Just when it seems government unions and the officials they helped elect can’t get any more shameful…they do.

The latest example comes from Rhode Island’s Attorney General. 

Under the guise of offering “clarity” on the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the “rights of public sector employees,” the Rhode Island AG issued a press statement today that is not just shameful, it is absurd and outrageous.

The AG’s press statement opens with an ominous warning that an “outside special interest group has engaged in a campaign to misinform public sector employees” on the impact of the Janus ruling.  And just so we’re clear, by “misinform” the AG is referring to efforts to educate public sector workers on their First Amendment right to quit paying for union representation many do not want and provide guidance on how to exercise that right.

What follows are flowery platitudes paying homage to the work and sacrifices of public employees with a critical explanation of the ruling by the nation’s highest Court in the Janus case.

Next comes caution urged by the AG that Rhode Island public employees not “fall victim” to the “unfortunate” education campaign of the “outside special interest group” that “has a clear political agenda.”  The so-called “outside group” trying to educate workers on their First Amendment Janus rights is the non-profit, non-partisan Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity, which is clearly not an outside group, unless the AG meant they are a group outside of his inner political circle (which unions clearly are not).

Let’s take a moment to reflect on the irony of the AG completely ignoring the fact that government unions are the ultimate special interest group and have one of the clearest political agendas (and a corresponding budget) of any group in the nation.

The closing is where Rhode Island’s AG completely abandons truth and reality in favor of spin and delusion:

“The right to collectively bargain is among the most important rights enjoyed by workers, and has, throughout our history, done more than almost any other initiative to ensure safety in the workplace, and humane working conditions. If you are contacted about disaffiliating from your public-sector union in the wake of the Janus decision, it is critical that you seek advice either from your union, or from some other reliable source. No worker should rely solely upon any outside group seeking to have the worker waive such a critical right.”

I’m not even sure where to begin with this nugget of inanity.

First, seeking advice from your union about leaving your union is like asking the fox to guard the henhouse.  Government unions around the country have engaged in a relentless campaign to mislead workers into unknowingly forfeiting their First Amendment rights protected by the Janus decision. 

Their favorite tactic is convincing workers to sign “union solidarity” cards that contain tricky language buried in fine print trapping workers into waiving their First Amendment rights and paying the union regardless of the Janus decision. It’s no secret these cards are designed to lock public workers into paying their union despite the Janus ruling that gives them the right to quit paying a government union.  Unions have even admitted as much. 

So workers should reject the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s effort to educate them on their First Amendment Janus rights, and should instead seek the “advice” of a special interest group that has a very clear political agenda, has everything to lose by the worker exercising those rights, and is using subterfuge to convince those workers to unknowingly waive their First Amendment rights?

The most despicable part of the AG’s statement is where he purposely misleads that the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity is trying to get workers to waive their right to collectively bargain. 

“No worker should rely solely upon any outside group seeking to have the worker waive such a critical right.”

Umm, waive what critical right?  Workers who disaffiliate with their union under Janus waive no rights at all.  In fact, the opposite is true.  The Court made it very clear that by not disaffiliating and agreeing to pay the union, a worker is waiving their First Amendment rights. 

Obviously the AG is hoping public employees who read his statement, many of whom have little or no knowledge about the Janus decision and what it means (hence the education effort), will walk away thinking Janus somehow erodes their right to unionize and collectively bargain.

The Janus ruling has absolutely no impact on unionizing or collectively bargaining for public sector employees.  It simply confirms the right of those workers to not pay for collective bargaining. 

The AG’s press statement feigning concern for the "rights" of his state's public workers belies his real intention of helping government unions exploit public workers. Sadly, it is just the latest demonstration of how far politicians around the country are willing to go to protect the unions that spend heavily to elect them.  It is so misleading and absurd it would actually be comical if it weren’t so disturbing that it comes from a state Attorney General.   

A state Attorney General is supposed to be their state’s top legal officer and act as the “People’s Lawyer” for the citizens.  It seems Rhode Island’s AG would rather be the “Union’s Lawyer.”