Are you aghast? You drive a school bus. You are a member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Your union is not surprisingly the country’s biggest public-sector union. And it sets the tone for other public-sector unions, but unfortunately in a fashion any sane person cannot admire. You may know that your union boss is one Gerald McEntee who resides in southern Florida. Well, the nasty Wall Street Journal has let the cat out of the bag. It seems that your union boss has been depleting union funds in eye-opening fashion. As the WSJ outlines, “In 2011, Mr. McEntee took seven chartered flights between August and December, [we’re only talking four months here] at a cost of $98,115.66.” As you can see, the WSJ has the abuse checked down to the penny. Wow, that’s a lot of dues out of a school bus driver’s weekly pay envelope. Makes one wonder what other extravagancies are in the works.
As a school bus driver, do you want to pay for the chartered jets of union bosses? Most certainly you do not if, of course, you had any say in the matter. It turns out that Mr. McEntee lives in Naples, a place I know well. We often fly in and out of the brand new and excellent Ft. Myers airport, conveniently just up the road from Naples. Jet Blue has super non-stop flights, and Ft. Myers offers one of the best non-hassle options in the country. Public-sector union boss McEntee does not use these great facilities. He flys charter! As to why McEntee flys charter, the WSJ quotes union spokesman Chris Policano as saying, “He’s (Mr.McEntee) not as spry as he was a decade ago.” Well who among us is? I put in thousands of miles a year on the road, as apparently does Mr.McEntee. The difference is that many of my miles are on a 750-pound Harley Davidson motorcycle. Mr. Mc. and I are not far apart on the age ladder. As a transportation comparison, I have ridden my Harley from Naples, Florida (Mr.McEntee’s home base), to Harrisburg, Pa., where Mr.McEntee took so many chartered jets flights on bus driver dues. But I did not get off a charter jet and into a limo at Harrisburg. Instead I rode on, ending in northern New England. Bully for me, right? Well of course not, but I do want to unmask for all public sector working Americans what bull this charter jet crap is. You all are being had in grand fashion. It is time to rise up and exterminate the public-sector union blight once and for all.
In case anyone slept through the Governor Scott Walker recall victory in Wisconsin, listen up. The game is over for public-sector unions, and I mean all of them. Wisconsin voters have gotten the message and have driven a bone-crunching punch to the face of public-sector unions. The anti-public-sector union movement will now spread like wild fire across America. Voters are clamoring for right to work/anti-union status. Every state is going to want to put out the WE ARE OPEN FOR BUSSINESS banner, which means vaya con dios for public-sector unions. It’s, as Al Kooper has written in song, a Brand New Day.
