Richard Morrison and Jeremy Lott welcome special guest David Freddoso to Episode 95 of the LibertyWeek podcast. We take a look at Tea Party politics in the next Congress, climate secrecy at the University of Virginia, consumers getting SLAPPed in court and the Blago corruption trial proceeding in Chicago.
Rod Blagojevich
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) finalized a contentious merger of several California locals into a statewide “superlocal.” Sal Rosselli, the head of one of the locals that was dissolved in this process, has fought the centralizing efforts of SEIU President Andy Stern, but, as evident not, to no avail. SF Weekly‘s Matt Smith notes:
The move is seen in U.S. Labor movement circles as a ploy to neuter Sal Rosselli, president of United Healthcare Workers – West.
Rosselli has clashed with Stern over a 2004 agreement with nursing home chains in which the union supported legislation curtailing patient rights in exchange for permission to allow the union to recruit members at certain facilities. Today’s move erodes Rosselli’s clout by two-fifths, and paves the way for a new nursing home lobbying/organizing agreement.
This mega-merger of California local unions comes at what should be an awkward time for SEIU, considering its recent high-profile scandal in that state — and nationally. The head of a Los Angeles SEIU local was recently forced to resign after the Los Angeles Times broke the story on a corruption scandal there. And Stern himself may soon face some embarrassing questions regarding his relationship with disgraced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.
For more on SEIU see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Change to Win (CtW) union coalition have each released statements denying involvement in the corruption scandal that led to the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich this morning.
However, it may be some time before more is known. SEIU, in its statement, says, “In keeping with the U.S. Attorney’s request, we are not sharing information with the media at this time.”
Meanwhile, the Politico‘s Ben Smith credits an unnamed “Democratic source” with confirming the identity of “SEIU official” mentioned in the case.
A Democratic source confirms that SEIU President Andy Stern is the “SEIU official” referred to in the federal complaint against Rod Blagojevich.
There’s no allegation that the SEIU official did anything wrong, and what appears to be a wiretap transcript has the official reacting non-commitally to Blagojevich’s offer of a quid pro quo. Another Democratic source tells me that Stern was been in Chicago November 3 meeting with Blagojevich, a discussion thought to have included talk about the Senate seat — though that meeting isn’t mentioned in the complaint.
An SEIU spokesman didn’t respond to a call or email seeking comment.
It’s too early to tell what, or where anything improper, took place. Still, the SEIU and CtW connections are worth watching as the case unfolds. (By the way, Change to Win and SEIU are inextricably tied. SEIU President Andy Stern created CtW when he led his union out of the AFL-CIO in 2005, and SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger is also CtW Chair.)
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern is not known for being shy about his ambitions. Since taking his union out of the AFL-CIO and forming the new Change to Win federation in 2005, he has sought to assert his union’s influence over private equity firms, centralize his authority within the union by forcing various locals to merge, and negotiate large deals with employers without member participation. Now, however, it is worth asking who is really in charge at SEIU.
Amidst all this power grabbing, things seem to have gone awry. The arrest this morning of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris, for allegedly seeking to essentially sell the appointment to the Senate seat about to be vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, involves a tangled web of conversations between Blagojevich and other politicians and SEIU officials. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that on November 7:
[I]in a three-way call with Harris and Advisor B, a consultant in Washington, Blagojevich and the others allegedly discussed the prospect of a three-way deal for the Senate appointment involving an organization called “Change to Win,” which is affiliated with various unions including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
While no one at SEIU has been charged, the union’s less-than-stellar record in handling corruption within its own ranks should be cause for concern.
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