Why do you think Gov. Mitch Daniels wants to push right to work so fast? He does not want all Hoosiers even to know what it is.

Right to work is meant to keep wages down – all wages, not just union wages. Daniels says it will raise incomes. Wrong. A study from the University of Notre Dame shows just the opposite is true; it will have a negative economic effect on the state. When wages go down, so do tax revenues.

The governor says one third of companies won’t come here, but he can’t back that up. Actually, Indiana has added twice as many manufacturing jobs in the last two years as all of the Midwest right-to-work states combined (Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas). Oklahoma, the last state to go to right to work, has seen a drop in manufacturing jobs and a drop in new companies coming in. Daniels says Hoosiers favor right to work by a 2-to-1 margin; fact is, most people don’t even know what it is.

You have seen this all across this country: A Republican governor with a Republican Senate and a Republican House and attacks on working families. In Ohio the people handed Gov. John Kasich his Senate Bill 5 on a platter, and I applaud them for it. In Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is raising out-of-state money to fight his recall.

The party of the rich for the rich doesn’t want you in the middle class. They want you to go to work, shut up and do what you’re told, and they’ll pay you what they want. Daniels says government should be transparent, but he won’t say who is funding his $600,000 TV ads. Why not?

Daniels says people shouldn’t be forced to pay union dues. Do you know in Indiana you can’t practice law without paying dues to the State Bar Association – No dues, no work. What’s the difference?

If this is all about giving workers choices, let’s pass “The Employee Free Choice Act” and truly let the people decide. Call your representatives and tell them right to work is wrong.

CHARLES E. ODIER

St. Joe