Over at the Cato blog, Andrew Coulson reports that New Jersey lawmakers have taken a step toward approving a tax-credit scholarship program, much like what Florida, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Iowa, and Rhode Island already have.

The best part of the post, however, is an anecdote from Coulson’s book about what happened the last time such a plan was floated in the Garden State:

In late October of 1995, officials of the Pepsi company announced at Jersey City Hall that their corporation would donate thousands of dollars in scholarships to help low-income children attend the private school of their choice. The immediate response of the local public school teachers’ union was to threaten that a statewide boycott of all Pepsi products could not be ruled out. Pepsi vending machines around the city were vandalized and jammed. Three weeks later, company officials regretfully withdrew their offer.

I know the protest mentality runs deep through the union ranks, especially when it comes to evil multinational corporations. But to boycott a company for giving away millions of dollars to poor kids? How do you justify that?

Photo by Flickr user janettowbin.