It's your ConCon. What do you want to do with it? Learn - Discuss - Decide

Right to Work

The ConCon is a great opportunity to get Right to Work into the constitution. Unions have much too much power in Hawaii and this will cut their line.

23 Comments

Comment by Peter Kay on May 17, 2008 at 10:03am: It's comments like this that made me write "Think Before You Write".

Comment by Rick M. on May 17, 2008 at 11:38am: If you are implying that Right to Work doesn't have "a snowballs chance" of passing, I would like to remind you of the power of PR. We can get this passed with a good PR campaign.

Rick

Comment by Peter Kay on May 17, 2008 at 1:10pm: Perhaps, but I'll wager you don't have a PR budget, unlike your opponents, which not only have very large PR budgets, but also have very large memberships that can get out the vote very quickly. Am I correct that you don't have those assets?

But what I'm really stressing is that in the grand scheme of things, there are other issues that we can focus on which the unions also agree are problems. I'd rather focus on issues that most people agree with are problems rather than using other issues that will immediately stir up stiff opposition.

So, in response to your initial point, I think the ConCon is a terrible oppty to get RTW into the Con. What it will do is get the largest, most powerful political organizations to use significant resources to put out a NO vote on ConCon.

So think for a minute: what would you prefer: a ConCon that goes after big problems that most people agree need to be fixed, or a NO vote? You can choose only one.

Comment by Rick M. on May 17, 2008 at 2:21pm: I believe this IS a big problem that needs to get fixed.

Comment by Peter Kay on May 17, 2008 at 2:58pm: I'm not saying it's not a big problem. I'm saying there are other, bigger problems that we can get more support for than this one.

Comment by Rick M. on May 17, 2008 at 3:07pm: What problems do you see as most important that have support?

Comment by Peter Kay on May 17, 2008 at 4:02pm: I think there needs to be a dialog around the general areas of government reform, land use, and education. I think everyone can agree those areas need to be discussed.

Comment by Rick M. on May 17, 2008 at 5:14pm: That sounds very vague. What EXACTLY are you proposing?

I, at least, am proposing a concrete solution to our educational problems - get rid of the teacher's union which is who is REALLY running our educational system.

What is your proposal?

Comment by Rick M. on May 17, 2008 at 5:51pm: Hi Jimmy,

"Right to Work" refers to the law which says you don't have to pay union dues if you go to work at a unionized business.

Comment by Rick M. on May 17, 2008 at 5:56pm: Also, everyone says we need to "improve education" but I am not seeing what SPECIFIC CONSTITUTIONAL changes will bring this about.

I thought the biggest problem with education (besides the teacher's union) was unfunded Federal mandates that are eating up our budget and taking time away from real teaching.

Much as I wish we could put "Ignore all Federal laws regarding education" in the State Constitution, that just isn't practical (nor would it work since federal law trumps state)

Other than someone's proposal to strike the section banning nuclear energy and another proposal to allow voter initiatives, and my proposals to insert Right to Work and strike the Hawaiian entitlements section, I'm not seeing any REAL PROPOSALS here.

Yeah, we all agree that education needs improving...but what exactly does that have to do with the State Constitution???