Court Rules Obama's NLRB Recess Appointments Were Unconstitutional

A federal appeals court has ruled that President Obama violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to fill vacancies on a labor relations panel. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit says Obama did not have the power to make recess appointments earlier this year to the National Labor Relations Board.

Obama claims he acted properly because the Senate was away for the holidays. But the court says the Senate technically stayed in session when lawmakers gaveled in and out every few days for so-called "pro forma" sessions. 

GOP lawmakers used the tactic specifically to prevent Obama from using his recess power to fill vacancies in an agency they claimed was too pro-union.

It is expected that the Obama administration will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, stay tuned. Read More Here

We have known from the beginning that the action was not legitimate but as always it takes a court to decide these things definitively  The big question is, if upheld, will the rulings that those illegitimate appointees made be thrown out? 

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Cardinale Urges NJ Assembly to Prevent PLA Expansion, Cost Increases

The following is an excerpt from an editorial by Senator Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen) published in the Bergen Record urging the State Assembly to vote against a costly and destructive expansion of Project Labor Agreements. 

On January 14 many of my colleagues and I voted against S2425, an expansion of project labor agreements, which allow elected officials to funnel more public projects to labor unions of their choice. Both the motivation and consequences of this bill are equally destructive Sandy recovery efforts. Senate Democrats called a vote on this measure because Governor Christie recently received a labor union endorsement that they felt entitled to, and that union justly opposes this bill. 

I oppose this bill because it tilts the playing field in favor of 14 percent of the workforce that is unionized and against 86 percent of non-unionized workers struggling in the aftermath of the Great Recession and Super Storm Sandy.

It is appalling that this is the only Sandy recovery bill that the Senate Democrats posted for a vote. Ironically, it increases the cost of recovery projects; it is a direct burden to Sandy victims, New Jersey families and their communities. Plus, the added cost of PLAs may eliminate other necessary public projects and the jobs that they create. 

The public is gravely misled by legislative Democrats, who deny political motivations and refuse to acknowledge even the possibility that PLAs make projects more expensive.

The fact is that PLAs increase the cost of construction projects by between 10 and 35 percent, a recent state Department of Labor report determined increases at 30.5 percent. Even former Gov. Jon Corzine’s Labor Department, reported PLAs hike project costs by as much as 34 percent.

This Legislature should not make it more expensive and burdensome for our overtaxed residents to recover from Sandy. I urge Assembly members to consider common sense above politics and vote no on this bill. See full Editorial published in the Bergen Record Here

Read Full Text of S2425 Here 

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