We know who shut down the government
by
Matt Giwer (c) 1996 <4/4>

      After months of blaming the Republicans for shutting down the US Government twice in two months the story has now been carried in the Washington Times. With little surprise to many not only did Bill Clinton shut down the government but he had help in doing so. That help came from the AFGE union, the American Federation of Government Employees.
      Yes, folks, the secret is out. The unions were part of shutting down the US Government. Those same people who were out there whining every day about how irresponsible it was to shut down the government were in fact a party to it.
      But of course it must have been the fault of those young upstart Republicans in the House lead by the evil Newt Gingrich. After all, they were the ones who forced Clinton and the government employees union to conspire to shut down the government. Why they promised each other they would work together to blame Republicans for their own private agreement to shut down the government.
      So after four months of lying and finger pointing the Clinton and the union we discover that they in fact planned and plotted to shut down the government. Now this might not be so bad if the AFGE represented a majority of government employees. It might not be so bad if the employees who were cold-heartedly and callously put on furlough by the union were informed of the strategy. But of course they were not.
      This union and the president "acted in their best interests" to furlough them twice, once at Thanksgiving and again at Christmas. After all, no union leader, no president can be better than the worst epithet they hurled at Republicans because of this shutdown. But there is a larger question. What value is a president who conspires against his own employees and a union that conspires against its own members?
      This is nothing short of conspiracy to ruin the holidays for his own employees and their own members. Every sob story you heard on TV, every interview, every horrible example such as the Statue of Liberty being closed is clearly the responsibility of the president and the union. And what does the president's mouthpiece say about this? It is natural for the president to deal with his allies.
      Excuse me, but just what does "dealing with allies" have to do with betraying the trust of employees and union members? Just what business does a union that represents only one third of government employees have conspiring against the other two thirds? And then we have to look at the repayment for this deal unless we think the AFGE asked for nothing in return.
      Surprise, surprise. Clinton is pushing for an increase in the minimum wage. Not that it has ever been a secret that union members at EVERY pay level get at least the same increase in pay as the minimum wage increase.
      A $20 an hour union member will get $20.90, nearly a five percent pay increase, as a reward for this conspiracy. It is not as though this was a principled or selfless act on the part of the union. It was purely cash on the table that Clinton is paying them off with.
      And if Clinton can not deliver it? One more time it will be the fault of those same evil Republicans lead by Newt Gingrich, the embodiment of all evil. Do I notice a pattern here?
      Now this would have been a clever strategy had the conspiracy been known at the time it was being played out. An honest president would have pointed to his union support. An honest union would have presented the plan to their members as does every other union calling for a strike. But this was a secret "strike" that was promoted by the union in secret.
      At best it is malfeasance by the leaders of the union. Most likely it is criminal. But since the Attorney General was appointed by Clinton, there will be at best a whitewash, most likely ignored.
      This is what we have come to expect over the years from Slick Willie -- slick being last applied to Slick Willie the bank robber which is not too far off in meaning. As has been observed, if a man can not be trusted by his wife, then who can trust him? Obviously his employees can not trust him.
      It is equally obvious the people of this country can not trust him. He clearly lied through both government shutdowns by blaming others for the result of his own conspiracy with the union. Despite what it deserves, such conspiracy and such lying is not an impeachable offense as it is neither a high crime nor a misdemeanor.
      But in the real sense we have a president who put the government through one of the most covered "traumas" in history at the cost of over a billion dollars solely because of his political grandstanding and his conspiracy. It is difficult to understand how or why the recognized media has not made headlines of this conspiracy and who was really behind the shutdown. But then, they are part of the liberal cheering section and can not be expected to deal honestly with either Clinton or unions.