Chris Christie Supresses Union Political Action: CWA and its Allies Heading to Court

Yesterday, Governor Christie issued an “Executive Order” that attempts to treat public sector unions as if they are a for profit business contracting with the State or a County or a Municipality, instead of the collective representative of the workforce.  The Order is an attempt to prevent Unions from actively representing our members by contributing money to political campaigns and political action committees. (This is not an issue of dues vs. voluntary money – the Order includes voluntary contributions our members have made to our Union PAC – COPE.)

            This Executive Order contravenes both current election law and collective bargaining law and raises significant First Amendment issues and raises serious question as to whether or not the Governor has exceeded his authority.

            We live in a democracy, where there are three equal branches of Government – the Executive Branch (the Governor), the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch.  In America, the Governor cannot make or void a law by signing a piece of paper.  That is what we believe Governor Christie is attempting to do with this Executive Order.

            Our Union has supported politicians and political action committees that support the rights of working families and that seek to protect our standard of living and promote the middle class.  We know that Governor Christie doesn’t support our politics but we also know that in a democracy, we have a right to disagree and our members have a right to support candidates that agree with a pro-worker point of view even if the Governor doesn’t like that. (This is not a question of Republicans vs. Democrats – we have always supported pro-Union Republicans as well as pro-Union Democrats.)

            We are going to be challenging this in Court. Our lawyer is in the process of preparing the papers and we will keep you fully informed as this matter develops.

Christie wore an American flag tie for his first day at the new office. After signing the executive orders, he handed the pens used to sign each to people with a stake in that issue - ie., the Atlantic County area members of the Assembly got the pens for the casino-related order. Christie pocketed the union/pay-to-play pen: "I'm keeping that one for myself."