GOP assault on the unemployed continues

Plotting with lobbyists to compound the misery of our unemployed:

Next Thursday, February 16, the General Assembly will renew this problematic pattern when it returns to Raleigh for another “special” session on a yet-to-be-disclosed topic (or topics).

An email obtained by NC Policy Watch, however, indicates that legislative leaders have been secretly negotiating with business lobbyists on at least one topic: unemployment insurance.

Hat-tip to Rob Schofield for exposing this information. Here's the text of the e-mail:

Thank you for _____’s advocacy help in the past on workplace issues and especially this past legislative session on Employment Security Commission reform. There is a good possibility that in the February 16th legislative special session have (sic) unemployment legislation may be considered. In preparation for that possibility, the Office of the Speaker of the House and the NC Chamber of Commerce are looking for good unemployment examples to show there are problems that need to be resolved at the agency. Would you please survey your membership and ask them for examples of UI benefits that were erroneously pad (sic) by ESC either through poor adjudication judgement within the department or fraud by former employees. We have a short time frame here so the faster the better. Please have them e-mail me with their examples. Their input will help fix the problems many employers and employees have had with the unemployment system.

Please call or e-mail if you have questions.

Thanks,
Connie Wilson
Employers Coalition of North Carolina
2721 Glenwood Gardens Lane #302
Raleigh, NC 27608”

If there's one thing these propagandists understand, it's the power of anecdotal evidence. All they need is a few word-of-mouth, seventh-hand stories about somebody ripping off a government program, and then you can safely step up to the podium and talk about how that program is "riddled with fraud and abuse".

Shortly following this declaration of outrage, hundreds of thousands of our friends and neighbors find themselves being punished for crimes they didn't commit, while the lobbyists sigh in satisfaction.