Meet Buttbreath

Meet Gary Glenn - also known as Buttbreath.

Of all the bulwarks of modern American conservatism, so-called "right-to-work" laws have got to be among the very dumbest.

Although conservatives claim to be for less government, this law expands government by requiring union workers to subsidize nonunion labor. The result of this is that workers in states that have such a law have often become too weak to effectively bargain for decent wages or safe conditions. I call them work-for-less laws.

Last Labor Day weekend, this blog ran an expose on Virginia's late Gov. Bill Tuck - the braggart widely believed to have been the inspiration for the wretched Taft-Hartley Act, which encouraged work-for-less laws. With Labor Day looming next month, we'd like to tell you about Gary Glenn - the right-winger who brang work-for-less laws to Idaho.

Neckties have flowed lately in Idaho, as corporate greed merchants there have held fancy balls to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Gem State's passage of its work-for-less law. In doing so, these zillionaires have welcomed Gary Glenn back to their state.

Back in 1985, Glenn was a commissioner in Boise's Ada County. He used his office to push for the work-for-less law's passage. Democratic Gov. John Evans vetoed the bill, but the legislature overrode his veto - making this an ugly instance of lawmakers overriding a veto in order to pass a law that harmed the public. Kind of like when Taft-Hartley's backers overrode President Truman's veto.

After Gary Glenn got his way, he was nicknamed Buttbreath by a fellow commish and later lost reelection. He then skipped town and moved to Michigan - to head that state's chapter of the extreme-right American Family Association. Now he's the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit to overturn hate crime laws, as he absurdly claims that these laws violate freedom of religion.

The guy's full of stupid arguments, isn't he? Maybe some religions obligate adherents to beat up people because of their race or sexual orientation. I guess that's why Glenn thinks hate crime laws violate religious freedom.

Meanwhile, what do Idahoans think about Buttbreath's work-for-less law? One reader of the Idaho Statesman newspaper sarcastically observed, "It's great! Let's see, we have wages that keep us at or below poverty level, we can be terminated with no warning or reason, we have no benefits or rights of any kind! What more could we want."

Firing workers for no warning or reason is what Buttbreath calls "small government" and "economic freedom." Reminds me of the "war is peace" mantra from '1984'.