Governor's Role in Forced Unionization Case

Patrick J. Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, was a guest on "The Frank Beckmann Show" on WJR 760AM this morning, discussing recent findings that point directly to Gov. Jennifer Granholm's role in the forced unionization of more than 40,000 small-business owners.

A video by Communications Specialist Kathy Hoekstra, released Thursday, details the governor's role — and her boasting about it — in forcing home-based day care owners into a union that takes some $3 million in "dues" out of subsidy checks the day care operators receive on behalf of low-income parents who seek child care while working or attending school.

"This footage forever ties this scheme to the executive branch," said Wright. "This was not a bureaucratic happenstance. It was a deliberate and strategic choice by the governor, her office and the lieutenant governor. But really, that's unconstitutional overreach, just as we've argued in our lawsuit all along. Only the Legislature has the power to decide which groups of people will be public employees, and it has never said that about these day care owners."

The MCLF lawsuit is before the Michigan Supreme Court.

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