20-Plus-Year Oregon School Employee Explains Why She Sought Freedom Foundation’s Help Leaving Her Union

Ashley Varner
December 5, 2019

Freedom Foundation attorneys on Thursday filed suit on behalf of Oregon school employees after their union refused to honor their request to opt out of membership and stop paying dues for services they don’t want.

The lawsuit is typical of a growing number of cases that challenge the dishonest tactics used by government unions to force public employees to pay money to the union even after the employees have explicitly resigned membership.

Plaintiff Linda Newton, a 21-year school bus driver, explains why she sought help from the Freedom Foundation:

“There came a time though, when I really needed my union the most, and I could not get them to help me. I opted out of our union, and I was told that there was no way I could opt out.”

- Litigation, Oregon

Ashley Varner

Vice President of Communication and Federal Affairs

Ashley Varner brings a variety of public affairs experience and a tough skin to the Freedom Foundation team. Prior to joining the Freedom Foundation, Ashley spent many exciting, turbulent and wonderful years as a media spokesperson and state government liaison at the National Rifle Association. Following her tenure at the NRA, Ashley joined the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where she worked with state and local lawmakers across the country on a diverse set of policy and communications issues. A grassroots activist from a young age, Ashley joined her first of many political campaigns before graduating high school and organized protests across the street from her own professors at the University of Missouri. When not rabble-rousing against Big Government, Ashley enjoys cooking, mafia movies, and has seen most of the 1970s and 80s classic rock bands still on tour. She loves the Chiefs, hopes someday she can love her Mizzou Tigers again, and she was a Kansas City Royals fan and Patriot Act opponent before either was cool.