You Can Fight City Hall, Unions and Win Attorney Says

Facing down your union is not impossible. Taking on city hall is not an insurmountable task. And schools and school districts cannot trump parental authority, said Brad Dacus.

Dacus, an attorney, is president of the Pacific Justice Institute, a nonprofit legal defense organization that specializes in the defense of religious freedom, parental rights and other civil liberties, according to its website.

He was featured speaker Thursday night at the Redlands Tea Party Patriots general meeting. Dacus was tapped for his knowledge on the inner workings of unions. He explained how those paying union dues could keep them from going to a political campaign they oppose.

Dacus, whose organization has represented parents, students and churches, also gave the group updates on a number of cases being handled by the institute.

“What are some of the challenges we’re facing today that we’re seeing in our courts?” Dacus asked the group. “Well first was the challenge to our national motto ‘In God We Trust.’ We at the Pacific Justice of course do a lot of work with the constitution to preserve the constitution. So when Michael Newdow filed a lawsuit challenging our national motto ‘In God We Trust,’ alleging it was unconstitutional, I had some problems with that.”

The institute filed a motion to intervene, he said. A federal judge granted it.

“We made it very clear that this is not an issue of a state endorsement of religion, this is an issue of truth to our posterity about the history and heritage of this nation,” he said.

“Our Declaration of Independence made it very clear that but for the laws of nature, nature's god, we would have had no legitimacy as a nation to break away from England. No legal legitimacy but for that natural law. So to deny that from our posterity and deny the understanding of not only where we came from, but how we function under the concept of fundamental rights and where those come from.”

In the case of the union dues, Dacus said a payer can divert those payments to a charity of that choice.

“Not a lot of people know that,” said Phillip Naman, Tea Party member and one of the event organzers. “I didn’t know about it until about a year ago.”

Unions do not tell their members this, he said. And if they do try to divert their payments, the union will do everything to block the move.

“One of our members tried to do it and was handed a thick packet of paperwork to fill out,” Naman said. “But that’s not required.”

The Tea Party Patriots typically schedule general meetings once a month. Next month’s meeting is scheduled Dec. 1. For information on the meeting or the organization visit, www.redlandsteaparty.com.