Is Durbin’s sweet prison deal another Democrat gift to labor unions?
Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 3:01PM 
Rarely has a president requested an earmark, but President Barack Obama was a big earmarker when he served briefly in the U.S. Senate. Perhaps old habits die hard. Perhaps Obama has fond memories of that $740 million in earmark requests he either sponsored or co-sponsored before he moved to the Oval Office.
Now the Obama administration is purchasing a dud prison in Illinois, home of longtime power broker and big earmarker Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)—$165 million taxpayer bucks will go directly to Durbin and Obama’s official state of residence for Thomson Correctional Facility.
What's the real angle on that prison purchase?
Most media are focusing on whether Gitmo detainees will eventually be housed there. The Dept. of Justice reportedly promised that won’t happen, but it’s a bit hard to believe anything DOJ says, considering scandals like the pass given to the New Black Panther Party, the corrupt Fast and Furious operation and lawsuits DOJ has filed against states hoping to make sure votes cast are legitimate.
I see this from a different angle. Is this prison purchase another in a perpetual line of gifts to labor unions?
Remember Obama gave Big Labor a waiver for the Cadillac Taxes in the ObamaCare Tax Bill. Big Labor pushed for that bill, but bosses knew union employees’ generous policies would be taxed. Obama gave these allies a 7-year waiver on an estimated $120 billion in taxes*. We, the taxpayers, will need to make up that revenue if the unconstitutional bill’s provisions survive.
The Obama administration gave one union organization $28 million for organizing workers in other countries. Not one “reporter” has asked Obama about that funding—it constituted almost the entire budget.
Now Obama’s buying a prison no one has used. Did federal earmark money help build that prison to begin with?
Illinois is a forced unionism state—if you work for an employer where a union represents employees, you pay those union dues whether you want to or not.
Who benefits from the Durbin-Obama sweet prison deal?
Well, at least 1,000 wannabe prison employees, all unionized.
It’s time for some congressman to present a bill establishing a taxpayer representative—not a member of Congress—as advocate for taxpayers in negotiations involving federal union workers and Big Labor.
(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Oct. 3, 2012)
*Print source: Factor, Mallory. Shadowbosses: Government Unions Control America And Rob Taxpayers Blind.New York: Hatchett Book Group, 2012. (pg. xi)
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