The venerable satirists at The Babylon Bee recently quipped that Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor going after Donald Trump, could also charge 2.4 million Georgia voters under the state’s RICO statute for conspiring to re-elect Trump in 2020.
That’s funny. But there’s always a kernel of truth in good humor.
The federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970, intended to go after mob bosses who distanced themselves from the actual crimes they directed. Many state RICO statutes, like those in Georgia, are broader than the federal law, but they weren’t meant to be misused by prosecutors like Willis to harass American citizens who question election results.
Most RICO laws list mob enterprises as, for example, murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion, bribery, drug dealing, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, mail fraud, wire fraud, and counterfeiting. Engage in any two in such a way that they’re “interrelated by distinguishing characteristics,” and voila, you have a RICO case.
Considered in the harsh light of a bare-knuckled prosecutor, Willis herself could be said to be engaging in a pattern of racketeering activity by joining other extreme leftists in a common purpose to use any means, legally questionable or not, to harm Trump.
Under Georgia’s RICO law, Willis’s behavior is enough for her to be prosecuted. Yet, she’s using the RICO tool to charge Trump and literally anybody who joined him in challenging Georgia’s election results.
Thou. Shalt. Not. Question. Our. Tally.
So as we’re mocking the hypocrisy of Willis and her crew, we can further entertain ourselves by considering how RICO law might be applied to other powerful hypocrites, say, the so-called teachers unions.
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False statements and false writings? Oh dear. Business-as-usual for unions masquerading as teachers. Think Covid lockdowns and the myriad reasons given by the unions for why schools had to stay closed. Think Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers asserting with a straight face that unions did everything possible to reopen the schools.
Under the RICO law, mob enterprises such as extortion, bribery and kidnapping are among possible charges. Oh dear. Like, a union-led effort to have the government take away your kid if you should dare question their pushing your child to change genders? The union wouldn’t call that kidnapping – it’s all done for the “safety” of the child, don’t you see – but under the RICO law? Hmmmm.
How would this apply to state legislators, such as in California. These “lawmakers'' are plainly employed by the unions. The state teachers union, in fact, is far and away the largest and richest lobbying group in California. And their supermajority legislature passed a law making it a crime – a crime – for a teacher to tell parents the truth if the parents ask about their child’s gender status.
You. Are. Required. To. Lie.
A RICO charge requires the criminal to obtain money out of the endeavor, and embezzlement is listed among RICO crimes too. Oh dear. Could that include using dues money to surreptitiously push radical, anti-American, anti-family policy positions with which the dues-payer (teacher) disagrees? Didn’t we have a Supreme Court ruling prohibiting unions from doing that (yes!)? But they still do, and millions of teachers begrudgingly hand over cash they’re told is for “representation,” but is actually used to push extreme leftist politics that are eroding our Republic.
Indeed, unions are so good at racketeering-like behaviors like extortion that most teachers who hate the unions are too terrified to stop paying them. Horror-stricken teachers are entirely convinced the unions will destroy their careers and reputations if they forbid unions from embezzling money from them.
“Pattern of racketeering activity,” anyone? Racketeering, as defined by law, includes such things as fraud and activities involving obscene matter. Well, isn’t it obscene when unions promote pornographic materials in schools? Isn’t it fraudulent when they sneak the materials into the schools and then continue pushing them despite the passionate objection of taxpayers, parents and good teachers?
Pick any two of your favorite teachers union-mob practices and see how nicely they line up with a RICO charge.
And it’s key to mention that most of our federal and state agencies are unionized by the same sorts of unscrupulous characters that run so-called teacher unions, and they put people like Willis into power. That’s why our agencies are weaponized, and they think nothing of using state power to harass, silence and injure their political opponents, as shown by the withering assault on Trump. It’s the reason teachers and families are under assault too.
America is at a crossroads. We can continue plummeting over the cliff of unchecked tyranny at the hands of unions and their figureheads, or we can stand up like our American founders and chase these well-funded criminals impersonating public servants out of town.
Rebecca Friedrichs is the founder of For Kids and Country, the author of Standing Up to Goliath: Battling State and National Teachers’ Unions for the Heart and Soul of our Kids and Country, and a 28-year public school teacher who was lead plaintiff in Friedrichs v. CTA.
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