[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 66 (Thursday, May 21, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H3633]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  OPPOSE CALIFORNIA'S PROPOSITION 226

  (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to denounce the anti-worker 
initiative on California's June 2 ballot.
  Proposition 226 is not a grassroot effort to reform campaign finance 
and protect the paychecks of California's workers, as its proponents 
would have us believe. It is a national right-wing effort funded by 
national organizations to set their agenda: To silence working 
families, first in our State, and then throughout the Nation.
  The primary backers of the California initiative do not even reside 
in our State. National business, conservative and anti-union 
organizations, and individuals, in a quest to set a national agenda 
State-by-State, have contributed more than 60 percent of the funding to 
the Prop 226 campaign.
  Backers include conservative, anti-union groups and individuals such 
as Americans For Tax Reform and J. Patrick Rooney, an Indianapolis 
millionaire who chairs the Golden Rule Insurance Company and is a 
significant GOPAC contributor.
  In the past 2 years, working families who participated in the 
political process won a minimum wage increase, protected medicare from 
cuts, and saved Federal job safety protections. So now this 
initiative's proponents are looking for payback.
  Please join the League of Women Voters, the Sierra Club, and working 
families in opposing this anti-worker initiative.

                          ____________________