Last Tuesday, backers introduced the Employee Free Choice Act — popularly known as card check — into the House and the Senate. We have stated our opposition to the bill before. This is not the moment for a recapitulation of the legislation’s substance and its likely consequences. A formal vote does not loom. There is world enough and time for additional argument.
The bill’s introduction resembled a circus. We lost track of the number of e-mails we received from supporters and from opponents. Photo-ops abounded. After its recent gig at the Coliseum, Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey apparently took its acts to Washington.
Although senators and representatives will cast the ayes and nays (or might cast them; it’s not certain card check will reach the floor of either chamber), candidates for state office are fielding questions on an issue business groups and labor unions place at the top of their agendas. While card check may not be a question for governors directly to resolve, a state politician’s approach to it still says important things about philosophy, temperament, and, perhaps, character. Here’s where Virginia’s gubernatorial candidates stand, as reported by Tyler Whitley in yesterday’s Times-Dispatch:
Bob McDonnell, the presumptive GOP nominee, opposes it — no ifs, ands, buts, or let’s wait and see.
Brian Moran, Creigh Deeds, and Terry McAuliffe — the three Democratic contenders — offer considerably less clarity. Indeed, they do not directly answer with a yes or a no, but emit soothing words about looking forward, with fond hopes high, to reasonable debate. We’re not surprised.
The commonwealth remains a right-to-work state; successful Democrats recognize that fact and understand its electoral implications. They also rely on the kindnesses of labor, but they remember that Virginia is not Michigan, not yet anyway.
The three Democrats thus far are performing a high-wire act worthy of the Wallendas. As we said, it’s a circus.
— Richmond Times Dispatch
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