Longtime leader of the “Freedom” Foundation (also knows as Opt-Out Today) and recently expelled Representative of Salem, Mike Nearman, put State Workers in physical danger by coordinating the attack on the Oregon Capital building last December. You heard that right. In a year that State workers had to mask up, roll up their sleeves, and keep Oregon running during a global pandemic, they were subjected to further physical danger by Mike Nearman. Sadly, this blatant disregard for the safety of State workers is not new for Nearman. He also served as Oregon State Director of the Freedom Foundation, an anti-union, extremist organization that signed on to a state “reform” plan that called for layoffs, hiring freezes, and privatizing public jobs. They made their justification for these extreme positions clear in the Bend Bulletin when they wrote about “protecting” taxpayers from “public employees’ handsome salaries and lavish benefits.” Their coalition also lobbied to slash public employee retirement by 40%.

Representative Nearman was expelled this week from serving in the State legislator, but we have to ask, is that enough? What should the consequence be for endangering the lives of the very people you swore to protect?

As for the Freedom Foundation, they continue to harass public employees at work and at our homes. The big corporations and CEOs who fund their Opt Out Today campaign want us divided, because they know the first thing standing in the way of their anti-worker agenda is our ability to unite in union.