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:

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

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

But Is Our Republicans Learning?

Economist John Tamny has a piece in Forbes, “The Paradox Of A ‘Giving’ Government”, detailing the new, stepped-up emphasis by business on getting cozy with Washington, and how and why it pays off. In it is a very disturbing example of why we should expect at best weak and highly dispiriting pushback from Republicans when Obama finally gets around to following through on his telegraphed Plan B for the “global warming” agenda, “green jobs”.

“Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., presently a darling among Republicans for his pro-growth policies, has long made known his dislike of the 2009 Obama stimulus plan as a ‘wasteful spending spree.’ Nice rhetoric for sure–and as it turns out not very pure. In October 2009 the congressman wrote a letter to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in favor of a grant application in his district, which, according to Ryan, would ‘place 1,000 workers in green jobs.’”

That’s pretty stomach-turning, when you consider the source. The government can give us nothing that it has not taken from us. The government cannot give your favored constituencies anything it has not taken away from others. The politics of envy have never been as strong in the United States as in Europe – which fact has given us a chance over the decades, but it appears to be a dwindling chance.

And no one who attended any appreciable part of CPAC this past weekend has any time for the philosophy that these are just the accommodations that one must make to stay here and do good work.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: CPAC, exporting jobs, federal grant, federal spending, green jobs
Posted Feb 22nd 2010 at 11:07 am in Congress, Economics, News, Obama, Politics, Tea Party | 7848271 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/chorner/2010/02/22/but-is-our-republicans-learning/But+Is+Our+Republicans+Learning%3F2010-02-22+19%3A07%3A32Christopher+C.+Horner

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…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

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

Obama’s Labor Department Ignores His Executive Order– The Ethics Pledge

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.

According to a report by the National Right To Work Committee, Solis and several other appointees gave themselves unilateral waivers on the two-year moratorium in direct conflict with President Obama’s two-year mandate:

Revolving Door Ban [for] All Appointees Entering Government.  I will not for a period of 2 years from the date of my appointment participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts.

The White House Press Office

Solis’ only publicly available signed ethics pledge is provided by Olga Pierce and Christopher Weaver at Propublica.  National Right To Work reviewed it and other ProPublica provided ethics pledges. It is clear that other DOL appointees followed Solis’ lead and granted themselves ethics waivers in conflict with the presidential order.  The report identified Deputy Secretary Seth Harris, Assistant Secretary Phyllis Borzi, Assistant Secretary T. Michael Kerr (SEIU & AFSCME), and Assistant Secretary Jane Oates.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: AFSCME, Department of Labor, DOL, executive order, Executive Order #13490
Posted Jan 8th 2010 at 9:17 am in Big Labor, News | 5668250 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloos/2010/01/08/obamas-labor-department-ignores-his-executive-order-the-ethics-pledge/Obama%E2%80%99s+Labor+Department+Ignores+His+Executive+Order%E2%80%93+The+Ethics+Pledge2010-01-08+17%3A17%3A18Don+Loos

ACORN and Big Labor: Two Peas in a Pod

With the unearthing of a memo detailing an ACORN scheme to use “dirty money hungry lawyers” to force “employers to open up negotiations” and its plan to create “a model for [union] organizing” that “building trades [unions] do not have,” ACORN almost assuredly fits the federal definition of a labor organization under federal law 29 CFR 401.9.

But, the detailed scheme gets even better and closer to the line that makes ACORN a labor union.

ACORN’s bombshell talks about an arrangement to “share dues” with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and opens up a whole new array of issues between these newly discovered Siamese twins.

Add in ACORN’s plans to create union organizing partnerships with other labor unions and Big Labor funded auxiliary organizations, and it becomes a tautology that ACORN is a big part of Big Labor.

These are the details of a scintillating e-mail between ACORN operatives.  While ACORN and SEIU big-wigs who are dreaming all this up may pass it off as just wishful thinking; the facts show something different.

Right now, ACORN files labor organization financial reports for SEIU 880 and SEIU 100 with the U.S. Department of Labor.  Other exposed relationships like the New York Teachers’ Union bosses – ACORN coordinated organizing effort illustrate an ACORN and Big Labor coordination, and a relationship that may have already crossed the line.

But wait, there is more!

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: ACLOC, ACORN, Andy Stern, Bertha Lewis, Big Labor
Posted Jan 6th 2010 at 8:42 am in ACORN, Big Labor | 5594242 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloos/2010/01/06/acorn-and-big-labor-two-peas-in-a-pod/ACORN+and+Big+Labor%3A+Two+Peas+in+a+Pod2010-01-06+16%3A42%3A30Don+Loos

Obama’s Labor Department Gives Big Labor and Its Front Groups Another Gift

Thursday, the Obama Administration announced that it will rescind rules requiring the disclosure of financial information for Big Labor slush funds and front groups.  And, the Obama Administration is giving you only 11 (eleven) days to comment!

At least they are consistent!  Just as they did for union conflict-of-interest disclosure reporting that SEIU’s Andy Stern may be ignoring and just as it rescinded union-boss perk disclosures, the Obama Administration continues to rollback union financial disclosures.

It is not surprising that Obama’s Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis would rescind these financial disclosure rules since she is the former treasurer of the Big Labor funded American Rights at Work (ARAW) lobbying and political group.   These disclosures would reveal much about the group’s expenditures on behalf Big Labor’s agenda; the very types of expenditures Solis would have signed-off on as ARAW Treasurer.

Union officials have fought these financial disclosures since 2003.  One of the AFL-CIO lawyers involved in opposing these disclosure requirements was Deborah Greenfield.   Now, Greenfield is the Obama Administration’s Acting Deputy Solicitor of Labor and Director of the Office of the Secretariat.  As Deputy Solicitor, Greenfield oversees these regulations.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Americans Rights at Work, Andy Stern, Big Labor, comment period, conflict of interest
Posted Dec 4th 2009 at 6:57 am in ACORN, Big Labor, Featured Story | 4090276 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloos/2009/12/04/obamas-labor-department-gives-big-labor-and-its-front-groups-another-gift/Obama%E2%80%99s+Labor+Department+Gives+Big+Labor+and+Its+Front+Groups+Another+Gift2009-12-04+13%3A57%3A55Don+Loos

Did SEIU’s Andy Stern Violate Federal Conflict of Interest Reporting Laws, the Same Regs that the Obama Labor Department is Repealing?

The Labor-Management Disclosure and Reporting Act (LMRDA) requires labor union officials to report potential or certain conflict-of-interests they might encounter if they receive gifts or cash payments from employers. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern may be in violation of that requirement since he has not filed a report disclosing $140,000 in advance payments from publisher and service industry employer Simon & Schuster.

In addition to this, documents made public during an intra-union California lawsuit and obtained by a “BigGovernment researcher” (posted on NRTWC.org’s Scribd, seen below) reveal that SEIU Treasurer Anna Burger recommended that the union use general treasury money, much collected from employees as a condition of employment, to promote Stern’s book, A Country that Works.

It’s not as if Stern has never filed a conflict-of-interest disclosure report; in fact, he has filed two in 2004 and one in 2005. But, why has he not filed any reports related to his special book deal?

SEIU President Andy Stern’s Book Advance and Past Conflict of Interest Reports (LM-30s)

Unfortunately for rank and file workers forced to pay dues or fees to the SEIU, rather than spending its resources investigating potential LMRDA violations, the Obama Labor Department (DOL) is busy rescinding conflict-of-interest and other union financial reporting requirements.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: A Country that Works, Andy Stern, Anna Burger, Hilda Solis, Labor-Management Disclosure and Reporting Act
Posted Dec 2nd 2009 at 6:51 am in Big Labor, Featured Story | 3933018 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloos/2009/12/02/did-seius-andy-stern-violate-federal-conflict-of-interest-reporting-laws-the-same-regs-that-the-obama-labor-department-is-busily-repealing/Did+SEIU%E2%80%99s+Andy+Stern+Violate+Federal+Conflict+of+Interest+Reporting+Laws%2C+the+Same+Regs+that+the+Obama+Labor+Department+is+Repealing%3F2009-12-02+13%3A51%3A05Don+Loos

Obama’s Labor Department Ignores Freedom of Information Act

On Friday, 20 November 2009, The National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation (Foundation) decided enough was enough and filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court demanding that they compel the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to comply with the Foundation’s April 6th Freedom of information Act (FOIA) request.

The Foundation’s FOIA requested:

• Records from communications and recorded events where specified Obama appointees and Big Labor official were present
• Lists of lawsuits involving the Department of Labor and Deborah Greenfield within the past eight years.
• List of any gifts received by Solis in the past 5 years from Big Labor or its officials
• Specifically provide in detail (a) notes, (b) agreements, (c) communications, and (d) agendas related to the regulations related to the labor union and officer disclosure rules
• Copies of phone logs
• Copies of any notes or documents related to any enforcement of any labor laws and any outside groups such as labor unions, American Rights at Work, or ACORN

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: American Rights at WOrk, Card Check, Darrel Issa, Deborah Greenfield, FOIA request
Posted Nov 22nd 2009 at 11:32 am in Big Labor, Justice/Legal, Obama | 3457458 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloos/2009/11/22/obamas-labor-department-ignores-freedom-of-information-act/Obama%E2%80%99s+Labor+Department+Ignores+Freedom+of+Information+Act2009-11-22+18%3A32%3A57Don+Loos

Teamster Boss Busted in Old Pay-to-Play Bribe Scheme

Just when the Obama Administration eliminates union boss disclosure that exposed union officer perks and self-dealing, a union boss has to get busted for demanding bribes from a trial lawyer. His actions certainly do not argue for the Administration’s ongoing effort to roll back union disclosure. 

The Associate Press reports:

The president of a national railroad employees union was arrested at his Ohio home on Tuesday and charged with bribery.

Edward Rodzwicz, who heads the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, is accused of soliciting and accepting $20,000 in bribes from a St. Louis lawyer. In exchange, prosecutors say, Rodzwicz allowed the lawyer to remain on a list of attorneys approved to handle injury cases for union members.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Barack Obama, Elaine Chao, Hilda Solis, LM-2, National Right to Work
Posted Oct 16th 2009 at 8:15 am in Big Labor, Obama | 1680233 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloos/2009/10/16/teamster-boss-busted-in-old-pay-to-play-bribe-scheme/Teamster+Boss+Busted+in+Old+Pay-to-Play+Bribe+Scheme2009-10-16+15%3A15%3A35Don+Loos

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.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

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

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…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

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