Unions: Forever War

You’re hoping for another 1994, eh? Well, you’re not going to get it if D.C.’s biggest union bosses have their say — and they don’t just have a say, they have a checkbook to put where their mouths are. And both words and munitions are taking on an overtly combative tone.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting:

The AFL-CIO plans to roll out its biggest political campaign ever, surpassing the $53 million spent in 2008 to help elect President Barack Obama, to try to avert a repeat of the 1994 midterm election when Democrats lost a majority in Congress.

If that sounds a bit aggressive, that’s nothing compared to the powerful head of the AFSCME public employee union, who is saying “The time has come to draw a line in the sand…Regardless of your party affiliation, if you’re not with us, you are against us.”

(We’re pretty sure we’ve seen other people get hammered for using the same language, but we digress…)

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Tags: AFL-CIO, AFSCME, mid-term elections, political contributions, union dues
Posted Mar 3rd 2010 at 9:01 am in Big Labor | 83210123 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/bjacobson/2010/03/03/unions-forever-war/Unions%3A+Forever+War2010-03-03+17%3A01%3A19Bret+Jacobson

Obama’s Labor Department Is Serious About Ethics…Except When It Isn’t

On January 8^th, BigGovernment.com posted a blog that began, “Outrageously, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Hilda Solis and other DOL Obama appointees appear to have blatantly disregarded the President’s Executive Order #13490 – the Ethics Pledge.”

Somebody at the U.S. Department of Labor must be reading BigGovernment.com because just 11 days after the posting, the DOL ethics officer wrote a letter to The National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation President Mark Mix and provided copies of signed “EO 13490 ethics pledges.”  (See related Foundation ongoing lawsuit against DOL for DOL’s failure to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.) Each of these newly provided pledges matched the ethics order language (more on this in another post) unlike the self-administered waivers included in the publicly distributed pledges provided to ProPublica.org and referenced in the earlier blog.

In addition, the DOL ethics officer asserted that 51 people at the DOL have signed the ethics pledge and there has been only one (1) ethics waiver issued by DOL and that was for Naomi Walker.  Her Job:  Big Labor Liaison (an Associate Deputy Secretary position). Her past experience includes a stint as an AFL-CIO lobbyist among others.  Walker’s ethics waiver is the subject of this blog.

Walker’s ethics waiver and its accompanying explanatory memo was approved “after consultation with the Counsel to the President” expose The President’s Ethics Executive Order for the joke that it is.

The ethics officer provides a four-page memo (probably written in a large part by the Counsel to the President) to justify the reasons that Walker must be provided an ethics waiver of Obama’s ethics executive order.   My summary of the memo follows:

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Tags: AFL-CIO, DOL, ethics pledge, ethics waiver, Hilda Solis
Posted Mar 2nd 2010 at 10:13 am in Big Labor, Obama | 8253452 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloos/2010/03/02/obamas-labor-department-is-serious-about-ethics-except-when-it-isnt/Obama%27s+Labor+Department+Is+Serious+About+Ethics...Except+When+It+Isn%27t2010-03-02+18%3A13%3A03Don+Loos

Buy American, Eh?

You remember the iconic call by American labor to “look for the union label” (and ignore the price tag)? Well, U.S. union officials have turned to a new slogan, calling for “Buy American” provisions of bailout and stimulus legislation.

In fact, the AFL-CIO labor federation is highlighting its new website, which it says “gives workers, people who have lost their jobs and activists a chance to take action, share their stories, find resources and, most importantly, be part of a grassroots movement to help the nation climb out of its 10-million jobs hole created by the recession.”

But what if those people lost their jobs to Canada? Perhaps it would be best if union bosses stopped being hosers and checked their own Internet host, where the IP address resolves to our brothers in the Great White North (Oh Canada!). We ran this trace from Washington, D.C. to the AFL-CIO’s website:

(more…)

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Tags: AFL-CIO, Buy America, Outsourcing
Posted Feb 25th 2010 at 7:13 am in Big Labor | 7973859 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/bjacobson/2010/02/25/buy-american-eh/Buy+American%2C+Eh%3F2010-02-25+15%3A13%3A38Bret+Jacobson

Obama NLRB Nominee Craig Becker’s Smoking Gun?

Contact Your Senators NOW and Urge them To Vote No on Radical Craig Becker’s Nomination.

The Senate is scheduled to vote TODAY on the nomination of radical union apologist Craig Beck to the National Labor Relations Board.

It’s vital you contact your Senators IMMEDIATELY to help derail this out of control union lackey from being on this board.

You can find your Senators direct lines through this link.

One recent piece of evidence to add to the growing Becker rap sheet:

In last week’s U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing, Obama nominee Craig Becker clearly tried to put distance between himself and his former client ACORN:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asked Becker this question:

“Do you perform work for and provide advice to ACORN or ACORN-affiliated groups while employed by your current employers or on a volunteer basis?”

(more…)

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN affiliate, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT
Posted Feb 9th 2010 at 12:04 pm in ACORN, Big Labor, Congress | 72654143 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloos/2010/02/09/obama-nlrb-nominee-craig-beckers-smoking-gun/Obama+NLRB+Nominee+Craig+Becker%E2%80%99s+Smoking+Gun%3F2010-02-09+20%3A04%3A54Don+Loos

California’s Class Warfare: PLAs Pit Union and Non-Union Workers Against Each Other

Ten minutes prior to the start of a December 15^th, 2009 board meeting of the Riverside Community College District in California, board members are handed a 52-page document filled with millions of dollars in projects to be funded by the district’s taxpayers, who themselves are struggling under the state’s 12.4% unemployment rate.  The document, a draft Project Labor Agreement (PLA), will commit long-term construction and ancillary projects for the next several years to labor unions.

At least twenty-three members of the public, many of them local private business owners who oppose the PLA, have attended to publicly comment on the proposal.  Two of the board members have never even seen the PLA prior to today, and have asked for a special session to review it.  Despite opposition from the public, and the concern voiced by those two board members, the remaining three board members have moved that the Board of Trustees authorize Chancellor Greg Gray to negotiate the final PLA with the Riverside and San Bernardino Building and Construction Trade Councils. Board Trustees Virginia Blumenthal and Janet Green dissented.

So, without adequate time for all to review the draft, without any backup analysis provided to justify the use of up to $350,000,000 in Measure C taxpayer funds, without giving the public reasonable time to voice their opinions, and with an unemployment rate of over 12% when non-union workers are in even greater need of jobs than union workers…why would three of Riverside’s five board members vote to move forward with a final negotiation anyway? Why the rush? Residents and business owners in Riverside are wondering the same thing, and hope to have the chance to weigh in before the PLA’s final draft is signed.

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Tags: AFL-CIO, Boston Big Dig, Building and Construction Trade Councils, California, Central Valley
Posted Feb 1st 2010 at 6:41 am in Big Labor, News, Politics, State Politics | 6767081 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/libertychick/2010/02/01/californias-class-warfare-plas-pit-union-vs-non-union-workers-against-each-other/California%27s+Class+Warfare%3A+PLAs+Pit+Union+and+Non-Union+Workers+Against+Each+Other2010-02-01+14%3A41%3A36Liberty+Chick

Transforming the U.S. Department of Labor to the Department of Organized Labor

In their first year in office, the Obama Administration has re-made the U.S. Department of Labor into the Department of Organized Labor, working hard to make certain that those who spent hundreds of millions of dollars to put them in office get a return on their investment.  While many dismiss the importance of the Department of Labor, virtually every person in America is directly touched by the rules and regulations that this federal bureaucracy creates and enforces, so changes at the top have real consequences for every working American.

As we evaluate the impact of the past year on the nation’s workforce, it is worthwhile to remember the accomplishments of President Bush’s Secretary of Labor, Elaine L. Chao.

When Secretary Chao left office, workers were safer in their workplaces than at any time in history, the Labor Department was focused upon encouraging private sector job creation, and created an enforcement environment that successfully protected workers from employers who egregiously violated the law while providing the necessary education to limit inadvertent violations.

Secretary Chao put an emphasis on clarifying workplace regulations to make it easier for employers to know the rules of the game.  Her efforts led to overtime requirements being more clear-cut for employers while explicitly guaranteeing overtime protections for blue collar workers, police and fire fighters, EMTs, construction workers and others.

The Labor Department under Secretary Chao brought transparency to the spending of Big Labor through regulations which for the first time shined a light upon labor union expenditures.  These reports revealed the massive labor expenditures supporting ACORN’s efforts,and were used by LA Times reporter Paul Pringle in his Polk Award winning series that brought down the SEIU powerbrokers in the California SEIU.

(more…)

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Tags: ACORN, AFL-CIO, Andy Stern, Big Labor, Boston Big Dig
Posted Jan 20th 2010 at 12:17 pm in Big Labor, Economics | 6196268 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/rmanning/2010/01/20/transforming-the-u-s-department-of-labor-to-the-department-of-organized-labor/Transforming+the+U.S.+Department+of+Labor+to+the+Department+of+Organized+Labor2010-01-20+20%3A17%3A17Rick+Manning

Dems’ Health Care Strategy: Seek Forgiveness Instead of Permission

Consider this irony: Democrats and their special interest allies are in the fight of their lives to keep the seat formerly held by the champion of socialized medicine in the bluest of states.  Democrats should be tap dancing on the foreheads of Republicans in Massachusetts.  But instead, they’re racing against the clock for a deal on health care reform because they run the risk of losing their critical 60^th vote in just a few days.

So the Democrats strategy is clear:  seek forgiveness of American voters in November instead of permission now because the probable message from Tuesday’s election will not be in favor of ObamaCare.  Democrats are “hoping” to have an overall deal on health care reform, the tax-dodging Ways and Means committee chairman Charlie Rangel told NationalJournal.com, just in time to avoid the Tuesday Massachusetts vote.

The Huffington Post quoted SEIU vice president Anna Burger as saying, “Let’s go on and actually pass this bill.”  Anna’s wish is, of course, this White House’s command.

The special election this week in Massachusetts can easily be viewed as a referendum on Obama, his policies and specifically government-run health care.  And in a state that is navy blue, it’s a dog fight, with SEIU stepping in to plop down over $600,000 for TV ads savaging Republican candidate Scott Brown.  And RedState.com reported House Democrats are spending beaucoup bucks to elect a Democrat to the Senate.  It’s pure panic time for Democrats in Washington.

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Tags: AFL-CIO, Andy Stern, Anna Burger, Barack Obama, cadillac tax
Posted Jan 18th 2010 at 8:37 am in Big Labor, Congress, Healthcare, Obama, Politics, State Politics | 6094277 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2010/01/18/dems-health-care-strategy-seek-forgiveness-instead-of-permission/Dems%E2%80%99+Health+Care+Strategy%3A+Seek+Forgiveness+Instead+of+Permission2010-01-18+16%3A37%3A35Kyle+Olson

Unions Make Obama An Offer He Can’t Refuse

It’s amusing to watch President Obama try to stick it to his friends in organized labor by proposing a tax on union-negotiated health care benefits.

If it weren’t for the fact that the tax proposal would have a  devastating effect on the American economy, the situation would be downright hilarious.

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President

On Monday, a group of top leaders from the American labor movement gathered at the White House to share their concerns with the president.

The irony of the discussion was delicious. During the campaign, Obama and the Democratic Party (including the unions) attacked John McCain for suggesting that health care benefits should be taxed as income.

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Tags: AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Andy Stern, Anna Burger, Big Labor
Posted Jan 13th 2010 at 8:28 am in Big Labor, Healthcare, Obama, Politics | 5901068 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2010/01/13/unions-make-obama-an-offer-he-cant-refuse/Unions+Make+Obama+An+Offer+He+Can%27t+Refuse2010-01-13+16%3A28%3A43Kyle+Olson

Hey Republicans, Adopt the AFL-CIO’s 2004 Message: Show Us the Jobs

I distinctly remember the placards in the windows of the union hall in my union-stronghold Michigan city: “Show Us the Jobs.”  It was a thinly-veiled campaign against the Bush administration for what the AFL-CIO saw as a failure to create jobs.

The economy in 2009 and 2010 was and is far worse than it ever was in 2004.  The unemployment rate in 2004 was 5.5%.  Today, it’s 10%.  If Obama could get the unemployment rate somewhere in the middle, the Nobel Committee would likely send him the prize for economics.

Saul Alinsky’s Fourth Rule for Radicals is, “Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.”  So, in true Alinsky fashion, why not turn the left’s campaign against them?  Republicans: adopt the “Show Us the Jobs” campaign.  After all, the AFL-CIO’s bus tour to swing states didn’t begin until March of that year.

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Tags: AFL-CIO, Barack Obama, economic growth, job loss, labor unions
Posted Jan 8th 2010 at 12:32 pm in Big Labor, Economics, News, Obama, Politics | 5737078 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2010/01/08/hey-republicans-adopt-the-afl-cios-2004-message-show-us-the-jobs/Hey+Republicans%2C+Adopt+the+AFL-CIO%E2%80%99s+2004+Message%3A+Show+Us+the+Jobs2010-01-08+20%3A32%3A01Kyle+Olson

Bob Creamer, Architect of ObamaCare, and His Pattern of Corruption

Before left-wing activist Bob Creamer escorted his wife, Illinois Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky to the Obama state dinner, before he penned his blue print for the socialist agenda from his federal prison cell, before he committed felony bank fraud and was indicted on 34 counts involving misuse of $2.4 million, this Saul Alinsky disciple reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars from a campaign finance scam that illegally funneled money from deep-pocket Democrat donors  and labor unions to targeted congressional campaigns.

Creamer left his position as head of the ACORN-affiliated Citizen Action/Illinois in 1997 after financial irregularities at the activist organization garnered the attention of federal investigators.  Despite the ongoing federal investigation, Creamer turned to political consulting, bringing his bare-knuckle ACORN tactics to bear on behalf of numerous Democratic candidates like indicted former Governor Rod Blagojevich.  In the 2002 election cycle, Creamer’s Strategic Consulting Group was paid over half a million dollars by the Blagojevich campaign.  Strategic Consulting also did campaign work for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and others, all while the feds pursued their criminal investigation.

During the period when Creamer was running Strategic Consulting Group the firm served as the primary vendor for several identically-structured campaign committees formed for the express purpose of supporting Democrat candidacies in circumvention of federal campaign laws.

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Tags: 17th District Victory fund, AFL-CIO, Barney Frank, campaign finance laws, Carpenters Union
Posted Dec 9th 2009 at 1:31 pm in Big Labor, Congress, Featured Story, Justice/Legal, News, Politics | 4364271 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2009/12/09/bob-creamer-architect-of-obamacare-and-his-pattern-of-corruption/Bob+Creamer%2C+Architect+of+ObamaCare%2C+and+His+Pattern+of+Corruption2009-12-09+20%3A31%3A20Capitol++Confidential

The Blueprint Penned From the Pen: Manufacture a Crisis, Manufacture Rage

In today’s Big Government post by Joel Pollak readers were treated to an amazing glimpse into the political strategy that has been put into place over the past year by the Obama Administration to force the radical overhaul of the American health care system all under the guise of “Health Care Reform”

If anyone doubts that the strategy blue print written by convicted felon Robert Creamer (while he was serving his time in Federal Prison) was really put into action by the administration, one only needs to look at the endorsements page and notice a rave from none other than David Axelrod:

Bob Creamer has devoted his life to progressive causes.  Here he provides a fascinating narrative of how progressives have won in the past and provides a blueprint for future victories.

When David Axelrod reads and endorses Creamer’s book and describes it as a “blueprint for future victories” then it might be more than just a coincidence that what Creamer suggested/predicted is exactly what has come to pass.

As odd as it seems that President Obama’s top political advisor would see fit to publicly endorse a book by a newly released felon, it is still instructive to actually look at Mr. Creamer’s “blueprint for future victories” and see how Mr. Axelrod and the Democratic leadership has used that blueprint for President Obama’s Health Care scheme.

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Tags: AARP, ACORN, AFL-CIO, AFSC, Bob Creamer
Posted Dec 7th 2009 at 5:43 pm in Big Labor, Healthcare, News, Obama, Politics | 42570177 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sright/2009/12/07/the-blueprint-penned-from-the-pen-manufacture-a-crisis-manufacture-rage/The+Blueprint+Penned+From+the+Pen%3A++Manufacture+a+Crisis%2C+Manufacture+Rage2009-12-08+00%3A43%3A11Larry++O%26%2339%3BConnor

Obama Labor Department Covers-Up Big Labor Bosses’ Perks

President Obama’s Department of Labor just ended disclosure of the lavish perks enjoyed by his Big Labor Boss supporters. But this should come as little surprise as Obama’s Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in a recent speech to the AFL-CIO tacitly acknowledged that she has turned the U.S. Labor Department over to them.  

The Obama Labor Department has been positioning themselves to rollback recent changes to the congressionally mandated union financial disclosure reports for unions with receipts of $250,000 plus.

And now they have announced that they are eliminating disclosure designed to protect millions of workers who are forced to pay dues as a condition of employment.  The specific disclosures being rescinded, among other things, exposed labor boss perks like John Sweeney’s alleged million dollar payment in 2000.  Now, Big Labor Union Bosses who receive special payments can continue to hide these payments from workers who are forced to subsidize them.

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Tags: ACORN, AFL-CIO, Barack Obama, Hilda Solis, John Sweeney
Posted Oct 15th 2009 at 9:00 am in ACORN, Big Labor, Economics, Obama, Politics | 1606251 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloos/2009/10/15/obama-labor-department-covers-up-big-labor-bosses-perks/Obama+Labor+Department+Covers-Up+Big+Labor+Bosses%E2%80%99+Perks2009-10-15+16%3A00%3A13Don+Loos

2010 Census Still a Boondoggle for the Left

While there may have been a collective sigh of relief across America after the news that the Census Bureau severed ties with ACORN, it made me wonder who other Census partners were.

In short, ACORN or not, the 2010 census will be an organizing tool for the American Left.

Here is a partial list of other census partners, according to the Census website:

AARP

A. Phillip Randolph Institute

AFL-CIO

American Federation of Government Employees

AFSCME

American Federation of Teachers

Coalition of Labor Union Women

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists

Community Action Partnership

Families USA

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Labor Council for the Latin American Advancement

League of Women Voters of the United States

National Black Justice Coalition

National Council of La Raza

National Education Association

Pride at Work

Rainbow Push Coalition

Service Employees International Union

Southern Coalition for Social Justice

United Workers Workforce Alliance

(more…)

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Tags: AARP, ACORN, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, American Federation of Teachers
Posted Oct 10th 2009 at 9:09 am in ACORN, Big Labor, Obama, Politics | 14966111 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2009/10/10/2010-census-still-a-boondoggle-for-the-left/2010+Census+Still+a+Boondoggle+for+the+Left2009-10-10+16%3A09%3A58Kyle+Olson

Official at ACORN Funder to Head Corporation for National and Community Service

President Obama announced he plans to nominate Patrick Corvington to be chief executive of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. Big Government readers will remember that “the Corporation” assumed a prominent role on the infamous NEA Conference call, where ”the Corporation’s” Nell Abernathy joined White House and NEA officials to nudge artists to produce works supporting the Obama Administration’s legislative priorities.

Although the charity Corvington works for, Annie E. Casey Foundation of Baltimore, Maryland, has granted funding to ACORN during his tenure, it is unclear if Corvington has ties to ACORN.

Nonetheless, Corvington is part of the same cluster of organizations that provides financial and other support for ACORN which is a longtime fixture in the activist community.

Since 2001 the Annie E. Casey Foundation has pumped at least $1,705,500 into the ACORN network, according to philanthropy database information.

Of the $1,705,500, at least $850,500 was earmarked for ACORN operations in Baltimore, Maryland, home of the ACORN branch office first shown in the recent undercover videos that debuted on BigGovernment.com. Those videos show James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles pretending to be a pimp and a prostitute and receiving mountains of advice on evading laws pertaining to tax evasion and prostitution (among other things).

The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a major funder of other groups on the left.

Looking at just the first letter of the alphabet, its grant recipients are labor federation AFL-CIO, abortion rights think tank Alan Guttmacher Institute, and liberal policy shop the Aspen Institute.

Although most of its grants go to groups on the political left, the foundation has funded at least one think tank on the political right. It has provided a few grants to the American Enterprise Institute.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN Baltimore, ACORN video scandal, AFL-CIO, Alan Guttmacher Institute
Posted Oct 6th 2009 at 9:51 am in ACORN, Obama | 1336224 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mvadum/2009/10/06/official-at-acorn-funder-to-head-corporation-for-national-and-community-service/Official+at+ACORN+Funder+to+Head+Corporation+for+National+and+Community+Service2009-10-06+16%3A51%3A15Matthew+Vadum

Obama Administration Moves to Shutdown Disclosure of Big Labor-ACORN Connections

Even before U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was sworn in, Big Labor insiders like AFL-CIO lawyer and Obama appointee Deborah Greenfield were busily dismantling useful union financial disclosures produced by former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.  It’s another Big Government – Big Labor partnership aimed at keeping individual workers, whom they claim to represent, in the dark.

Why the hurry? Perhaps Union Bosses wanted to prevent the Virginia GOP and inquisitive people like Patrick Semmens from visiting DOL’s UnionReports.gov website that clearly reveals the Big Labor-ACORN collusion.  Semmens discovered that teachers’ union bosses gave about $500,000 to the same Brooklyn ACORN office exposed on BigGovernment.com.  Both the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) awarded ACORN service contracts.

That’s right; union bosses gave teachers’ forced union dues to the same ACORN that appeared to have no problem facilitating child prostitution.  No wonder Solis’ Big Labor friends want to shutdown financial disclosure!

In fact, UnionReports.gov provides detailed union financial reports and is a primary source for many union members, reporters, columnists, bloggers, and researchers.  But, the days of disclosure are numbered.  Big Labor has commanded Labor Secretary Solis to shut it all down. 

(more…)

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Tags: ACORN, AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, Big Labor, Deborah Greenfield
Posted Sep 24th 2009 at 5:05 am in ACORN, Big Labor, Congress, Featured Story, Obama | 7686115 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloos/2009/09/24/solis-moves-to-shutdown-disclosure-of-big-labor-acorn-connections/Obama+Administration+Moves+to+Shutdown+Disclosure+of+Big+Labor-ACORN+Connections2009-09-24+12%3A05%3A06Don+Loos

Sham Angelides Commission Will Protect ACORN

Congress’s official investigation into the financial crisis, the so-called Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, will convene its first meeting today.  Unfortunately, Nancy Pelosi’s handpicked chairman of the commission Phil Angelides, has deep ties to radical left-wing politics, including the Van Jones-connected Apollo Alliance, which he chairs, and ACORN, which is an Apollo member and endorsed and actively supported his gubernatorial campaign.  His selection proves the commission will be a politicized attempt to advance a left-wing agenda through a revisionist history of the financial crisis.  It also assures that ACORN and other community organizers who forced banks to make reckless loans in the name of affordable housing will be let off the hook.

Angelides’s San Francisco-based Apollo Alliance describes itself as a “coalition of labor, business, environmental, and community leaders working to catalyze a clean energy revolution.”  Based on the radical past of some of its key figures, the use of the word revolution is appropriate.  Apollo was conceived of, and presently serves, as a clearing house to align the otherwise disparate interests of environmental groups, labor unions, social justice organizations, and rent-seeking corporations.

Disgraced former White House green jobs czar Van Jones was an Apollo board member, involved with the group from its founding, and was its model for a new type of leader.  Apollo board member John Podesta, who was chairman of Obama’s transition team, already brought Van Jones back to the Center for American Progress, Podesta’s influential think tank where Jones had previously been a senior fellow.  These are Angelides’s friends and ideological peers. (more…)

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Tags: AFL-CIO, Apollo Alliance, Cathy Calfo, Center for American Progress, Ella Baker Center
Posted Sep 17th 2009 at 5:25 am in ACORN, Congress, Economics, Politics | 387836 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/pkerpen/2009/09/17/sham-angelides-commission-will-protect-acorn/Sham+Angelides+Commission+Will+Protect+ACORN2009-09-17+12%3A25%3A46Phil+Kerpen

SEIU: ‘One of the Pillars of the ACORN Family’

Part of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now’s (ACORN) rotten core includes a very cozy relationship with Big Labor.  In fact, in many instances ACORN and Big Labor are one and the same.  In 2008, Big Labor funneled ACORN millions of dollars for so-called organizing activity.  But, that is only the tip of the Big Labor iceberg.

ACORN controls or significantly dominates several Big Labor unions and organizations.  ACORN created and controls SEIU 100 (Gulf Region) and SEIU 880 (a recently expanded SEIU mega-local that covers Chicago, Illinois, Indiana, and Kansas).

ACORN founder S. Wade Rathke referred to mega-union SEIU 880 as “one of the pillars of the ACORN Family.”

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern hand picked ACORN’s Rathke to direct SEIU’s nationwide organizing projects.

In addition to Rathke’s and ACORN’s SEIU involvement, Rathke controlled Louisiana HERE Local 100, was Secretary-Treasurer of a New Orleans based AFL-CIO labor organization, and served on the board of a hotel employees union organizing committee.

A search of financial disclosure reports (UnionReports.gov) filed with the U.S. Department of Labor for the years 2000 and 2006 disclosed the following positions that Rathke held in labor unions while he concurrently served as ACORN’s Chief Organizer:

Wade Rathke DOL Reported Union Positions (2000,2006)

ACORN’s connections extend to several other Big Labor funded organizations such as the Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now (WARN), Site Fighters, and Community Labor Organizing Center (CLOC).

(more…)

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Tags: ACORN, AFL-CIO, Andy Stern, Barak Obama, Big Labor
Posted Sep 16th 2009 at 7:30 am in ACORN, Economics | 2918249 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloos/2009/09/16/seiu-is-one-of-the-pillars-of-the-acorn-family/SEIU%3A+%27One+of+the+Pillars+of+the+ACORN+Family%272009-09-16+14%3A30%3A28Don+Loos

And You Thought This Was All About Health Care…

The all-consuming debate over health care has effectively sucked all of the oxygen out of the policy world leaving little room for discussion, let alone action on other major elements of the progressive agenda—or so it would seem.

The mammoth bills winding their way through Congress will certainly upend our health care sector, if they are enacted. Little known, however, are several provisions that will provide an enormous pay-off to one of the Democrat parties most loyal constituency—Big Labor.

The Obama campaign spent much of 2008 writing checks to various left-leaning interest groups who saw the opportunity to cash in on long-standing priorities that would finally be achievable with a Democratic Congress and a liberal president.  Now, these groups are finding that no one is available to cash these checks as long as the administration is laser focused on reconfiguring one sixth of the American economy.

But organized labor has sought to turn this situation into a new opportunity. By throwing themselves into the health care debate and mobilizing their resources behind passage of the Democrat proposal, labor has been rewarded with the ability to shape the content of the health care legislation and to begin to collect on its political debt. (more…)

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Tags: AFL-CIO, Card Check, collective bargaining, Democrats, EFCA
Posted Sep 10th 2009 at 12:08 am in Healthcare, News, Politics | 206103 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dobrien/2009/09/10/and-you-thought-this-was-all-about-health-care/And+You+Thought+This+Was+All+About+Health+Care...2009-09-10+07%3A08%3A15Doug+O%26%2339%3BBrien