The Center for Worker Freedom is “concerned” with labor reporter Mike Elk‘s plans to unionize Politico. So they’re offering the suburban Virginia public outreach to educate employees on why not to be taken in by the cause that Elk plotted from the time he was hired last October.
“CWF has seen first-hand the horrible economic devastation caused by organized labor in factories and towns across the nation, and has made it its mission to educate communities about the terrible costs and consequences of unionization,” they wrote in a release issued Thursday. “Therefore, CWF is offering to launch a community outreach campaign to educate POLITICO employees about the downsides of unionization, including fewer employment opportunities and less take-home pay for workers.” (RELATED: As predicted, Politico’s labor reporter is trying to unionize Politico)
At the bottom of the release is an interesting line: “Americans for Tax Reform.” You know, Grover Norquist‘s operation. (CWF is a sub-project of ATR.)
CWF, in conjunction with Norquist, further squashed Elk’s plans, writing, “We helped Chattanooga. We can help POLITICO.”
Elk has declined to comment. If that changes, The Mirror will report back. I’ve also written to CWF spokesman Matt Patterson to learn more. He wasn’t available to speak by phone. A receptionist directed me to his email.
UPDATE: Patterson chatted with The Mirror by phone. He described their thought process more.
“We’ll be tweeting it to every reporter at Politico,” Patters said. “It was unwise for them to hire Mike Elk because he has a background as a union activist. To hire him to be an objective reporter to cover labor issues really undermines Politico’s credibility. Reporters and journalists wonder why the public doesn’t trust them. It’s stuff like this. It’s hiring reporters who have obvious idealogical biases. It has done damage to journalists as a whole and Politico in particular.”