Former Speaker: Thank a Democrat For the Loss of Sturm, Ruger Jobs

There was no shortage of discussion on Right to Work legislation over the 2011-12 legislative term. Former Speaker O’Brien made it a centerpiece of the Republican legislative agenda. Had it not been for the veto pen of then Governor John Lynch, it may have become law. Every single Democrat legislator voted against the bill and against the veto override. A Right to Work bill was filed this term as well, but with a Democrat majority in the House, it had little chance of survival.

One defense those opposed to Right to Work frequently use is that “We don’t have evidence that companies use Right to Work as criteria for expansion or relocation.”

Today, New Hampshire learned, via the Union Leader, that Strum Ruger, a well established  gun manufacturer with a plant in New Hampshire, has opted to expand it’s operation in North Carolina, rather than the Granite State. The story includes this important sentence:

The company had a long list of factors, including a preference for a right-to-work state, where workers cannot be required to pay union dues if they choose not to join one. “Right-to-work state was one of our criteria,” Reed said.

Immediately this morning, email and social media exploded with various opinions on the development. Most noteable was a facebook post from Right to Work champion, former Speaker O’Brien, which read as follows:

The Democrats have these ridiculous bumper stickers that distort history by saying that if you like some government spending program or another, thank them.

Putting aside those distortions and the fact that they are now bankrupting thoseprograms and the country, in New Hampshire we really do have a need to note a specific result of Democrat legislative efforts. In this case it is for the loss of New Hampshire manufacturing jobs that come with the strict obedience of Democrat Party leaders and legislators to their union boss benefactors in opposing a right to work law.

Despite Legislative Democrats’ mantra that no business considers right to work laws in coming to a state or staying in a state and despite their repeating that mantra incessantly when those legislators were slavishly voting to uphold Gov. Lynch’s veto of Right to Work Legislation, here’s direct evidence, and a demonstrable loss of great manufacturing jobs in New Hampshire, that they do:

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20130710/NEWS02/130719971

Next Bumper Sticker Perhaps:  Thank a Democrat For the Loss of Sturm, Ruger Jobs!

We liked the sticker idea. Maybe someone can print up a couple hundred of these?