With the bad and, often unethical behavior exhibited by unions in Colorado and nationwide, entrusting unions with sensitive financial information of potential political adversaries should be the last thing our country does. That’s why Republican Sen. Cory Gardner’s latest bill, the PURSE Act, is important. The PURSE Act would “exclude employees of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute”, which allows most federal employees to unionize and enter into collective bargaining agreements. From Gardner’s press release:
“There is no reason to allow IRS employees to unionize and collectively bargain against the very citizens whose taxes they collect. In light of the scandal created by the IRS’s targeting of political opponents, we must ensure that IRS employees function without bias or political influence.
“The PURSE Act would ensure that the sole focus of the IRS is the fair and impartial implementation of the tax code, and it would help restore the trust of the American people in the federal employees whose job it is to collect their taxes. The American people deserve to know that their tax collectors have no ulterior motives.”
If public sector unions had not evolved as a political force, perhaps this would be less of an issue. There is something just rotten about public sector unions, which contribute mightily to political campaigns, working to elect politicians who control their budgets and, thus, their salaries. Even worse, as Gardner points out is the question of whether the IRS targeted political opponents, and unions are ruthless when attacking their opponents.
This is a great piece of legislation that is deserving of support, but would the President dare sign it and offend his primary constituency?
Between this bill, the fight for Keystone, and the fight against housing Gitmo prisoners in Colorado, Gardner is showing the other politicians in Colorado what it means to represent constituents.