Reader Brett McMahon, who has a concrete construction business, is puzzled why Rick Santorum’s votes on union issues have not proved a political liability in Southern states. I am not sure I share his characterization of Santorum’s record, but I pass along, with his permission, the contents of his email, which strike me as an interesting observation:
“Santorum’s rather abysmal record in support of organized labor does not register as a serious flaw in many southern, ie RTW [right to work], states. I am a DC native who spent 8 (glorious) years in NC and was struck by the honest ignorance of union excesses by my new business colleagues and neighbors. To them, unions were a kind of hypothetical threat. They did not understand they way they worked, their legislated special privileges, or their relentlessness. When I railed about them as chair of the newly formed chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, I was met with sympathetic, but still blank, stares. I wonder then if Romney’s consistent pitch against organized labor just does not register in those places. Conversely, perhaps it does register with the GOP voters in states that have an up close and personal history with their influence. ”
