Freedom Foundation Has a Friend in Maryland

Ashley Varner
December 17, 2020

Meet Roland Roy (who goes by Roy), pastor and school bus driver in Prince George’s County, Md., just outside of Washington, D.C.

When Roy was hired as a school bus driver more than a decade ago, he automatically became a member of his AFSCME Local 2250, which represents Maryland school employees.

In the months leading up to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, Roy’s union leaders explained that SEIU members needed to sign new membership cards to help bring important reforms to the union and show strength and unity.

Shortly after the Janus decision, which affirmed that mandatory union membership and dues in the public sector was a violation of the worker’s First Amendment rights, Roy heard about and contacted the Freedom Foundation for more information.

Roy asked for materials he could distribute to educate his coworkers, and set about on his own campaign to help as many of his friends and coworkers exercise their rights to leave the union and stop paying dues.

Roy and your Freedom Foundation continue to work together to help many more Maryland school employees keep more of their own money.

Watch Mr. Roy’s story here:

- Labor, National

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.