Last week, Governor Charlie Baker (R-MA) stood up for state workers and vetoed the blatantly anti-privacy Janus "Fix" bill.

(See the story in the Boston Globe by clicking here).
 
Governor Baker, in his message to lawmakers said, "I refuse to sign legislation that compels state and municipal government to turn over the cellphone numbers of private citizens, who happen to be government employees, without their permission, to private organizations..."
 
For those of you who don’t recall, the Janus “Fix” bill was written by union bosses in response to the Janus decision by the U.S. Supreme Court and was passed by near unanimous votes in both houses. It goes well beyond what union bosses originally claimed they needed to sympatric big government lawmakers. Only state Rep. Shawn Dooley (R-Norfolk) and state Senator Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton) had the courage to vote against the legislation.
 
The ink from his veto pen is barely dry, yet union bosses are already hounding the legislature to begin the process of an override. Luckily for the hard-working families of Massachusetts, the legislature has already recessed for the month of August for some much-needed rest and relaxation. It’s not easy being an elected official in Massachusetts, you know. Unfortunately, it seems likely that Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) and Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Framingham) will almost certainly override the Governor’s veto when they return from their vacations.
 
While the chief executive of the Commonwealth was busy protecting the privacy of the state workers from overreaching union bosses under his charge, the story coming from Boston’s city hall was somewhat different. Two former employees of the Mayor of the City of Boston’s office were convicted of extortion for their attempts to force people doing business with the city to use union boss labor. We were glad to see this justice served and hope others in Mayor Walsh’s administration take notice.
 
It’s a stark contrast with the example set by Governor Baker, and just goes to prove further how important privacy rights can be when big labor bosses are involved.