One of the first things they tell aides when they get to Capitol Hill is that when they’re invited to a function, it’s not actually them that’s being invited — it’s the person in their position. 

The organizers or those offering gifts are not suddenly in thrall with the person — they’re courting favor with the committee staffer.

Union leaders have a hard time with this concept. They are supposed to be representatives of the hard-working members who elect them. But they control a big budget of dues that members are forced to pay as a condition of holding their jobs, and they get tempted to use that money to buy influence on their own.

TRUMP’S NEW UNION TRANSPARENCY TOOL IS A GAME CHANGER FOR WORKERS

Suddenly, a union boss becomes a political fixer, a kingmaker who can bestow money and manpower on the campaign of his choosing. That’s fine as long as all the members, who are forced to join his organization not because they endorse its political activity but because it’s a condition for employment, agree with the boss’s politics. Because if they don’t, that’s tyranny.

That is why the four largest public-sector unions spent more than $900 million on partisan elections during the 2024 cycle, more than $700........

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