Monday, April 12, 2010

I FOUGHT THE LAW AND JOBS WON


Let me tell you how I fought the law and jobs won. After my service in the JAG Corps (Judge Advocate General – the legal arm of the military). I focused my private practice on employment and labor law. I have a Masters in Labor Law from New York University and put my skill to use helping small businesses keep labor costs down and solve employee issues.

One of my clients was a jewelry manufacturer in Walsenburg. They made beautiful jewelry sold across the country. The company employed many women in rural Huerfano County. Many had children to raise and ranches to tend. They could work at home, make a good living, and take care of their families. It was a win-win situation, until the federal government got involved.

The Department of Labor decided that these “home workers” needed to work in a factory since an old regulation forbade making certain things, including jewelry, women’s underwear, and cigarette lighters to name a few, at home. My client asked me to fight the federal government, and I proceeded as I will when I’m your representative in Congress.

First I enlisted the help of like-minded people. This included Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell. I took video of rural Huerfano County and Senator Campbell arranged for me to meet an undersecretary of labor in Washington. I did, showed him the video and convinced him that it would be too hard to require these women to travel miles of county roads to work in a factory. Reasoned argument, undisputed proof, and the prospect of economic harm convinced the bureaucracy to take a second look.

The Department of Labor sent an attorney from Denver to Walsenburg as an inspector. For three days, we would randomly pick names from the employee list and without notification we’d meet with these women, at their homes. It was apparent that they were happy to have work. The inspector saw first hand how difficult it would be for these women to leave their children, farms, and livestock to travel to a factory. They were making $20-25,000 a year; they were available for their families, and were happy. This convinced the Department of Labor to change the regulation to allow home workers to make jewelry. I fought the law, and jobs won. I was not belligerent or litigious but I was relentless, as I will be in fighting for jobs for the Third Congressional District.

Later I helped that same client fight Sears & Roebuck in a trade mark dispute. Big city lawyers in Chicago tried to intimidate me when I said they’d have to recall the entire catalog (remember the size of that catalog?) They picked the wrong cowboy lawyer to push around. I won that fight as well. The Chicago lawyer got his suit in a bunch trying to make me back down. I fought for small business; I fought a huge corporation, and I won.

I have the skills, smarts, experience, and determination to fight the federal government and the huge special interests that have robbed people – middle class, hard-working folks – of their livelihoods. We need to get the federal government out, and allow ingenuity and hard work back in. Get me in the race with John Salazar, with his abysmal record on the economy and jobs. Set me loose in DC and we’ll get this country back on track starting with you, my bosses in the Third Congressional District. Thanks for your support, contribute what you can, God bless and keep the faith.

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Bruce DuFresne

Tired of unresponsive "representatives" who do as they're told?

Governance is too important to leave in the hands of politicians. We need to hold our representatives feet to the fire. We must watch every bill, demand that they read it fully and listen to us. We must be relentless in our civic duty because we have been asleep too long.

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About Me

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Steamboat Springs, CO, United States
I'm a conservative Republican who ran for Congress in Colorado's Third Congressional District in 2010. Though I lost the primary I gained an amazing insight into how politics works, and I met hundreds of wonderful, concerned citizens. Let's stay engaged in the mission. Write to me at beawatchman@aol.com, and keep the faith.