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Rep. Grayson Calls Labor Unions Strongest Force for ‘Good Government’
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) said Tuesday that labor unions were the strongest force for "good government" in the United States.
(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) said Tuesday that labor unions were the strongest force for “good government” in the United States.
Grayson was appearing on a live webcast with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka to promote a new website (www.paywatch.org) that publicizes executive pay for the nation’s largest companies.
Both said they wanted to bring to light large corporate paychecks to rally support for financial regulatory reform bills being considered on Capitol Hill, where Grayson said he saw bank lobbyists working their influence on members of both parties to elicit favorable outcomes.
Explaining that he believed those activities were unethical, Grayson said, “And it’s a shame, you know? I try to live my life as if somebody upstairs were watching over me all the time and could see everything that I’m doing. And I wonder how their constituents would feel knowing that they cater to these lobbyists the way that they do—both Democrats and Republicans.”
Although he inferred that he tries to behave as if a higher being were keeping a close eye on him, Grayson is no stranger to intemperance.
Most recently, he burst in on a meeting of the Orange County Republican Party that they were conducting at a Perkins Family Restaurant.
The group reportedly admonished him for treating his constituents that way, and Tom Tillison of the Orlando Tea Party asked him, “Don’t you feel that you at least owe them an explanation for your recent votes?”
Grayson reportedly responded, “I don’t owe them anything. They’re trying to defeat me.”
The congressman also caught flak last September during debate on the original House version of the health care reform bill, when he accused Republicans of having no health care plan and wanting people to “die quickly.”
“Very simply, it’s a very simple plan. Here it is, the Republicans’ health care plan for America: don’t get sick,” Grayson said on Sept. 29. “It’s not a fool proof plan, so the Republicans have a back-up plan … If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: die quickly!”
Grayson also told Trumka on the Tuesday webcast that he was pleased the AFL-CIO was working to enact financial regulatory reform for the country as labor unions are the foremost force for “good government” in the United States.
Trumka asked the congressman what the most important thing people could do to counter the bank lobby was.
“Well, I think it’s doing exactly what you do,” Grayson said, “which is to bring together the power of millions of people—in your case, over ten million people—and bring that to bear for the sake of rational government and for conscience. I think that the union movement is the strongest proponent of good government in this country.
“(T)he fact is that it’s the union movement that’s the most effective at actually getting things done and arranging for good government,” he added.
Part of that good government effort is ostensibly to publish and circulate the compensation packages of as many chief executive officers as possible on Paywatch.org, run by the AFL-CIO.
The site includes a list of the 100 top-earning CEOs from the last two years along with a search tool for more CEOs and a more in-depth “case study” on each of the six major banking institutions: Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo.
The union also blasts those companies for spending anywhere from two to six million dollars each on lobbying for fiscal year 2009.
“After tanking our economy, helping to put us in an 11 million job hole and, to top it all off, taking hundred of billions in taxpayer bailout dollars, the big banks are right back to business as usual: by lobbying against meaningful financial reform,” the site says.
A companion website, NotYourATM.com, encourages users to submit photos of themselves holding anti-big bank signs.
Many of those featured say, “Hey, Wall St., I’m not your ATM” or “When Wall St. Gambles Our Money, We All Lose!”
Trumka summarized the effort Tuesday by saying, “The entire thing that we do is to go through the obscene high CEO pays and the aggressive lobbying against financial reform that are an outrageous reminder once again that Wall Street just hasn’t gotten the message.
“So you can go on the website and let them know that hardworking Americans are not going to be their ATM,” Trumka said.
Trumka particularly plugged Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) bill, which has been voted out of the Senate Banking Committee and is expected to come to the floor for debate this month, and said, “everybody should be calling their congressman” to ask for a Yes vote on financial reform.
Additionally, Trumka said the AFL-CIO will hold a “major demonstration” April 29 on Wall Street and that he hopes 100,000 people will attend.
Grayson concurred that reform needed to be implemented, saying America’s future hinged on its passage.
“In this case, without exaggerating, literally the future of the country is at stake,” he said. “We are condemning ourselves to an endless boom and bust cycle which will end up in the impoverishment of our nation unless we put an end to it. It’s been recognized for roughly 400 years that you can’t have a banking system without regulation.”
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.)
Grayson was appearing on a live webcast with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka to promote a new website (www.paywatch.org) that publicizes executive pay for the nation’s largest companies.
Both said they wanted to bring to light large corporate paychecks to rally support for financial regulatory reform bills being considered on Capitol Hill, where Grayson said he saw bank lobbyists working their influence on members of both parties to elicit favorable outcomes.
Explaining that he believed those activities were unethical, Grayson said, “And it’s a shame, you know? I try to live my life as if somebody upstairs were watching over me all the time and could see everything that I’m doing. And I wonder how their constituents would feel knowing that they cater to these lobbyists the way that they do—both Democrats and Republicans.”
Although he inferred that he tries to behave as if a higher being were keeping a close eye on him, Grayson is no stranger to intemperance.
Most recently, he burst in on a meeting of the Orange County Republican Party that they were conducting at a Perkins Family Restaurant.
The group reportedly admonished him for treating his constituents that way, and Tom Tillison of the Orlando Tea Party asked him, “Don’t you feel that you at least owe them an explanation for your recent votes?”
Grayson reportedly responded, “I don’t owe them anything. They’re trying to defeat me.”
The congressman also caught flak last September during debate on the original House version of the health care reform bill, when he accused Republicans of having no health care plan and wanting people to “die quickly.”
“Very simply, it’s a very simple plan. Here it is, the Republicans’ health care plan for America: don’t get sick,” Grayson said on Sept. 29. “It’s not a fool proof plan, so the Republicans have a back-up plan … If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: die quickly!”
Grayson also told Trumka on the Tuesday webcast that he was pleased the AFL-CIO was working to enact financial regulatory reform for the country as labor unions are the foremost force for “good government” in the United States.
Trumka asked the congressman what the most important thing people could do to counter the bank lobby was.
“Well, I think it’s doing exactly what you do,” Grayson said, “which is to bring together the power of millions of people—in your case, over ten million people—and bring that to bear for the sake of rational government and for conscience. I think that the union movement is the strongest proponent of good government in this country.
“(T)he fact is that it’s the union movement that’s the most effective at actually getting things done and arranging for good government,” he added.
Part of that good government effort is ostensibly to publish and circulate the compensation packages of as many chief executive officers as possible on Paywatch.org, run by the AFL-CIO.
The site includes a list of the 100 top-earning CEOs from the last two years along with a search tool for more CEOs and a more in-depth “case study” on each of the six major banking institutions: Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo.
The union also blasts those companies for spending anywhere from two to six million dollars each on lobbying for fiscal year 2009.
“After tanking our economy, helping to put us in an 11 million job hole and, to top it all off, taking hundred of billions in taxpayer bailout dollars, the big banks are right back to business as usual: by lobbying against meaningful financial reform,” the site says.
A companion website, NotYourATM.com, encourages users to submit photos of themselves holding anti-big bank signs.
Many of those featured say, “Hey, Wall St., I’m not your ATM” or “When Wall St. Gambles Our Money, We All Lose!”
Trumka summarized the effort Tuesday by saying, “The entire thing that we do is to go through the obscene high CEO pays and the aggressive lobbying against financial reform that are an outrageous reminder once again that Wall Street just hasn’t gotten the message.
“So you can go on the website and let them know that hardworking Americans are not going to be their ATM,” Trumka said.
Trumka particularly plugged Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) bill, which has been voted out of the Senate Banking Committee and is expected to come to the floor for debate this month, and said, “everybody should be calling their congressman” to ask for a Yes vote on financial reform.
Additionally, Trumka said the AFL-CIO will hold a “major demonstration” April 29 on Wall Street and that he hopes 100,000 people will attend.
Grayson concurred that reform needed to be implemented, saying America’s future hinged on its passage.
“In this case, without exaggerating, literally the future of the country is at stake,” he said. “We are condemning ourselves to an endless boom and bust cycle which will end up in the impoverishment of our nation unless we put an end to it. It’s been recognized for roughly 400 years that you can’t have a banking system without regulation.”
