Known as GOP big donor
Billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson out to bust unions
By DANA SPITZER
LAS VEGAS (PAI) — Sheldon
Adelson, the billionaire owner of The
Venetian and Palazzo casinos in Las
Vegas — who spent more than $150
million on Mitt Romney and other Re-
publican candidates in the 2012 elec-
tion ($91.8 million to Super PACs),
says his new target for political contri-
butions is going to be a union-busting
campaign to get state governments to
abolish collective bargaining rights.
In an interview with the Wall Street
Journal published in December, Adel-
son said he intends to join the state-by-
state effort by Republicans to weaken
unions by getting rid of collective bar-
gaining.
Adelson’s casinos are the only non-
union casinos and hotels on the Las Ve-
gas Strip.
In December, 500 union nurses and
labor allies picketed Adelson outside
The Venetian, chanting, “Our democ-
racy is not for sale to the highest bid-
der!”
National Nurses United (NNU),
joined by local union activists, pick-
eted The Venetian to protest billionaire
Adelson’s ongoing efforts to corrupt
U.S. democracy through massive
spending on elections.
NNU was meeting in convention in
Las Vegas. Leaders and members of
the Hotel Employees and Restaurant
Employees (UNITE HERE) and con-
struction and building trades members
joined NNU’s picketing.
Adelson spent some $150 million
on the elections, mostly to elect ex-
tremely conservative candidates.
“He represents the worst face of
American politics today, the efforts of
billionaires, millionaires, and Wall
Street interests to buy our elections and
democracy at the expense of everyone
else,” said NNU Co-President Deborah
Burger, a registered nurse.
“Our action will be a message to
Adelson and the rest of the 1%, that we
will not allow our democracy to be put
on the auction block. This country is
not for sale,” Burger said.
The union-busting effort in the
states has been financed for years by a
small group of billionaires, including
the infamous Koch brothers (David
and Charles), the National Right-to-
Work Committee, and a small army of
wealthy anti-union employers in nearly
every state.
Their most recent victory was in
getting a right-to-work (for less) law
passed in Michigan. Earlier, they got a
right-to-work law passed in Indiana.
Adelson, who acknowledged in the
interview that he probably spent more
in this year’s campaign than the $150
million made public so far, said he in-
tended to “double down” on his politi-
cal contributions in the next year or
two, with a focus on the states.
Right-to-work laws strip unions of
the ability to receive dues from work-
ers whom their contracts cover. That
produces thousands of “free riders” —
workers who get union services in bar-
gaining and on-the-job protection, but
don’t have to pay for them.
Enacting so-called right-to-work
laws has been a key business cause for
more than 50 years. But right-to-work
gained momentum with the GOP
sweep of governorships and legisla-
tures in the 2010 off-year election.
Right-wing zealots, led by Tea Par-
tyite Republicans in the Indiana Legis-
lature, lame-duck Republicans in the
Michigan Legislature — who rammed
right-to-work through in December, af-
ter the 2012 election — and conserva-
tives in New Hampshire, enacted the
bills. New Hampshire’s Democratic
Gov. John Lynch vetoed right-to-work
in the Granite State, noting businesses
told him it would actually hurt the
state’s economy.
Adelson spent about $50 million on
Romney’s campaign, $15 million on
Newt Gingrich in the GOP primaries,
and millions more in congressional
races. While most of his candidates
lost, he is credited with helping Re-
publicans retain control of the U.S.
House.
His money helped Sen. Dean
Heller, (R-Nev.), win election to finish
an unexpired term.
An effort in Missouri last year to
adopt a right-to-work law failed. But
Republican Tim Jones, the new state
House Speaker, has said he will push
for a Missouri law in the next session
of the Legislature.
Because Democratic Gov. Jay
Nixon vows to veto any right-to-work
bill that reaches his desk, a new pro-
posal is likely to be a ballot issue that
would require a approval by Missouri
voters and would not go to the gover-
nor if it passes the Legislature.
Don’t be surprised to see Adelson’s
millions behind the right-to-work ef-
fort.
Illinois Democrats have healthy
majorities in both chambers of the state
Legislature. Gov. Pat Quinn is a De-
A select group of individual millionaires and billionaires have used Super PACs to ex-
ert massive influence over federal elections. For example, 99 people contributed at
least $1 million, accounting for nearly 60% of all the individual contributions to Super
PACs (see Figure 11).
Apply now for Oregon
Labor Candidate School
The deadline to apply for the next
Oregon Labor Candidate School
(OLCS) is Thursday, Feb. 28. OLCS
was created by a coalition of Oregon
unions to meet the growing need for la-
FEBRUARY 15, 2013
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
mocrat. Legislative leaders see little
chance of a right-to-work law passing
in Illinois in the foreseeable future, but
business interests are contemplating in-
troducing the measure, anyway.
Quinn, however, has demanded a state
Senate vote in January on legislation
eliminating collective bargaining rights
for public workers, the Illinois AFL-
CIO says.
(Editor’s Note: Dana Spitzer is
managing editor of the St. Louis Labor
Tribune.)
bor champions in elected office.
Classes start in April and run once a
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Classes are led by skilled profession-
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