We don’t want your “stinking” money

That’s not quite what Governor Chris Gregorie and the Democratic leadership of the legislature said, but that’s what they meant.

At a hastly called news conference Wednesday, the governor, Speaker of the House Frank Chopp and Senate Leader Lisa Brown, said they were killing two bills that organized labor wanted, because labor had threatened to pull all campaign contributions until the bill was passed.

HB 1528 and SB 5446 would have forbidden business owners to talk with their employees on just about any subject.   The unions called it the “Worker’s Right Bill” while business owners called it the “Gag Order Bill.”

It was a major goal of organized labor this session.   The bill is now dead.

The Washington State Labor Council had sent an email to its extensive list of members saying they would make a push for passage of the bills  and that “not another dime from labor” would be forthcoming until the Governor signed the bill.

Gregorie and the Democratic leadership said the email raised “serious legal and ethical questions” and that they were killing the bill because it was linked to campaign contributions.

The Governor has sent the email to the Washington State Patrol for investigation.

Some have questioned the choice of the WSP and felt the State Attorney General’s Office might be a better fit.  However, the WSP is controlled by the governor while the AG’s office is in the hands of Republican leadership.

Some others have asked if the Governor shouldn’t have made similar comments about her extensive contributions from the state’s indian tribes.

Despite this failure on the part of organized labor, they still have their claws deeply into the majority Democrats.