Breaking: Ben Nelson publicly opposes Card Check
posted at 3:10 pm on March 10, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Ben Nelson will once again be playing a key role in Senate negotiations over a major legislative drive. The centrist Nebraska Democrat told reporters Tuesday afternoon that he does not currently support the Employee Free Choice Act — also known as card check — a bill that would allow workers to choose to unionize either through a secret ballot or by signing cards of support.
“I’m not in favor of the bill as it — I haven’t seen exactly what was put in, but if what was put in is the same as it’s been described, I’m not in support of that,” he said.
Nelson, as he almost always does, left a window open. “But I also believe there’ll be a major effort to modify it before it ever comes for consideration, and I’ll have to take a look and see what it is then,” he said.
Word on Capitol Hill is that a compromise has been floated which removes the section that eliminates the secret ballot and waters down the arbitration power of the government. It may shorten the time required for a secret ballot election to be held after getting cards signed.
If Nelson bails on Card Check, expect Landrieu, Pryor, and Lincoln to follow suit.
Blowback
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Thank God my azzwipe senator is good for something.
OmahaConservative on March 10, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Money money money money…
BadgerHawk on March 10, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Yahhh! Maybe 1 less far Left initiative to be afraid of, too bad we still have Obama’s budget, ObamaCare, etc.
gsherin on March 10, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Money!
BadgerHawk on March 10, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Everybody that supports this bill is a fascist traitor, and an enemy of the state.
LimeyGeek on March 10, 2009 at 3:15 PM
Good news, no card check, bad news, all union employees are now government employees. Yippee!.
2Tru2Tru on March 10, 2009 at 3:16 PM
His mother’s name is “Birdella”. Lol.
bloggless on March 10, 2009 at 3:17 PM
I think they’ll modify it, and he’ll climb back on the train. Maybe it won’t be as bad as the unions want it to be, but I think it’s still coming.
cs89 on March 10, 2009 at 3:17 PM
I still have never heard one Democrat give a selling point to this bill. Really, what is good about it if in a private vote the employee can still vote for a union? It’s simply nefarious and any legislator trying to remove this right to privacy is sick.
pjean on March 10, 2009 at 3:19 PM
If “card check” passes into law, the States should pass anti-card-check legislation to counter it (kinda like the response to Kelo)….then let the Constitutional challenge begin….
LimeyGeek on March 10, 2009 at 3:20 PM
Glad he listened to reason for a change. Still not voting for him next time around.
HuskerNate on March 10, 2009 at 3:21 PM
Waiting for the WH press conference where they point out that they know where he lives…
Vashta.Nerada on March 10, 2009 at 3:22 PM
I don’t have a problem with that but… what’s left in the bill otherwise?
Where’s this Open Government we were promised so I can read and track the action on this bill?
Skywise on March 10, 2009 at 3:24 PM
He’s been a rubber stamp so far, he’ll vote for it.
rollthedice on March 10, 2009 at 3:24 PM
Who are the tools in this state that do vote for him?
OmahaConservative on March 10, 2009 at 3:25 PM
It’s depressing when our only hopes for the country to not swirl down the toilet hinge on “moderate” dems like Nelson.
dejack on March 10, 2009 at 3:26 PM
He wants something.
A few choice earmarks guaranteed by Dirty Harry and the vote will change.
BacaDog on March 10, 2009 at 3:26 PM
Apparently the same tools who voted for Chuck Hagel.
Illinidiva on March 10, 2009 at 3:27 PM
Don’t forget: George McGovern adamantly opposed this legislation, and he said so in a WSJ piece in the fall.
If an old liberal like McGovern can’t choke on this legislation, no one should be able to.
The legislation is simply un-American, and the GOP should frame it exactly so. Obama and congressional Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for considering it. Legislation to promote thuggery of the highest order. WTF?
Talk about considering a ridiculous issue while the banking industry burns.
BuckeyeSam on March 10, 2009 at 3:27 PM
If the unions have a say, I would check for Nelson here.
WashJeff on March 10, 2009 at 3:27 PM
That’s the point. They want open voting so they know who is for and who is against. Nothing like a little peer pressure to make you come around.
BacaDog on March 10, 2009 at 3:28 PM
The Nebraska Cornhuskers Athletic Director.
WashJeff on March 10, 2009 at 3:28 PM
+10
I voted in CA every time he was up for election.
OmahaConservative on March 10, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Better yet, I heard that Tony Soprano left a voicemail message inviting him to go fishing this weekend.
BuckeyeSam on March 10, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Card checkn needs to fail. The only thing keeping me sane during the financial meltdown is the knowledge that I can buy everything I need at Wal-Mart for very little money.
myrenovations on March 10, 2009 at 3:30 PM
It’s not only about the private ballots, but it’s also about overriding individual states right-to-work laws.
ladyingray on March 10, 2009 at 3:30 PM
If it passes it will be just another drag on the economy that’s already in the shitter. I’m pretty sure the minimum wage goes up again later this year so there’s another one that a lot of people probably aren’t thinking or talking about.
gsherin on March 10, 2009 at 3:31 PM
I think his campaigns in NE run on autopilot. He has the money to do it; it wasn’t much for him to outspend Ricketts last time around, and that’s saying something.
I’d like to see Brunning run against him in the next go-around.
HuskerNate on March 10, 2009 at 3:31 PM
No one from Cortland.:)
a capella on March 10, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Our economy’s in the dumper and Democrats are concentrating on propping up unions.
That reminds me, what drove GM into the ground?
fogw on March 10, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Me too. I wasn’t here when Nelson was governor and was subsequently elected senator. Bob Kerry was governor when I moved to CA, and Dave Heineman when I moved back.
OmahaConservative on March 10, 2009 at 3:36 PM
The year that Hagel was first elected to the Senate, the choice was between him and Nelson. When Nelson was elected, his opponent was Jan Stoney, a career politician (I think) who faded into obscurity shortly after that.
HuskerNate on March 10, 2009 at 3:36 PM
This Lib does not oppose anything like card check. The people back home would raise hell if he voted for it.Just like all Libs no backbone just stick you finger in the air and see what way the wind is blowing.
thmcbb on March 10, 2009 at 3:37 PM
I’m sure that Warren Buffett coming out against card check yesterday gave Nelson some cover.
BuzzCrutcher on March 10, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Correction: Nelson didn’t run against Stoney. It was Don Stenberg he ran against, and it was a pretty close election.
Anyway, Nebraska Dems outside of Omaha and Lincoln tend to lean right moreso than most Dems. That produces a fair amount of cover for most Republicans that run in state, and the Dems that do get elected pretty much have to toe the line or they’ll never get re-elected.
HuskerNate on March 10, 2009 at 3:43 PM
They’ll modify it and waffle to try and get it passed. The administration knows that the last thing they need is another sign that they have no idea what they are doing or yet another public failure…especially with their own ranks starting to rebel and join in against the stupidity.
SassyDarlin on March 10, 2009 at 3:46 PM
Good news.
Y-not on March 10, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Ben jumped on the Obama bandwagon right away last year. Looks as if he’s already prepping to defend his Senate seat in this red state.
Looking forward to support his opponent . . .
NebCon on March 10, 2009 at 3:48 PM
If he sticks to opposition “good for Nelson”. It is really difficult to understand why any sane person would vote for this.
duff65 on March 10, 2009 at 3:50 PM
Food for thought:
Does anybody remember the purpose for creation of unionized labor?
Compare that purpose to what we see today. Tony Soprano, Rahm Emanuel, Chicago style mafia control…
Keemo on March 10, 2009 at 3:51 PM
The cynic/realist in me believes Nelson opposes this only because Nebraska is a Right to Work State.
You and me both.
OmahaConservative on March 10, 2009 at 3:57 PM
Yep. I don’t know about the other right-to-work states, but I think they’ll get a fight on this in Arizona.
AZCoyote on March 10, 2009 at 3:59 PM
They’ll have a fight here in Tennessee, too. We have several “foreign” auto manufacturing plants and are getting another one in the Chattanooga area. Hmmm, I wonder why Toyota is coming to Tennessee rather than going to Michigan???
These are exactly the jobs that are being targeted.
ladyingray on March 10, 2009 at 4:05 PM
Looks good so far. He’d better beef up his bodyguard detail, before he gets a late-night visit from union guys with 20-inch biceps–the same kind that want to “gently” persuade their comrades at work to sign cards to join their friendly little union.
Steve Z on March 10, 2009 at 4:05 PM
A blast from the past..I’m old enough to remember this commercial and it’s “catchy” jingle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNTpOnZqeUo
SassyDarlin on March 10, 2009 at 4:06 PM
SAY WHAT???
you sure about that?
husker3000 on March 10, 2009 at 4:07 PM
We saw a reminder of that with Solidarnosc in Poland in the 1980′s. But in the States, the unions abandoned their purpose in the 1880′s. It’s now Dues for Dems, zero for the workers.
Steve Z on March 10, 2009 at 4:09 PM
Yea, right! A couple well placed “campaign contributions” and old Ben will be right back on the democratic reservation…
sabbott on March 10, 2009 at 4:15 PM
I remember that one. Wasn’t too much longer I started noticing how inferior the big threes cars were becoming.
OmahaConservative on March 10, 2009 at 4:18 PM
I don’t know about you guys. But I’d vote for Ben before Hagel any day.
cntrlfrk on March 10, 2009 at 4:23 PM
According to Democrats, bad management killed three different auto makers.
Curiously, the exact same thing killed our steel industry. Multiple companies in the same industry, all died about the same time.
The United Steel Workers and the United Auto Workers unions were just innocent bystanders.
NoDonkey on March 10, 2009 at 4:25 PM
Card Check is ridiculous from so many points. But WHY should CONGRESS make it easier for UNIONS to organize. If unions were so great, and companies so bad, then EVERYBODY would want a union.
The lefty pols want more money and they KNOW by expanding union membership, money will more plentiful ..TO THEM.
Imagine Wal-Mart unionized, by the UFCW who will get an instant influx of cash from membership initiation fees of $100. 1,500,000 people means $150 MILLION to the Union. Not to mention $8 a week or $400 a year for DUES. That’s $600 MILLION more and we haven’t even talked about TARGET or SEARS yet.
originalpechanga on March 10, 2009 at 4:27 PM
I don’t know about you guys. But I’d vote for Ben before Hagel any day.
cntrlfrk on March 10, 2009 at 4:23 PM
Which Hagel? The one who ran as a Reagan conservative back in 1996 and defeated Nelson, or the mushy moderate who played Monday morning QB to every move Bush made the last few years?
Still waiting on Hagel’s plan for victory in Iraq . . .
NebCon on March 10, 2009 at 4:50 PM
The card check effort reminds me a lot of the Balanced Budget Amendment of the 90′s for the Republicans.
In the 90′s the BBA came before the senate every year or so. Just enough senators voted against it that it didn’t pass. However the 35 or so senators against it changed each time, so most democrats can say that they voted for it at one time or another while the Republicans could say they were trying to pass it.
Bills like this are “boob bait for the bubbas”. Sound good to a certain constituency, but few think they’re a good idea. Last year Bush was a backstop since he’d veto it if it came out of congress.
Bob Dole once said [paraphrasing]: You can never go wrong voting for a bill that fails or against one that passes. I have a feeling that a number of Dems wanted to vote for this bill… as long as it would fail.
Buckland on March 10, 2009 at 5:25 PM
Sigh…Chuck Hagel.
The delay must be due to fuzzy thinking caused by Potomac Fever.
unwashed minion on March 10, 2009 at 5:31 PM
After he voted for Porkulus I pretty much gave up on him but these little glimmers of hope do help from time to time.
Still not sure if I’ll ever vote for the guy again. He sent me a long list of why he voted for Porkulus but my feeling on that matter are pretty rock solid and I wasn’t swayed.
Yakko77 on March 10, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Don’t get me wrong, for a Democrat he’s ok and I hae no problem admitting I voted for him in the past. He’s Pro-Life, Pro-2nd Amendment and is fairly conservative on numerous other matters but he definitely towed the Obama/Democrat line for Porkulus and it’ll take me a while.. if evah.. to forgive him for that.
Yakko77 on March 10, 2009 at 5:39 PM
Aww, don’t be dragging Dr./Coach Tom into this! I’m still trying to forget his support for the Nebraska teachers union (NEA)…
All I want to worry about involving Dr. Tom is the Husker’s next season.
KellyBomelly on March 10, 2009 at 5:55 PM
I voted for Ricketts, even though I wasn’t enthused by him…
OmahaConservative on March 10, 2009 at 5:56 PM
“Word on Capitol Hill is that a compromise has been floated which removes the section that eliminates the secret ballot and waters down the arbitration power of the government.”
The unions are not going to buy this. Without junking the secret ballot and getting arbitration from the government (read Democratic Party), this bill has nothing for the unions in way of payback for campaign contributions.
GarandFan on March 10, 2009 at 6:17 PM
I was tempted too. I agreed with Ricketts on enough issues to have voted for the guy but he ran such a horrible campaign and just came across as a corrupt politician before he even won an elected office.
Yakko77 on March 11, 2009 at 12:32 AM
Did a Bentonville thug get to him?
sethstorm on March 11, 2009 at 10:13 AM
I think a lot of his conservative support may have vanished with his support of Porkulus.
OmahaConservative on March 11, 2009 at 11:47 AM
To prevent some of what we’re seeing today – H1/L1 abuse (the “technically legal but very anti-citizen” kind), the stunts that Wal-Mart pulls, as well as stuff that’s killed any sort of willing balance between the worker and the employer.
sethstorm on March 11, 2009 at 3:21 PM