Arnold's Old Team Working to Defeat Employee Free Choice Act

Guess who was hired to run the campaign to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act? The DC Navigators, which is led by some very familiar names to those who were involved in the 2005 anti-worker Special Election here in California. Anyone remember Mike Murphy, the campaign manage? How about Rob Stutzman and Todd Harris? They all filled various high powered roles during that campaign. They were credited with encouraging Arnold to hold the election in the first place and push forward that particular agenda.

Harris has been taking the lead on the Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers backed lobbying efforts to defeat the EFCA, which would finally ensure that the illegal union busting activities these employers have been practicing for years actually bring timely and proportional punishments.

Naturally they created completely ironic name, calling themselves the "Coalition for a Democratic Workplace" and have been airing TV ads in Democratic district, attempting to cause trouble for the legislators who voted for the bill earlier this year. Roll Call (h/t to Stoller)

The coalition — advised by Navigators, an all-GOP lobbying and consulting shop — ran several ads against vulnerable Democrats for supporting the “card check” bill. The ads, said one of the senior House aides, “really alienated a number of Democrats that would have been willing to work with the business community on other issues.”

Good. They are having the exact opposite impact that they were hoping for.

In retaliation for the spots, Democrats began calling certain coalition members, such as the American Hospital Association and the National Restaurant Association, and asked them to pressure the coalition to pull the ads.

It is nice to see the Democrats pushing back directly on the hard right's aggressive tactics. The anti-worker coalition is well funded and they had planned on keeping up this onslaught in order to "extract as much blood as possible through the debate". We will see if lobbying the other employer groups gets them to tone down their attacks.

No matter what happens with the legislation this year, there will be a continued battle between those who want to dismantle the labor movement and others who want to strengthen it. It is not surprising to see Arnold's old team taking the lead. They lost that battle in 2005 and they will find the same result here.