences with government employee unions, but who wished to remain anonymous for reasons that we understand too well.

I want to thank Mia Haugen for her support of my interview series with leading conservatives at
TheStreet.com
, which gave me many of the ideas that I develop in this book. I am extremely grateful to Bill Shine of Fox News for his guidance on the media and also to Eric Shawn of Fox News for his insights.

I am grateful for my association with The Citadel, South Carolina’s military college. It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve as the John C. West Professor of International Politics and American Government at The Citadel. Although I am not a graduate, I am a huge believer in the power of a Citadel education to transform the lives of young men and women. I want to thank everyone at The Citadel for their support of all my endeavors, particularly Lt. Gen. John W. Rosa, Brig. Gen. Sam Hines, Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Elzey, Dean Bo Moore, Col. Gardel Feurtado, Col. Jeffrey Perez, DeBose Kapeluck, Brad Collins, Gary Hassen, my other colleagues, and the wonderful alumni.

I want to thank each and every student that I have worked with at The Citadel, the fine young men and women who will be our future leaders. Thanks specifically to all the wonderful students who have journeyed with me through my course on The Conservative Intellectual Tradition in America. I want to acknowledge my honored guest lecturers for the course, many of whom offered their thoughts and suggestions for
Shadowbosses
: Alfred S. Regnery, David A. Norcross, Speaker Newt Gingrich, Michael Barone, Burton Folsom Jr., David A. Keene, Douglas J. Feith, Gen. Edwin Meese, Ken Cribb, Daniel J. Mitchell, Phyllis Schlafly, Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Senator Rand Paul, Ralph Reed, and Director R. James Woolsey. I also want to thank Christopher Long and Jeffrey Nelson of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Alan R. Crippen and Doug Minson of the John Jay Institute, and Susan Burdock and Ellen Schweiger of C-SPAN for their support of my course and for bringing it to America.

I am indebted to James Higgins, with whom I started The Monday Meeting in New York City over ten years ago. And also to Grover Norquist, who gave us the inspiration for the meeting, and O’B Murray and Andrew Boucher, who have helped us run it all these years. And to the participants of The Monday Meeting, thanks for your support and continued interest in conservative politics election cycle after election cycle. Thanks also to Senators Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, Representatives Tim Scott and Joe Wilson, Governor Nikki Haley, Lt. Governor Glenn McConnell, Speaker Bobby Harrell, and Representative Chip Limehouse for their leadership on right-to-work issues and legislation against union violence.

Special thanks are required for all the wonderful friends, family, and colleagues who support us in our life. And to our friends who carefully read our manuscript and gave us their comments, we owe you our special gratitude. We particularly appreciate the careful review and help of Tommy McQueeney, Steve Matthews, Mary Ann and Eddie Taylor, Pamela Meisel, Michelle Condon, Dede Waring, Margaret Brockinton, Chris Yegen, Herb Kozlov, Carol Stewart, Rhonda Steinfeld, Julie Groves, Nicole Papst, and the initial read by John Gardner. And for other friends who guided us through the process of writing and launching a book, including Judge Andrew Napolitano, Frank Abagnale, Sally Pipes, Max Boot, Rich Miniter, Frank Miniter, Matt Kibbe, Elizabeth and Jim Pinkerton, Jack Hunter, Jameson Campaigne, Ellen Ratner, Anita and Burt Folsom, Colleen Holmes, Lynn Bradshaw, Doug Stafford and many others.

Finally, we want to thank our five children who graciously allowed us to devote so much time and effort to this project. Thanks to them also for testing out the fables peppered throughout our book. And hopefully, we will someday be able to write the children’s book that they have asked us to tackle next, an illustrated tale of the “big bad Shadowbosses who are blowing our fiscal house down,” one of their favorite bedtime stories.

Mallory Factor is the John C. West Professor of International Politics and American Government at The Citadel. He is a
Forbes
columnist, the senior editor of money and politics for
TheStreet.com
, a political commentator, and a businessman. Mallory Factor is the co-founder of The Monday Meeting, an influential group of conservative political leaders, journalists, donors, think tank heads, and grassroots leaders in New York City—the largest meeting of its type in America.

Elizabeth Factor is an attorney and consultant.