Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Billionaire union-buster to hold another not-so-secret bash in CA

This weekend, billionaire David Koch is hosting yet another secret meeting of the plutocracy to plot the next elections.

The meeting will be held at Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage, Calif., but it won't be as secret as the previous ones. A rally in Rancho Mirage is planned for Sunday by consumer, community, labor, environmental, student, civil liberties, and faith-based groups. They won't be there to praise Koch, his brother Charles, his anti-union think tanks, his phony grass-roots groups or his relentless attempts to destroy the middle class. They'll be there to call him out for spending at least $100 million to roll back worker protections, consumer protections, environmental regulations -- any law or regulation that can get in the way of more profits for his oil company, Koch Industries.

As Peter Dreier writes in yesterday's Huffington Post,
This assault on our well being -- this infectious theft of the American Dream -- is fueled by a handful of big corporations and billionaires like the Koch brothers, who are trying to drown out the voices of ordinary Americans by buying our democracy and taking control of our civic and economic life. The Koch Brothers and their corporate allies are spending unprecedented amounts of money to elect politicians who will promote greater profits and fewer rules for insurance companies, polluters, banks and mortgage companies. This sickness is tearing apart the fabric of our society and must be stopped.
Koch has spent plenty of money (never fully disclosed) to promote right-to-work (for LESS) laws throughout the country. His efforts are bearing fruit as right-to-work (for LESS) lawmakers in Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Maine, Indiana, Montana and Iowa.

Buses will be leaving from all over Southern California for the rally, which will be held from 1 pm to 4 pm at 41-000 Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage. If you want to go, contact the California Labor Federation.