Elections

Clinton And Walker Exchange Blows Over Unions

REUTERS/Las VegasSun/Steve Marcus

Derek Hunter Contributor
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Democratic Party presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has been racking up union endorsements in her bid for her party’s nomination. As those endorsements roll in, Clinton’s pro-union rhetoric has picked up. With no candidate in the race hated by unions more than Wisconsin governor and GOP hopeful Scott Walker, it was only a matter of time before she turned her crosshairs on him.

On her official Twitter account, Clinton tweeted, “Unions help keep working families strong. Scott Walker’s attacks on unions and workers’ rights aren’t leadership—they’re bullying. -H.”

The “-H” at the end indicates the tweet was sent by Clinton herself. Tweets without it are from campaign staffers.

Walker has been the number one target for unions since first being elected. As governor, Walker signed “right to work” legislation to make joining a union voluntary, both in the private and public sectors, as well as other legislation such as pension reform for state workers to save taxpayers millions in retirement costs.

Union bosses fought each of these reforms and attempted to recall Walker. Walker beat the recall effort, garnering more votes in the recall election than he did in his initial election. When his first term expired, unions again targeted Walker, only to see the governor re-elected by an even larger margin.

Having survived three elections in four years, Walker is not hesitant to take on union bosses. He recently proposed a national “right to work” law as part of his presidential campaign’s platform and to eliminate the National Labor Relations Board, viewed as a federal protector of unions. Additionally, Walker proposes ending federal employees unions, a major source of Democratic Party campaign contributions.

In response to the attack from Clinton, Walker wrote, “@HillaryClinton Actually, we’re protecting the American worker from being forced to support candidates like you. – SW” Again, the “-SW” at the end indicates Walker personally sent the message.