Connecticut's internecine war continues...

My last post had the comments from Edith Prague, a state Senator.

Here's comments from one of the Correction Officer's union officials:

[Kevin Brace, the steward at the Northern Correctional Institute, wrote a letter to Moises Padilla, an outspoken union leader in Cheshire], "I am pleading with you to please stop talking to the press about SEBAC, and to let things work themselves out. I am not censoring your right to free speech. I am just pointing out to you that sometimes the best intentions don't always produce the best results.

Fair enough -- controlling the message is important. There is balance to be struck, and frankly messages often need to be tailored to different groups. Tailoring can make very different suits out of the same cloth, without changing the cloth and keeping the suit functional.

But then Brace himself falls completely down:

"I believe our union made a huge mistake by voting the SEBAC agreement down,'' Brace wrote. "It was our members' self-imposed ignorance that kept them away from the informational meetings that we held. Meetings that if you had attended might have put your apprehensions to rest.''

I'm pretty certain, however, going on to call your own membership stupid and lazy is not an effective way to influence people towards adopting your position.

Is Brace representing the interests of his members?

Or did he just throw them under the bus so he could curry favor with state political leaders, "Look, it wasn't us (your friends), it was those darn dumb members of ours! We can't control what they do when they won't listen!"

With friends, and leaders, like this who needs enemies?

From what I was reading in the paper and listening to on the radio before the deal was officially voted down, I had a feeling it was going to be defeated because the rank and file was feeling their leadership had abandoned them. The leaders' actions since then certainly reinforce that narrative.

And the way not to approach things...

If these are your friends -- and Edith Prague is one of the most liberal, pro-labor members in the already left leaning Connecticut General Assembly -- I really hate to think of what your enemy thinks of you:

Sen. Edith Prague, a Columbia Democrat, said she cannot understand the voting trend.

"It's a nightmare. It is a nightmare to think these folks don't understand that there are dire consequences of them not accepting the SEBAC agreement,'' Prague said. "It is a good agreement. They are lucky to have these benefits. Nobody in their right mind, under these circumstances, would turn down that agreement. It's just got to be that they are believing this horrible, horrible information that is being put out there on their health plan. They think they are going to be put into the HUSKY plan? Give me a break. They are getting misinformation. They just don't understand what is real and what is garbage.''

She added, "I can't explain it. It is a disaster. Don't they realize it is a disaster to vote this agreement down. They could be part of the layoffs. Don't they know that? That's a real possibility that they could be voting to lay themselves off. ... I actually called Sal Luciano and said, Can I do something? He said, Edith, I've tried everything.''

"If they don't care about their fellow employees, they better start caring about themselves. If they think that, they are stupid. ... I can't imagine them being so stupid.''

Concerning the purported role of the Yankee Institute in spreading disinformation to tank the deal, Prague said, "I wouldn't be surprised. As a matter of fact, I think they want Malloy to fail. ... They're a mighty force. They get their message out there. I heard Jim Vicevich, who I never listen to, and he was blasting the deal. Those state employees ought to listen to their union leaders like Sal Luciano. ... I'm hoping there's some way that SEBAC can make an adjustment and ask for a re-vote of those units that voted it down. I don't know if that's possible.''

Regarding Malloy, Prague said, "The guy is giving state employees the biggest deal they could ever have. ... This governor is not joking. Consequently, there are thousands of people who could lose their jobs. I don't think bumping rights should enter this picture at all. I don't know where you can find 7,000 state employees to lay off. If they vote this down, they're putting themselves in jeopardy.''

"Social workers. I can't figure it out - unless they're believing the propaganda that's out there,'' said Prague, a former social worker who holds a master's degree in the field. "I think they're out of their minds, and if I had the chance, I would tell him. ... I don't know why these people are voting down this agreement. The private sector folks would die for this kind of package. They don't have good retirement benefits. They don't have the kind of healthcare, for minimum cost, that state employees have.''

Prague, who never saw the rejection coming, says the people who vote against the agreement should be the ones who are laid off.

Let's see, you've just called the folks whose votes you really want:
-- stupid
-- selfish
-- crazy

in the course of a few paragraphs. This at a time when it's already clear (and has been for a couple weeks) to anyone following just what's been leaking out to the news and radio call-in shows that there is a gulf of distrust between union rank and file members, and their leadership (an opinion the leadership is brown-nosing the top Democratic party leaders in Connecticut and after over 20 years out of the Governors mansion were desperate to make him look good).

She also played two big concerns many folks have had (primarily) about Democrats.

The "ask for a re-vote of the units that voted it down" smacks of the Daley's famous, "Vote early and often!" big-city political shenanigans (and Malloy won office due to Connecticut's largest city putting him over the top at the end...while he would've won Bridgeport anyways, the irregularities and poorly run election there was a head shaker).

While the call for vengeance against those who voted against it -- to lay them off -- lays naked on the table the biggest single reason abolishing the secret ballot in union elections, the goal of organized labor's Card Check campaign, is such a terrible, awful idea.