Politics 2000

Halloween is today. It’s the one night a year children are encouraged to talk to strangers. Well, at least say “trick or treat.”

Fantasy is accepted on Halloween. Think about it. Try dressing like a Klingon or Harry Potter Wednesday and see what reactions you get. To be fair, dressing like a naughty nurse on Halloween or on Wednesday will likely attract similar responses.

Kids are never allowed to eat candy get plenty of it. Better that than nickels, gift certificates or fresh vegetables. I remember getting a pomegranate one year. I had to ask my parents what exactly I’d been given. Let’s hope your little ones fare better than Charlie Brown, who gets a bag full of rocks every year.

Adults often go to parties and release more inhibitions than usual. Dressing like Jack Sparrow, Britney Spears or Superman allows us to be a different person for an evening. You’ll spot the couples fast. They’ll be Adam and Eve, Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy, Ken and Barbie or Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil.

No matter your plans for Halloween, may you enjoy the evening. The first Tuesday of November is coming soon. The biggest election day of the year even though 2009 is an odd-numbered year. I’ll talk more about what’s coming Monday.

Boeing announced this week it will host the second line of its long-delayed 787 airplane project in North Charleston, South Carolina. Boeing will keep the first line in Everett, Washington, where the second line was supposed to operate as well.

The International Association of Machinists local in Everett is upset. Union workers at the plant in South Carolina voted to decertify its union last week. IAW officials are decrying the move as union busting.

Union leaders also think they were used to extract more concessions from South Carolina. Almost $200 million in incentives will come to Boeing. The IAW publicly offered a 10-year guarantee not to strike but complained the company never responded. The IAW struck twice in the prior three years.

Washington politicians are embarrassed. Gov. Christine Gregoire and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray both say they talked to Boeing executives and were told that tax breaks beyond the $3 billion approved in 2003 would not affect their decision.

Boeing remains the largest private employer in Washington state. About 75,000 workers will stay on the job. The second line will employ roughly 3,000 people.

The responses I’ve read to the news mostly fall into two camps. One side blames Boeing for being greedy and thinks non-union South Carolina workers could never produce airplanes as good as IAW members in Washington. The majority view derides the union for being greedy during a recession and dismisses politicians as being anti-business.

The truth is likely somewhere in the middle. Sure, Boeing is trying to maximize profits for shareholders. The corporation wants to cut costs. Yes, the IAW is attempting to get the best wages, benefits and working conditions possible for its members. No politician would want to alienate her state’s biggest employer enough for it to ship jobs to the opposite coast.

I found it interesting that the majority or the responses thought the IAW was greedier than the corporation. Washington is a blue state, perhaps to a fault if those posters are to be believed.

Boeing is one example why union membership has decreased. The days where every family has a father, uncle or cousin in a union have passed. It’s also why the bulk of union members now are public employees. City Hall can’t move to China.

Reversing course, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now says he’ll try to get a health-care reform bill passed that includes a public option. The bill may include an opt-out mechanism so a legislature and governor can choose for its state to not to participate in the system.

Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, who is the only Congressional Republican to vote for any of the five bills working through House or Senate committees, said she is disappointed by the development. She doesn’t want to back legislation with a public option.

Reid has wanted 60 votes for a bill to ensure a successful cloture vote that would end a filibuster. Congressional and White House officials fear the Republicans will do anything to block the measure from passing the Senate. Reid must also find a way to get liberals and moderates on the same page, especially the senators from red states who must run for re-election next year.

The House, given its large Democratic majority and larger control of debate rules, is expected to approve a bill with a public option. The question has always been the upper chamber, which allows one senator to speak theoretically forever as long as he or she continues talking.

There are historic examples of senators speaking for 48 hours non-stop or reading from phone books to delay floor votes. Such instances are increasingly rare though.

The Democrats can use parliamentary tactics such as reconciliation to pass parts of a health-care bill with just 51 votes. However, they fear opening that Pandora’s Box. They are worried that the Republicans, should they ever regain a majority, will use the same method to get controversial legislation passed.