Among the events:

1. )  On November 10, 2011 a Washington Examiner article reported on SEIU activities in Michigan, a state desperately attempting to pass a RTW bill to stop big labor from usurping employee rights and money, involving the SEIU’s infiltration of state government and how the SEIU Siphons ‘Dues’ from Mich. Medicaid Payments.

2. )  On November 16, Michelle Malkin revealed that  former SEIU President Andy Stern utilized his membership on the board for a California pharmaceutical company to facilitate a half billion dollar drug deal for the company.  See the article: Obama’s Half-Million-Dollar Crony Drug Deal; Related non-shocker: SEIU endorses Obama.

3. )  That same day, November 16, 2011, SEIU came out in support of President Obama for the 2012 election as seen in the article Endorsing Obama, SEIU Says President for 99%.

4. )  On November 19, 2011, “Mariam the Mighty” and her group of fellow disgruntled SEIU members in California staged an anti-rally against the SEIU during its support of Occupy Sacramento.

For more information, reference the following videos and images: Occupy Sacramento Protestors March to Governor Brown’s Home and Audit SEIU.

Mariam and her fellow members are obviously tired of the SEIU and its abuse of members’ dues. In fact, this past week Mariam Noujaim commented on The Devil at My Doorstep’s blog, Right to Work: A Basic American Freedom, “Many Union Members are not happy with their organization, but feel powerless to do anything. Let’s spread the word to demand transparency. The more their books and finances are exposed the less popular amongst their own members their officers will be. Slowly but surely we can return the Labor Unions to their Members.” Please review Occupy SEIU and the SEIU Watch for more detail on Mariam and her supporter’s initiative to finally see the SEIU Exposed.

5. )  On November 30, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (see the Rogue NLRB)led by radical former SEIU attorney Craig Becker attempted to achieve EFCA Through the Backdoor as detailed in The Cold War Within: The Fight for America’s Future. Following through on the Obama labor agenda, the Board took a critical step to benefit labor unions by approving a proposed rule to shorten election times, and minimizing the opportunity for companies to fully educate its employees and to communicate any opposition to unionization of the employees.

6. ) On December 1, 2011 Andy Stern published an article in the Wall Street Journal in support of President Obama and his economic vision by praising China’s Superior Economic Model, the very type economy President Obama is intent on imposing on the United States.

7. )  On December 7, 2011, the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor (“a date that will live in infamy”), it was reported that former Illinois governor Rod Blagojovich was sentenced to fourteen years in jail, as he took a fall for his President.  See SEIU Corruption Nets Blago 14 Years.

8.) Finally, on Thursday December 8, 2011 an article appeared exposing that the governor of the state of Connecticut has acted through the implementation of Executive Orders to force unionize day care providers (See CT Gov Schemes With SEIU To Unionize Day Care Providers & Others Without A Vote).

The preceding stories, which occurred in the short span of 28 days and collectively have major implications to employees, employers, the government, politics, and the future of this great country, are just the tip of the iceberg in the ongoing SEIU saga. Why is there such a lack of exposure by the national mainstream media, when corruption involving the SEIU, an organization that is closely tied to the president, seems so apparent? Why is the SEIU allowed to fly below the radar, while organizations and businesses with less notoriety are persecuted in the national media? Is it because the mainstream media philosophically agrees with the SEIU’s tactics? Are they afraid of the SEIU’s tactics? Could both be factors? When Will the Main Stream Media Wake Up and expose that the reality of the SEIU’s continued Persuasion of Power is all about Union Power for Thee, But Not for Me!

See the most recent media coverage exposing the SEIU from my appearance on Fox Business Network’s Money and Power with David Asman.

According to the Times:

When Siga complained that contracting specialists at the Department of Health and Human Services were resisting the company’s financial demands, senior officials replaced the government’s lead negotiator for the deal, interviews and documents show.

When Siga was in danger of losing its grip on the contract a year ago, the officials blocked other firms from competing.

Siga was awarded the final contract in May through a “sole-source” procurement in which it was the only company asked to submit a proposal. The contract calls for Siga to deliver 1.7 million doses of the drug for the nation’s biodefense stockpile. The price of approximately $255 per dose is well above what the government’s specialists had earlier said was reasonable, according to internal documents and interviews. [Emphasis added.]

Although Siga’s questionable government deal may eventually mean $2.8 billion in revenues for the company, Siga’s profits would have to be split with its former partner in a failed merger, PharmAthene. In September, after years of litigation following a failed merger, a Delaware court ruled that PharmAthene was entitled to 50% of Siga’s profits from its ST-246 smallpox vaccines.

While the Times notes that there is no credible evidence that the threat of a smallpox outbreak is imminent and that the U.S. already owns enough vaccine to treat the entire population, the Obama administration’s ties to Siga become even more questionable, considering the recent recommendation to start experimenting with an Anthrax vaccine on America’s children.

A key panel of government advisers Friday recommended that the federal government sponsor a controversial study to test the anthrax vaccine in children to see whether the inoculation would protect young Americans against a bioterrorist attack.

The National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB), which advises the federal government on issues related to bioterrorism, voted 12-1 to recommend that the Health and Human Services Department move forward with a study aimed at determining whether the vaccine is safe and effective in children and identifying the best dose. Patricia Quinlisk of the Iowa Department of Public Health, who chairs the panel, was the only dissenter.

[snip]

Nicole Lurie, the assistant HHS secretary for preparedness and response who requested the panel’s review, said officials would consider the panel’s recommendation, but she did not give a time-frame for a decision on whether to conduct the study. [Emphasis added.]

Interestingly the primary producer of the Anthrax vaccine is PharmAthene. While PharmAthene has reportedly spent millions lobbying in 2011, there is at least one call for PharmAthene and Siga to consider merging again.

While, according to USA Today, the Obama administration will not begin testing Anthrax vaccine on children for now while it resolves the ethical questions, it is noteworthy that the panel review for testing Anthrax vaccines on children was recommended by Dr. Nicole Lurie.

Lurie, an Obama appointee, is the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the LA Times, Lurie has also been involved in the negotiations over Siga’s profit margin with the smallpox vaccine:

Negotiations over the price of the drug and Siga’s profit margin were contentious. In an internal memo in March, Dr. Richard J. Hatchett, chief medical officer for HHS‘ biodefense preparedness unit, said Siga’s projected profit at that point was 180%, which he called “outrageous.”

In an email earlier the same day, a department colleague told Hatchett that no government contracting officer “would sign a 3 digit profit percentage.”

In April, after Siga’s chief executive, Dr. Eric A. Rose, complained in writing about the department’s “approach to profit,” Lurie assured him that the “most senior procurement official” would be taking over the negotiations.

“I trust this will be satisfactory to you,” Lurie wrote Rose in a letter.

The Obama administration’s apparent willingness to award its cronies with no-bid contracts, as well as the seeming willingness to test questionable vaccines on children makes one wonder if this is what the President meant when he said he has the most open and ethical administration in history.

________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com

President Barack Obama has won praise from the media — and from himself — for putting the White House visitor logs online. Yet the visitor logs may hide more than they reveal.

The White House is still holding back “tens of thousands” of visitor logs, according to congressional testimony last week by Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch, who also added that “the Obama administration is less transparent than the Bush administration.”

We also know that some of the most important presidential visitors don’t even walk into the White House. The administration meets K Street lobbyists at Caribou Coffee, and holds secret meetings in Jackson Place townhouses where there are no visitor logs.

The visitor logs that have been released are problematic, because they are simply lists of names, with no way to verify whether a specific name belongs to a particular person.

When the first names were released on Oct. 30, 2009, late on a Friday afternoon, then-White House “ethics czar” Norm Eisen noted the lists included “false positives” — “names that make you think of a well-known person, but are actually someone else.” According to Eisen, these included ordinary visitors named “Michael Jordan, William Ayers, Michael Moore, Jeremiah Wright, Robert Kelly (“R. Kelly”), and Malik Shabazz.”

A number of conservative bloggers noticed the names, but not Eisen’s blog post. With speed and precision suggesting direct coordination from the top, ThinkProgress, the core of the heavily funded John Podesta/George Soros “progressive” world, gleefully attacked its ideological foes for reporting “false positives.” The next release included “Louis Farrakhan” and “James Taylor,” but this time conservatives were more careful.

Yet there is no way to prove that the “false positives” really are false, because the White House refuses to reveal identifying information about visitors. In December 2009, citing visitor logs, Big Government reported that ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis had likely visited the White House on a special “staff tour” on September 5. The timing of Lewis’s visit — as the far-left regrouped in the aftermath of the health care town halls — seemed suspicious.

Ben Smith of Politico then reported that an anonymous White House source said we had the wrong Bertha Lewis. I asked Smith why, if that were the case, the White House would use an anonymous flack to put down our report, rather than busting us cleanly. Smith agreed it was weird. The next day, the official emerged, but the newly revealed Jen Psaki refused to say who the real Bertha Lewis was, citing “privacy concerns.”

With no way to verify, there is no real transparency. Of course, with Andrew Stern, the former president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), who visited the White House over twenty times through October 2009, there is little doubt that he is the Andy Stern. That information helped establish the credibility of the visitor logs. Yet there are three “Andrew Sterns” who visited with group tours–are they just “false positives”?

What is the point of listing hundreds of thousands of tourists, if not to help create “false positives”? Eisen and the White House have created a haystack that can hide a needle. Considering that Eisen, a major Obama bundler in 2008, was responsible for smearing former Inspector General Gerald Walpin, and was elevated to an ambassadorship through a shady recess appointment, that hardly seems impossible.

Evidence has emerged to suggest the White House tried to manipulate media coverage of the visitor logs to create an impression of transparency. Indeed, Fitton reported to Congress that in the fall of 2009, Eisen “encouraged [Judicial Watch] to publicly praise the Obama administration’s commitment to transparency, saying it would be good for them and good for us.” Yet the White House still refused to provide all of the visitor logs.

In the name of “transparency,” the White House has turned the guest list into the “guess list.” Tragically, the media seem fine with that. Last week, representatives from Sunshine Week — funded by the hapless American Society of News Editors, among others — tried to give the president a “transparency” award. It was postponed — but when they hold the event, bloggers reporting the news the “real” journalists won’t report ought to beware: the Newsweek reporter in the visitor logs may not be that “Tunku Varadarajan.”

**UPDATE: ASNE has indicated that it declined to participate in the transparency award, and that the open-government activists at the White House last week did not represent Sunshine Week as an organization.

Late last year, their homes were raided by the FBI, and they were subpoenaed to appear in front of a grand jury for questioning.

Joe Iosbaker, Chief Steward of SEIU 73, and Tom Burke (former board member of SEIU 73) are among 9 people who are subjects in the investigation. None of them have been charged with any crimes, yet.

Two days ago, they refused again to appear in front of the grand jury.

The interesting thing about these SEIU folks is that they also belong to a violently radical group called the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. From their website:

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is a revolutionary socialist and Marxist-Leninist organization in the United States.

1) We stand for the right to self-determination up to and including secession for the African American nation in the Black Belt South.

While rejecting Zionist claims on Palestine and white supremacist claims to a white southern nation or northwestern nation, we do acknowledge the fact that the most advanced sections of the Black liberation movement, from the 1800s on, have demanded a Black Republic in the South.

It gets worse from there.

This is the same group who, along with the other subjects of the FBI investigation, takes credit for staging the 2008 RNC protest-riots.

Shockingly, SEIU leadership is supporting their accused members, and the chosen strategy of not cooperating with law enforcement.

Beginning at 6:15 in the video below, SEIU’s Matt Brandon gives the union’s full-throated support for targets of the investigation.

Let that sink in for a minute. SEIU members are being investigated for potential ties to terrorists, and SEIU leadership is supporting non-cooperation with law enforcement. Can we question their patriotism yet??

Imagine Haliburton being investigated by DOJ for potential ties to terrorists, and their management comes out in support of ignoring grand jury subpoenas. Do you think mainstream media outlets might cover it?

The bottom line is that in addition to demanding the right to riot on the streets of America, the Progressive movement in this country (including SEIU) wants the right to organize “non-violent” actions with Hamas and FARC.

Pay close attention to the 2 minute mark in the video below. The Lawyers Guild protester lets the cat out of the bag when he talks about Global Exchange being threatened by all of this. Global Exchange is one of the groups that helped organized the violent Hamas flotilla.

So here you have SEIU members participating in violent revolutionary causes, and SEIU leadership defending them.

This raises a lot of questions about the extent of coordination between the American Progressive movement and global terrorist organizations. We can think of at least two people who are strongly associated with this exact SEIU local 73, people who might be able to shed some light on the actions of its members:

Andy Stern

And President Barack Obama

From the 2008 SEIU 73 annual report:

SEIU Local 73 was all across the nation in 2008 assisting Barack Obama in his historic run for the White House. Members and SEIU Local 73 staff worked the primaries not only in Illinois, but in Ohio and other key states. The Purple Army was out in force to turn our nation blue!

To say that they are close is an understatement.

What does the President know, and how long has he known it?

PREVIOUSLY:

EXCLUSIVE – FBI Terror Targets Tied To Obama’s New Party!

Another Target Of FBI Terror Raids Connected To SEIU

CAP Action is a sister organization to the liberal think tank, Center for American Progress.  While the Center for American Progress focuses on developing new policy ideas and on “critiquing the policy that stems from conservative values,”  CAP Action focuses on how to put those policies into action – by organizing liberal grassroots groups, labor unions and other progressive partners as advocates.

John Podesta, Chairman of the Board of Directors for CAP Action, offered the following statement in the organization’s December 9th press release:

“The Center for American Progress Action Fund is pleased to welcome Anna Burger to our Board of Directors. She has been a longtime friend of the Center for American Progress and CAP Action and we’re very happy that she has agreed to help us advance our mission by serving in this new capacity.

Anna Burger has been fighting hard for progressive ideas and policies for nearly 40 years, including the visionary leadership she has provided for the progressive movement over the past decade. We face numerous opportunities and many challenges over the next two years and look forward to Anna’s help in charting our course. As we continue to push for an economy built on a strong middle class that works for all Americans, Anna’s continued leadership and experience could not come at a more important time.”

In addition to her previous post at SEIU, Burger has held many prominent positions that have played significant roles in advancing the progressive movement, including:

• Former Chair of the Change to Win Federation, the labor coalition founded in 2005 by “reformers” who notoriously split from the AFL-CIO  to build a stronger, more progressive labor movement, based on the organizing model. (Burger resigned this post when she retired from SEIU)
• Current Board of Directors, Progressive States Network, alongside other directors such as Media Matters’ David Brock, MoveOn.org’s Wes Boyd, ACORN’s Steve Kest, AFSCME’s Lee Saunders and CAP’s John Podesta.
• Board of Directors of defunct They Work For Us/Working for Us, alongside other directors such as SEIU’s Tyrone Freeman, MoveOn.org’s Eli Pariser and Thomas Mattzie, and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas Zuniga.
• Board of Directors of Economic Policy Institute, alongside other directors such as former managing director of Soros Fund Management and fellow Democracy Alliance board member Robert Johnson, The American Prospect’s Robert Kuttner and Robert Reich, and most of Big Labor’s most prominent leaders, including former SEIU president Andy Stern.
• Member of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board

Burger also maintains her position as Vice-Chair of the Democracy Alliance, a collaborative network of elite donors that plans and provides funding to carefully selected organizations that currently, or will be created to, serve a specific purpose within the progressive infrastructure. The organization was formed in 2005 after Rob Stein’s infamous presentation titled “The Conservative Message Machine Money Matrix”, which detailed the conservative movement’s funding and management network and sparked an appeal for a permanent progressive infrastructure.  Among the earliest beneficiaries of the Democracy Alliance were Media Matters and the Center for American Progress.

In a post I wrote this past August,  Anna Burger Quits SEIU and Change to Win to ‘Build Progressive Infrastructure’, I stated that “Burger’s departure marks not just the end of an era for SEIU, but more importantly, it’s indicative of a new era for the Progressive movement.”

This appears to remain the case.  Burger’s appointment to CAP Action seems to be yet another sign that a ‘Democracy Alliance 2.0′  is underway.

During a mid-November conference at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington DC, some of the left’s most elite political donors gathered at the $600 a night luxury hotel to plot their strategy for 2012.  Hosted by the Democracy Alliance for its 150 or so donor partners and some of its member organizations, the three-day conference focused on post-election analysis of Democratic losses and a strategy for going forward.

But the event wasn’t solely about elections.  Just as they were prior to the mid-term elections, Democrats seem to be split into two camps:  those focused on the next election’s financing, and those focused on building and maintaining a permanent progressive infrastructure.

The head of one of Democracy Alliance’s earliest spawns, Media Matters, is focused on initiatives specifically for the 2012 elections, like creating a new super-PAC.  The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent says that a source close to David Brock told him that the Media Matters founder and CEO is pitching his concept to donors as we speak.  The NY Times reports that Brock has already collected over $4 million in donation pledges for the organization, called American Bridge, and appointed Robert F. Kennedy’s eldest child and former Maryland lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to serve as chairwoman.

With the White House now signaling it wants outside groups on the left to ramp up for 2012, Media Matters founder David Brock is in discussions to form a new group designed to raise and spend big bucks to counter the right’s powerful new infrastructure, a person who’s spoken directly with Brock about his plans tells me…

… “David is on the road right now talking to donors and strategists who would be interested in this,” the source tells me, adding that Brock intends to create a 527, which has partial donor disclosure rules. “He’s out pitching it right now.”

“There’s a general sense that in 2010 nothing was done and it cost Democrats,” the source continues. “People realize, including in the White House, that something needs to be done in 2012 or progressives will suffer at the ballot box again.”

But Democracy Alliance donor member George Soros remains partial to this infrastructure strategy.  As I recently posted here at the Bigs, since his failed attempts at trying to oust former President George W. Bush several years ago, Soros has been committed to more long-term initiatives that would help push the country permanently to the left, and less so on elections, which are more temporary in nature.  On the heels of that conference, Soros told fellow donors that Obama Might Not Be The Best Investment, indicating the focus should remain not only on electing progressive candidates, but even more so on long term infrastructure investments.

It’s a point with which Anna Burger herself agrees.

While Soros’s comment gave some attendees the impression that he’d cheer a primary challenge to the president, the point, sources say, was different. Rather, it is time to shuffle funds into a progressive infrastructure that will take on the tasks that the president can’t or won’t take on.

“People are determined to help build a progressive infrastructure and make sure it is there not just in the months ahead but one that will last in the long term,” said Anna Burger, the retired treasury secretary of SEIU. “Instead of being pushed over by this election it has empowered people to stand up in a bigger way.”

The appointment of Anna Burger to CAP Action leverages the labor leader’s strengths both in grassroots organizing and in fund-raising.  Her existing post as Vice-Chair at the Democracy Alliance is surely an added benefit – to CAP Action and to the progressive movement as a whole.  With this rebirth of sorts we’re seeing from the Democracy Alliance as Progressives try again to consume the Democratic Party, I expect we may see other similar high profile retirements/resignations and subsequent new appointments to prominent progressive posts.

Most Americans also remember (though many did not believe) the promises that health care reform would make health care “affordable for all.” And no one can forget how the legislation was sold to Americans:

The Chairmen of the three Committees with jurisdiction over health policy in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced comprehensive health care reform legislation today that will reduce out-of-control costs, encourage competition among insurance plans to improve choices for patients, and expand access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

Well, on March 23rd (not quite six months ago), the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law. That same day, a jubilant Andy Stern even recorded this video for his SEIU members, congratulating them on ow the SEIU “changed America forever.” That was then… The Chickens Start to Come Home (aka the Law of Unintended Consequences) Almost immediately after the passage of what is now called “ObamaCare,” like a pebble thrown into calm waters, waves began to develop. Karma. The first sign of trouble began when a number of companies began taking hundreds of millions of dollars ($1 billion in AT&T’s case) in write downs due to the projected cost of ObamaCare, making Congress and the Administration furious. In fact, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) was so furious that he ordered a show-trial hearing to be held and then he abruptly cancelled it.  It soon became clear why, as noted by the Daily Caller [emphasis added]:

Publicly, Waxman said the investigation showed the companies’ disclosures were properly filed. But a new report from committee Republicans reveals the documents Waxman obtained included embarrassing evidence that the health-care law could drive up insurance premiums and force employers to dump employees from their health plans. “Turns out Obamacare means if you like your health plan you can lose it. The president didn’t have to actually strong-arm companies into dumping their employee health insurance because his bill carried financial incentives to virtually guarantee that result,” Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Rep. Joe Barton, Texas Republican, said. Most significantly, documents unearthed by the investigation highlight companies that are considering dumping employees from their current health-care plans in the face of new costs from the health-care law. President Obama repeatedly promised his health-care law would let Americans keep their current insurance if they’re happy with it.

The dumping begins… Over the past couple of weeks, months after Henry Waxman’s initial embarrassment, a big problem has begun to emerge for the Democrats who worked so hard to pass ObamaCare.  News has begun to break that companies are, in fact, beginning to dump their employees (or retirees) health care benefits.

• WSJ: 3M Co. confirmed it would eventually stop offering its health-insurance plan to retirees, citing the federal health overhaul as a factor.
• WSJ: McDonald’s Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul.

And then, the strangest thing happened. ObamaCare’s purported benefits and savings evaporated and, due to the rules imposed by ObamaCare, costs have begun to soar.  This prompted the Department of Health and Human Services to grant waivers to those companies and groups:

Nearly a million workers won’t get a consumer protection in the U.S. health reform law meant to cap insurance costs because the government exempted their employers. Thirty companies and organizations, including McDonald’s (MCD) and Jack in the Box (JACK), won’t be required to raise the minimum annual benefit included in low-cost health plans, which are often used to cover part-time or low-wage employees. The Department of Health and Human Services, which provided a list of exemptions, said it granted waivers in late September so workers with such plans wouldn’t lose coverage from employers who might choose instead to drop health insurance altogether.

At least five of those “companies” weren’t actually companies, but unions—including the United Federation of Teachers, the Painters’ union (IUPAT), and the Transport Workers.  According to the New York Post:

The United Federation of Teachers — one of President Obama’s key political backers — is the biggest beneficiary of a White House sweetheart deal that will exempt certain outfits from complying with new health-care rules, officials revealed yesterday. “Big labor spent millions of dollars pushing ObamaCare, which they made sure was stuffed full of union giveaways,” said Patrick Semmens, spokesman for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which represents businesses. “So the fact that the largest waiver now belongs to New York teachers union bosses might be funny if the rest of America wasn’t stuck complying with the bill’s onerous mandates.”

Amazingly, the unions that had pushed so hard for ObamaCare are now asking to be exempted from its effects. SEIU Members Begin to Pay the Price Earlier this week, the American Spectator’s Jeffrey Lord wrote a piece detailing how ObamaCare is negatively impacting three hospitals in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Lord described how Cincinnati’s Catholic Healthcare Partners is putting up for sale three of its hospitals:

The three Catholic hospitals involved are: Mercy Hospital in Scranton; Mercy Special Care Hospital in Nanticoke, both in Kanjorski’s 11th District. And the Mercy Tyler Hospital in Tunkhannock, located in Carney’s adjacent 10th District. The Cook announcement was big news in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Sisters of Mercy had opened Mercy Hospital in Scranton, a major facility for the city, in 1917 — 93 years earlier.

According to Scranton’s WNEP:

Mercy Hospital in Scranton is up for sale. Those who run the place and all other Mercy facilities in our area said Wednesday they are already in talks with organizations interested in buying. Mercy Health Partners hopes to have a buyer by the end of the year. Officials said there are numerous reasons for the sale. One big one is the heath care reform bill signed into law this year. The potential sale includes Mercy Hospital in Scranton, Mercy Tyler Hospital in Tunkhannock and Mercy Special Care Hospital in Nanticoke. [snip] They said much of that required investment is the result of the health care reform bill passed in Washington. The CEO said it means the need for more spending and less federal reimbursements. “Health care reform is absolutely playing a role. Was it the precipitating factor in this decision? No, but was it a factor in our planning over the next five years? Absolutely,” Cook added.

While the controversy about the hospitals’ sale still unfolds, there is one item of consequence that has been overlooked and that is the fact that all three hospitals are represented by the Service Employees International Union, 1199P.  The SEIU, of course, was one of the biggest—if not the biggest—proponent of ObamaCare. In one of the biggest twists of irony is the fact that SEIU members, whose dues were used to lobby for the passage of ObamaCare, are now seeing their employer put their place of employment up for sale.

The UFCW and Its Coming Crisis Elsewhere, in yet another example where union members may start paying the price of their leaders’ dalliances into nationalizing health care, the United Food & Commercial Workers is girding its members for a contract fight because of increased costs imposed by…ObamaCare. According to this letter, UFCW Local 75 is girding its members for potential battle with their employer over the costs of ObamaCare.

[via the Virtuous Republic]

Here’s the money quote:

While health care reform will expand coverage for many working people, this new law comes at a price. Bearing this in mind, Local 75 included increases to co-premiums as part of our comprehensive proposal. The company, however, has included a number of changes to increase your out-of-pocket costs, as well as higher co-premiums. We recognize that compromise is a part of the bargaining process and are hopeful that both sides will make efforts to reach a fair contract.

Translation for UFCW members: You will be paying more for your health care, thanks to ObamaCare (or, you may wind up out on strike). [Isn't that the 'change' you voted for?]

While the word Karma springs to mind, the reality is, ObamaCare is not even six months old yet.  There will be many more stories like these in the months and years ahead. Like all Americans who will be paying for this monstrosity, union members won’t be exempted forever from the effects of the legislation that they pushed for and we’re all paying for.  Like others, union members are already beginning to feel the pinch of ObamaCare. Karma. __________________ “I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.”  Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

The FBI and the U.S. Labor Department are investigating prominent labor leader Andy Stern in their probe of corruption at the Service Employees International Union, according to two people who have been interviewed by federal agents.

The two organized labor officials met with federal agents this summer to answer questions about a six-figure book contract that Stern landed in 2006 and his role in approving money to pay the salary of an SEIU leader in California who allegedly performed no work.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the investigation. The FBI and the Labor Department’s office of inspector general declined to comment for the record.

The disclosure about the federal inquiry of Stern—who abruptly resigned as president of the 2.2-million member SEIU in April—comes just weeks ahead of contentious congressional elections in which the union is spending an estimated $44 million to support its favored Democratic candidates.

The SEIU has been plagued with several financial scandals since 2008, when the Los Angeles Times reported that Tyrone Freeman, head of the union’s largest California local, misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars from the union. The union ousted Freeman and demanded that he return the money. No federal charges have been filed against him, but SEIU spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette said the union has been cooperating with the FBI.

Stern left his post two years before the end of his term, saying he wanted to focus more on his personal life. He remains a member of President Barack Obama’s deficit commission and a highly influential figure in the White House, where he was one of the most frequent visitors last year. He is also a research fellow at Georgetown University and a paid consultant for the SEIU.

Ringuette said she is unaware of any federal scrutiny of Stern. Ringuette rejected the notion that there was anything improper about the book deal or how the union paid its officials. She said similar unsubstantiated accusations have been floated for years by disgruntled former SEIU leaders and conservative bloggers.

One person who spoke to federal agents twice, in May and June, said they asked about a 2006 contract in which Stern received a $175,000 advance from Simon & Schuster to write the book “A Country That Works.” The SEIU and its locals bought thousands of copies of the book after it was published. The union also paid thousands to fact-check and promote the book, but Stern pocketed the advance.

Ringuette said the SEIU’s executive board fully vetted and approved the project. The board told local unions that purchasing Stern’s book “is a truly voluntary decision on the part of those who make it, and no adverse impact will result for anyone or any entity who refrains from purchasing or promoting the book,” according to documents obtained by the AP. The board also instructed locals to make sure any book purchases were authorized by the local’s constitution and bylaws.

Ringuette said the Simon & Schuster contract “did not require the purchase of a single book by SEIU.” Stern also received no royalties from book sales to the union.

Federal officials are also asking questions about how Stern and union officials approved payments to Alejandro Stephens, former president of the SEIU local that represents Los Angeles County government workers, according to the people who were interviewed.

The FBI has been investigating Stephens for more than a year. Earlier this month, he was sentenced in federal court this month to four months in jail and three months’ home confinement after pleading guilty to stealing $52,000 from a voter outreach program.

Stern has not been linked to any of the charges resulting in Stephens’ guilty plea. But federal agents are seeking details about the time in 2007 when Stephens’ local was merged into a larger SEIU local and he lost his post as president. The SEIU offered Stephens a generous severance package and a new job as a $75,000-a-year consultant to the SEIU California State Council.

Ringuette said the union arranged for Stephens to perform consulting work for the council and agreed to reimburse the council for his annual salary. But she said the union later discovered Stephens wasn’t actually doing any work.

Federal law prohibits labor unions from creating what amounts to “no-show” jobs that pay someone for work they do not perform.

Stephens’ attorney, Roger Rosen, said his client has not cooperated with federal officials and has no plans to in the future.