Message from Jim DeMint, United States Senator

Dear Fellow Conservative:   What's happening this week in Wisconsin demonstrates how dangerously beholden the Democrats have become to their out-of-control union bosses. Rather than vote on a measure to limit the collective bargaining power of public employee unions and ask workers to contribute more to their health insurance and pensions, Democrats fled the state bringing their government to a standstill. They completely deserted the democratic process, at the unions' bidding. As the Democrats left town, unions deployed their workers to the state Capitol to demonize Wisconsin's Republican Governor Scott Walker. More than 600 teachers employed by Milwaukee Public Schools, the state's largest school district, even staged a "sickout" on Friday, forcing classes to be canceled. President Obama is taking the side of the striking unions and has called Gov. Walker's reasonable proposals an "assault." His political machine, Organizing for America, is on the ground ginning up opposition to Wisconsin Republicans who are trying desperately to balance their budget. Obama isn't the only one cheering them on. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters, "I stand in solidarity with Wisconsin workers fighting for their rights." The Senate's second most powerful Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin, has said he is "rooting" for the unions. Make no mistake, the Democrat Party is bought and paid for by the unions. In pursuit of cushy contracts and pensions, courtesy of the taxpayer, unions spent hundreds of millions the last election cycle to defeat anyone who stood between them and federal coffers. Public employee unions alone spent more than $200 million to defeat Republican candidates. The top state employees union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, spent more than $87 million in the 2010 cycle. The unions will be even more active in the next election. They are certain to go after Republicans more aggressively then they ever have before. The unions are viewing Wisconsin as a community organizing "warm-up" for 2012. It is critical that we recruit and elect more strong conservatives who are unafraid to stand up to the unions. Public sector employee unions have a stranglehold on our national and state budgets that must be severed. We need more people in government who will fight on the side of the American people, not the unions. The Senate Conservatives Fund only supports Senate candidates who pledge support for a National Right to Work law. No American should ever be forced to join a union as a condition of their employment. If a National Right to Work law is passed, it will significantly weaken the unions ability to shutdown the government and schools like they are in Wisconsin now. I'll be watching the events in Wisconsin very closely. I hope you do, too. It's an eye-opening preview of what's to come in 2012 and a reminder of why we must stay together in this fight to save our country. Respectfully, Jim DeMint United States Senator Chairman, Senate Conservatives Fund