Paycheck protection advocate dislikes new name

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Simon Campbell, president of Pennsylvanians for Union Reform, likes the concept behind paycheck protection legislation. He just has a problem with what Republican lawmakers have named it.

That would be Mary’s Law, which Campbell calls “ridiculous.”

The legislation would force public-sector unions to collect their own political money instead of the state deducting it from employees’ paychecks. It’s named after Mary Trometter, a college professor who filed a complaint with the state’s labor relations board after her husband received a political letter from the National Education Association and the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

FACE OF LEGISLATION: Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania are naming paycheck protection legislation after Mary Trometter, shown above, but one union critic doesn’t think that’s the correct approach.

But paycheck protection legislation is “legally irrelevant” to Trometter’s situation, Campbell said. The unions, after all, could have sent the letter to her husband, even with paycheck protection in place.

“Conservatives shoot themselves in the foot when they fabricate by insinuation what the legislation is designed to do,” Campbell said. “The legislation has enough merit to proceed on its own without silly marketing gimmicks.”

The name game could backfire, too, Campbell said. Legislation named after individuals has typically been reserved for tragic situations, a point Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, made when talking about Mary’s Law.

Recent history shows that.

Lawmakers passed Kevin’s Law earlier this year, closing a loophole in state law that allowed drunk drivers to avoid DUI charges by fleeing the scene of a crash. It was named for 5-year-old Kevin Miller, killed by a hit-and-run driver in Wilkes-Barre just before Christmas in 2012.

Then there’s David’s Law, also passed this year. It gives “Good Samaritans” who help overdose victims immunity from criminal prosecution and also makes an anti-overdose drug more available in Pennsylvania. It’s named after David Massi II, who died of a drug overdose in 2013.

Then there’s the well-known Megan’s Law, which makes information about registered sex offenders available to the public and is named for a 7-year-old girl who was raped and killed in 1994.

Costa said paycheck protection doesn’t rise to such a level. Campbell said he has a point.

“It sets the legislator up for sharp criticism around the idea of de-valuing a rape victim,” Campbell said.

Campbell thinks paycheck protection isn’t even a great name, saying people care more about protecting than own paychecks than those of public employees, especially in a down economy.  He sees Trometter’s case more as a right-to-work issue, which focuses on forced union dues rather than collection.

A dues collection law, he said, should be cast as a way to stop government corruption and would be better off focusing on an image of somebody such as former state Sen. Bob Mellow, a disgraced lawmaker who used public resources for campaign purposes.

Campbell suggests the “Political Ethics Act” or “Taxpayer Protection Act” as more suitable names.

“‘Mary’s Law’ as a name is a gimmick, and a crappy one at that,” Campbell said. “If government was run as a business, the chief marketing officer would be getting fired right about now.”

Source: PA Independent