Collective Bargaining, Wartime Profiteering, and Government Contract Favoritism
Michael and Thomas discuss removed restrictions against public-sector collective bargaining, wartime profiteering for Virginia's military-industrial complex, and the welcome project, where Virginia's latest ad campaign produced by Poolhouse Media, which helped then-candidate Youngkin win the governorship.
Michael is out with a new book! "The Byrd Machine in Virginia: The Rise and Fall of a Conservative Political Organization"
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mark Rozell
Favoritism never looks good. It just smacks of inappropriate appearances. Company that's doing a political thing on behalf of someone running for office gets the contract from a state agency and features that very same candidate and now elected public official. It just doesn't look very good.
Michael Pope
On this episode of pod Virginia
Collective bargaining and the classroom
Mel Boerhaave
So they're able to influence things like curriculum, professional development, textbook selection, teaching methods,
Michael Pope
Business is booming for war profiteers,
Jeff Shockley
The supply chain center of military operations in the United States is right down here in Fort Lee, Virginia,
Thomas Bowman
And the governor's ad agency welcomes you to Virginia.
Michael Pope
You are listening to pod Virginia, stick around.
I'm Michael Pope.
I'm Thomas Bowman.
And this is pod Virginia, the only podcast that gets really excited about unfunded pension liability. Thomas, that last episode we did about Virginia's $1 billion debt burden probably was the geekiest episode we've done ever. But, man, I loved it.
Thomas Bowman
No, I loved it too, because it one blew up an assumption that I had that we had the balanced budget, which technically we do have a balanced budget, because that's cash flow. But that doesn't actually mean we have the money to pay for stuff. And you may or may not think that's a big deal. Christine Kuglin says, “Hey, it's a big deal if you're approaching retirement age, and your pension is getting leveraged against the stock market, right before a downturn.”
Michael Pope
Yeah, that myth of the Balanced Budget really has to do you mentioned cash flow. You know, I think there's a lot of stuff that just a lot of red ink that just does not appear on the books, you know, the unfunded pension liability in particular, you know, groups like truth and accounting had to fight tooth and nail for years just to get the information on the unfunded pension liabilities. So that's a lot of reading. That's not even on the balance sheet.
Thomas Bowman
Well, yeah. And but you know, why I actually am kind of happy with the result of that episode. And our discussion with Christine Kirkland, Michael is because so many times when enrichment reformers have a great idea, and they want to propose something that maybe another state has proven that it can happen successfully. And so they want to they want a new law to do something. Nine times out of 10, the response is, hey, great idea. Unfortunately, there's not enough money for it, because we have a balanced budget amendment. Well guess what, doesn't really matter about the Balanced Budget Amendment, when you can have a long term debt capacity.
Michael Pope
Peeling back the myths of Virginia politics here on pod, Virginia. So also today, Thomas, October 10 2022, is the official release date for a book titled, The bird machine in Virginia. So yes, you can buy your copy today. Thomas, I think you've, you've already got a copy, which I really appreciate. But our listeners can get their own copy. In the coming weeks and months, you want to buy a copy directly from me at an event where I'm speaking, I'll be at a book launch here in Old Town, Alexandria on October 20. And then, during the General Assembly session, I will be in Richmond at the Museum of History and Culture. Talking about my book very early next year. It's a second week of the General Assembly session on January 19. So be sure to check that out. I also have a bunch of dates lined up with the Arlington Historical Society and a bunch of other groups. So yeah, I've been working on this thing forever. Thomas. I like the fact that I can actually hold it in my hand and send out postcards to invite people to the book launch. It's a really big deal.
Thomas Bowman
Well, you know, what you might think about doing is sending a copy of this book to Don McEachin because it's coming out on his birthday.
Michael Pope
What a segue today is also the birthday of Congressman Donald McEachin. Now fun fact about Donald McEachin. Congressman, the congressman was able to pass a bill that was signed by the President to crack down on Robo callers. So Congressman McEachin, was successful in getting new legislation that gives the gives authority to the FCC to levy penalties on those pesky Robo callers that call you day at night. And thanks to Congressman McEachin The federal government can now levy penalties of $10,000 on those Robo callers. Thomas, you get a lot of Robo callers.
Thomas Bowman
Yeah, I think more work needs to happen on that issue, Michael?
Michael Pope
Well, birthday boy, Congressman McEachin is on the job. So also, before we get to the news, hey, later this week, we will be in Richmond for the resonate podcast festival. So you got to come. Say hi, and check out the festival and meet our crew here at jackleg media.
Thomas Bowman
Yeah, for sure. And, you know, we'll be around we're gonna be learning a lot. So maybe you'll hear pod Virginia improve in the next couple of months, we can only hope.
Michael Pope
All right, let's get to the news. Collective bargaining in the classroom. Now until a few years ago, Virginia was one of the few states in the country where collective bargaining was not available for teachers. The restrictions against public sector collective bargaining were created by the Republicans back in the 1990s, shortly after they seize power of the General Assembly.
Thomas Bowman
But the Democratic majority in 2020 passed legislation allowing public sector collective bargaining. Delegate Elizabeth Guzman introduced the bill and it allows teachers firefighters and government employees to unionize.
Michael Pope
So how's that working out for teachers across Virginia so far, Richmond has seen the strongest organizing among public school employees. And new research from the Commonwealth Institute says collective bargaining helps the student experience staffing, retention and educator pay. Mel Boerhaave. At the Commonwealth Institute says it even helps with morale.
Mel Boerhaave
It gives teachers more of a voice on the job. So they're able to influence things like curriculum, professional development, textbook selection, teaching methods, and so you have a much more supportive environment with collective bargaining than without.
Michael Pope
Chad Stewart at the Virginia Education Association says one of the chief benefits of collective bargaining in the classroom is that it will help fix the teacher shortage.
Mel Boerhaave
Collective Bargaining doesn't have to be adversarial. It can really be a win win for all parties involved. We know that there's a severe teacher shortage throughout the state right now. And when teachers have a voice at the table for decision making, it means that you're better able to create conditions where teachers want to stick around.
Thomas Bowman
Public employees are currently organizing in addition to Richmond, and Alexandria, Arlington, Charlottesville and montgomery county, at least.
Michael Pope
Thomas used to work in the unions sphere, explain to our listeners what's involved here in getting a collective bargaining ordinance, I would imagine, for like a public sector employee, it works totally different than it would for somebody in like the building trades, right?
Thomas Bowman
Yeah. And I did work in a building trade union. So it is very different. But my understanding, thanks to David Broder, who was a guest on a recent podcast where we explained Fairfax as ordinance. So the locality first has to pass the ordinance, right. That's its own political fight. But that doesn't mean that's not a mandate, that doesn't mean that they are unionized. That just means they can unionize. So then the either the Virginia Education Association or the American Federation of Teachers, that's the AFL teaching outfit, has to get something called signed to union cards, and you need at least 30%. But in practice, you want a little bit more, because you want to make sure that you're going to win that election.
Michael Pope
So this is where Richmond has excelled, right? Like they sound like they probably have more signed union cards than Alexandria, or Arlington or Charlottesville or Montgomery county, right.
Thomas Bowman
Yeah, the process of getting signed union cards can take a minute, it's not necessarily quick. But one thing that makes it happen faster, is when you're a locality, that is not a fun place to work. And so if yeah, anyway, actually, when, on the building trade side, we used to have a saying that the best defense against a union in your workplace is being a good employer. So I can give you a hint at just the type of place that Richmond City is to be a teacher, and the type of employer that Richmond City is. And so the fact that they're moving this quickly on collective bargaining really indicates not just the strength of the Union, but the weakness of the employer itself. And so the other thing to consider is, then you need to actually have a vote to recognize and be represented by the union, right? So then once that happens, and say all of that passes, and this can take months, or even years.
Michael Pope
I would imagine just organizing the vote probably takes a lot of stuff, right…like what's involved in that?
Thomas Bowman
Well, you need some organizers who are in communication with the union to start right So, organizers may or may not be employed by the Union itself. Sometimes they go in intending to organize the spot. That's called salting. But sometimes things just get so bad that you know, somebody who is a teacher that's not related to union, causing and says, Please help us here and organize us. And so then there's this whole, there's a bunch of trainings, there's recruitment drives there. And this is all happening off premises and off site and very quietly in non working hours, because you don't want to tip off the employee this, this can be very hostile, and can get you fired, even though it's against the NLRB, or NLRA. Rather, you know, there's not a lot of enforcement there, you don't have very many protections. So it's this whole cloak and dagger era here. And then finally, you get 30% of your members, your co workers to sign this union card saying that they want to be represented by the union. And then the union then decides or agrees to come in and hold an election. But in practice, you're going to want more than 30%, because you don't want to waste all your resources for getting 30% of the vote, right. So it can be a lot of resources, as far as like staff hours go. And then you have to come up with an agreement where you're going to bargain with the locality itself. So there's a lot of hurdles to get through. And again, I want to reiterate the fact that Richmond is moving so quickly, even though they were not necessarily the first out of the gate to unionize, really shows just how terrible of a place Richmond City is for the teachers to work and how poor morale is. Because you have to do what's right. Collective Bargaining really, actually can be a weird way that can really increase efficiencies, just think of our own positions as employers, if we had a list of things like that the workers wanted. And we didn't have to do individual negotiations. That would make things so much faster, and actually cheaper in some cases in the long run.
Michael Pope
Yeah, so Chad Stewart actually walked through the reasons why collective bargaining is great for morale, you know, it gives teachers buy in, in terms of what the curriculum is, and you know, like how the school operates. So definitely, we're gonna keep our eyes on collective bargaining efforts in Richmond, but then also in Alexandria and Arlington and Charlottesville and montgomery county. Alright, let's move on to our next story. Wartime profiteering new orders for defense capital goods are steadily increasing according to new numbers from the Census Bureau.
Thomas Bowman
Alright, here's the sad reality. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is really profitable for Virginia's Military Industrial Complex.
Michael Pope
Jeff Shockley at the Virginia Commonwealth University tells me that Virginia presents an unbeatable competitive advantage. There's access to DC and also proximity to the central logistics command at Fort Lee south of Richmond.
Jeff Shockley
The supply chain center a military operations in the United States is right down here in Fort Lee, Virginia, I can't imagine that the importance of that is going to diminish. So as we become more technology focused on our military, we focus more on a more advanced weaponry and on personnel training. I think Virginia is uniquely positioned and favorably positioned to take advantage of that.
Thomas Bowman
Sidenote, Fort Lee is about to get a new name, but whatever you call it, the Army Garrison in Prince George County is home to the army logistics University. And that's not the only significant landmark.
Michael Pope
Michael Faraday George Mason University's Mercatus Center is looking at you southwest Virginia.
Michael Faraday
One area that Virginia could be seeing the effect of this is that the Army Ammunition manufacturing plant near Radford, which specializes and propellants for shells and for missiles. And we've sent a lot of 155 millimeter artillery shells to Ukraine.
Michael Pope
So as long as Russia's invasion of Ukraine drags on and on and on the military contractors here in Virginia and beyond will continue to see high demand for the weapons of war. So Thomas, this is really depressing. I mean, I have been reading about the war in Ukraine and all the atrocities and the torture and the awful things that are done to civilians in this war zone. And it just makes me lose sleep at night to think people here in Virginia are making money off of all of this.
Thomas Bowman
Get used to it, Michael, because that is the vast majority of all of Virginia's business is related to the defense industry or the federal government of some kind. I grew up on the 28th corridor which has A ton of defense industry, three letter agencies. In fact, the NRO was right across the street from the high school I went to that agency didn't officially exist until Bill Clinton accidentally named it in a speech during one of his public schedules. Oh, yeah, big mistake. It was a big mistake. And, and there were like murders on the construction site that were part of what tipped people off that this was a three letter agency. So anyway, the point being, Michael, that the United States as a whole really agrees on one thing, and that is that the government is there to function for collective security. Right. So like, you can jettison all the other social issues, you can jettison all the other political issues, the function of the United States government is to keep us safe. And, and that's it, like you may or may not want, or support or agree or like, like it, you may not want to support an individual military action or war, you may hate the killing, like I do, like you do, I hope. But the reality is, we all want to be safe. And keeping us safe at home often means taking the fight abroad. And so one of the things that the United States is doing, in addition to the rest of the world is trying to drag Russia through the mud and Ukraine and get them to expend all of their resources. Well, one way to do that is to keep supplying arms and weapons systems to Ukraine, so that they have more and more ammo to keep draining Russia of their resources.
Michael Pope
Well, of course, I hate the killing. I mean, you know, Roger Waters has a song called the bravery of being out of range, which talks about people here in the heart of the military industrial complex, using their computers to kill people at long range distances, and then, you know, go home at night to have dinner with your family. And so, I mean, it's, that's the reality war. That's, that's the world that we live in. It's also worth pointing out that it's not just direct military aid to Ukraine, that is making a lot of millionaires here in Northern Virginia, and elsewhere in Virginia. It's also Eastern European countries, right? So like, everybody in Europe is on a spending spree right now. And they're buying all this military equipment. And the beneficiaries of that are right here. This is a Virginia industry that is booming right now. And there are lots of people that are cleaning up because of the war that's going on right now. And in Ukraine.
Thomas Bowman
Yeah, and Virginia is ground zero for so much of this, I think about one place that didn't get mentioned Virginia Beach, not only home to a ton of military bases, also home to Blackwater, or z as they got rebranded and I think they've rebranded again, maybe but Eric Prince, brother of Betsy DeVos has this entire like mercenary network and Training Center in the great dismal swamp. By the way, not only is at all in Virginia Beach, but Eric Prince is a Loudoun County resident. So there's so much in Virginia, love it or hate it. We've got Wallops Island out on the Eastern Shore, which launches spy satellites and other rockets. We've got in Charlottesville that was historically one of the well they love Charlottesville because they can sit there and recruit from the Harvard of the South, right. So Charlottesville itself was home to Sperry, which came up with the autopilot system, and just a ton of other things. Tasks. Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, they're all here in Virginia.
Michael Pope
Hmm. All right. Well, let's move on to our final story. The welcome project, this is the kind of thing you might see at an airport lobby or next to a vending machine at a welcome center. Steven Farnsworth at the University of Mary Washington says there's a long history of governors using their moment in the spotlight for some publicity in Virginia.
Stephen Farnsworth
We have long had new roadmaps printed after every election so that the picture of the new governor and maybe a brief welcome statement is included in that the maps available at rest areas.
Thomas Bowman
Alright, shout out to Patrick Wilson at the Richmond times dispatch, who found this particular ad campaign was produced by the same agency that helped young can get elected last year. Poolhouse media.
Michael Pope
Yeah, so people are talking about this pool house media ad spot, including Mark Rozell. Now he is the dean of the Schar school at George Mason University. And this is what he told me about the contract pool house landed with the Virginia Tourism Corporation.
Mark Rozell
Favoritism never looks good. It just smacks of inappropriate appearances. company that's doing a political thing on behalf of someone running for office gets the contract from a state agency and features that very same candidate now elected public official. It just doesn't look very good.
Michael Pope
All right, so Poolhouse, CEO and co founder will Ritter says his ad agency is thrilled to partner with the Virginia Tourism Corporation to brag on the state we love and call home. So Thomas, I don't have to tell you this Full House ad by has is prompting a lot of conversation. And, you know, as someone who has flown in and out of Tallahassee a lot when I've every time I'm in the Tallahassee airport, I hear audio of the mayor of Tallahassee saying, Hi, this is Mayor of Tallahassee, welcome to Tallahassee, blah, blah, blah. So like, this is not unusual. You these kinds of ads are very commonplace in welcome centers, and on maps, as Steven Farnsworth was saying, and at airports, this one was a little bit different, because it was the ad agency that was a political ad agency that helped Youngkin get elected, right. So like, what's different about what we're seeing here with this particular ad buy?
Thomas Bowman
Well, normally, you would have a period where you solicit the bid through RFPs request for proposals. And you have, however long two weeks, three weeks, a month, two months sometimes. And everybody who is interested in that bid will get a notice that hey, Virginia wants this to the tourism company wants this, can you submit us something? And so, for example, resolute strategy, which doesn't do government contracts, but could could have submitted a bid for this? Well, what happened here is the timeline was so short, that and I've got the story up here right in front of me. So the timeline was so short that the three bidders for it, one being Poolhouse, the Martin agency, which has this contract, and should have been the one to do this work. The Martin agency didn't have enough time to put together a proposal.
Michael Pope
Would you say should have been the agency to do this work? The Martin agency, of course, is renowned for having the slogan, Virginia is for lovers.
Thomas Bowman
To the firm of record for Virginia. So that should be going to them to start.
Michael Pope
What if they weren't interested because their politics don't align with Glenn Youngkin?
Thomas Bowman
Got nothing to do with it? This is a tourism agency, not a political ad. The scandal is not that Glenn Youngkin is in this add.
Michael Pope
Its possible The Martin agency wasn't interested.
Thomas Bowman
Martin agency said that explicitly. I'm looking at it right here. Michael, the Martin agency said that they literally did not have enough time to respond to the RFP. They didn't say that they weren't interested. They said they didn't have enough time to put something together. Poolhouse had their entire package and this can take weeks just to get something together. They had it ready to go the day that the bid came out, which indicates that there were conversations behind the scenes going on. And in fact, the President and CEO the Virginia Tourism Corporation, first appointed by Bob McDonnell has already fallen on her sword about this and said she chose to go with Poolhouse. And it was my idea that we should go to Poolhouse and suggested Poolhouse before she even made her decision. So like this is bid fixing. There's a bid rigging like this is illegal. Because this wasn't actually an open bid.
Michael Pope
So if something is illegal, prosecutors should step in and prosecute.
Thomas Bowman
Well the Office of the State Inspector General created in 2012, which investigates things like this fraud, waste, abuse in the executive branch, and actually doesn't have oversight from Younkin, or any governor is being called upon to step in here. And they're a division of the AG but like also separate from the AG. And so thisa law that went into effect in this year, July first 2022 prohibits the governor or his aides from interfering in a OSIG investigation or trying to pressure the investigators. So like, yeah, there is the potential for something like this to happen. You do have other things like you know, the federal government can decide that there was a federal law that got broken here. And of course, like the Ag unlikely being from the same party as glenlyon cannon running on the ticket is gone. You could also step in here. So like more to come. This is not the last we're going to hear about this. Don Scott, new Minority Leader in the House Dems and Dick SASLAW in the Senate Dems are straightforward calling this government corruption at its worst, Michael and it looks like it might be.
Michael Pope
Well more to come on that. So for now, let's head over to the water cooler. What's in your water cooler this week? Tom?
Thomas Bowman
You know, Michael, the Department of Elections is having a lot of trouble processing all the voter registration forms that are coming in. Now there are at least 40,000 people behind and the numbers look wonky right now that the chair, the chair is saying that they'll all get processed. But here's the deal. The registration deadline is October 17. So, you know, if it's not processed by then you might be hosed.
Michael Pope
Wow, election officials are really under the gun here and this election cycle, you know, they're getting beat up. They're getting accusations thrown at them. They're getting FOIA requests in a way that's tying them up day and night responding to all these things. So, man, it's tough. It's tough being an election official these days.
Thomas Bowman
But also due to the partisan environment we're in. It is on its face suspicious.
Michael Pope
Well, I love my election officials, I have to say like the the past three election chiefs here in Alexandria had been some of the best people I've ever met. And they run a tight ship with the elections here in Alexandria. And I suspect wherever you are, the election officials work just as hard because these are very hardworking people that really care. I mean, they really deeply care about having a free and fair election.
Thomas Bowman
Yeah, let's hope. But I think the point is, though, Michael, that the local registrar's are going to face the brunt of this backlog and have to pick up the slack. The problem happened via the state website, according to reports. And yeah, it's it sounds like it's a giant mess.
Michael Pope
Well, also in the water cooler. Buckingham County Supervisor Thomas Jordan, miles liked our episode on Virginia's $1 billion debt burden. He wrote this on Twitter quote, one of the most fascinating podcasts I've heard in a long time, great job in breaking down unfunded liabilities, pension plans and bonds. So Thomas, this is maybe it's possible. This podcast that we did last week gets the award for geekiest podcast ever. But you know, I'll wear that as a badge of honor, because I loved really, really going into the details here about the $1 billion worth of debt in Virginia.
Thomas Bowman
Well, and knowing what our backlog of episodes looks like, I can promise you it's not our geekiest episode.
Michael Pope
True, okay. Thats a fair point.
Thomas Bowman
But it's a good one. And I highly recommend you listen to it, because it really puts things into perspective. Yeah, like things seem ho hum. billion dollars in the grand scheme of things isn't a ton of money, especially compared to other states. But guess what, because it is so affected by one the stock market and population numbers, things get out of control for Virginia very quickly.
Michael Pope
You know, what, also Thomas, you pointed out something earlier in this podcast, that was a very salient point, which is very frequently people will come to Richmond, saying I want this or I want that, or I'm advocating in favor of this. I'm advocating in favor of that. And the lawmakers will say, You know what, we agree with you, but we just don't have the money. And we've got this balanced budget requirement. We just we can't help you because we don't have the money right now. But maybe you can come back at some point in the future. And the excuse for that is oh, we balanced the budget. Well, guess what? No, you don't?
Thomas Bowman
Yeah, in fact, if you're a sitting delegate, or senator and you hear that episode, next time you get that response in committee, tell him to listen to Pod Virginia. And rule set them straight. Yeah, I like it. Alright, Michael, you want to leave it there? Perfect. Let's leave it there. All right. Thank you so much for listening. And hey, don't forget the entire Jackleg Media team will be at the resonate podcast festival in Richmond later this week. So if you're near the Institute for Contemporary Art, that's that big funky building on Broad Street. Stop by say hi, and the podcast festival is Friday and Saturday.
Michael Pope
Pod Virginia is a production of Jackleg Media. Our producer is Aaryan Balu and our advertising sales manager is David O'Connell.
Thomas Bowman
Find us on Facebook or Twitter. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and hey, write a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps people find the show.
Michael Pope
Make sure to smash the subscribe button so you don't miss the next episode of Pod Virginia.
