Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Beshear and Chandler feed us to the unions

Just as Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson did the math on prevailing wage costs in his city and decided to opt out, Congressman Ben Chandler (D-Versailles) is running hard in the other direction.

Chandler's "Green Schools" bill HR 2187 would waste many billions of dollars in environmental upgrades to school facilities across the country. A key feature of the bill would make recipients of the money observe Davis-Bacon union wage requirements even if their home state has been smart enough to toss aside the wasteful mandates.

Kentucky, of course, isn't one of those "smart enough" states, despite our obvious need to cut out spending fat. Thanks, union-supported politicians!

Chandler's bill has passed the House and looks to be championed in the Senate by Iowa big-spender Sen. Tom Harkin.