The Citizen Power Campaign has filed an initiative for the November 2010 ballot to restore political power back to California’s Citizens by making it illegal to use taxpayer money, deducted from the paychecks of public employees, for politics.

The official initiative title, as provided by the Attorney General, is "Makes Illegal the Use of Public Employee Wage Deductions for Political Activities." Read the summary here (scroll down to 1403) and full text here. 

The Citizen Power Initiative is modeled on a law enacted in Idaho which prohibits the government from automatically collecting union dues if any portion of those dues are used for political purposes. Idaho's public employee unions challenged the law, and in February 2009 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the statute in the Ysura decision.

When this initiative passes:

• Public Employee Unions will not be allowed to use any portion of workers’ paychecks (funds that are collected by the government) for political activities. This would remove hundreds of millions of dollars from the corrupt Political Machine that dominates California politics and level the playing field for all groups and citizens. 
• Public employees would regain the right to make their own decisions about their political donations, not have the Union Bosses play politics for them. 
• Public Employee Unions and their politician cronies will have to ASK for voluntary political contributions just like everyone else! 

We need your help to Unplug the Political Machine and put Citizens back in control of California!

Join us now!

Download this one-page fact sheet that summarizes the problem and the solution.