Well, everyone’s favorite gang of thugs is at it again. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has opened its books, and it turns out there is a lot of stuff they’d rather keep quiet in them.
Stuff like how the union bosses have funneled literally millions of dollars of union money to businesses that just happened, by some amazing coincidence, owned by close family members of union officials.
This is the union’s idea of “family values.” This is actually a step up, when “family values” used to revolve around Mafia families.
That still might make a comeback, though — one of the promises Barack Obama has made in his quest for the presidency was to end the consent decree that keeps the Teamsters under federal supervision. This has kept the Mafia from getting overt control of the union again.
That the SEIU is doing appalling things should come as no great surprise. They have already spent over $24 million dollars this campaign cycle alone, and have pledged to spend at least six times that much.
They’ve also run afoul of campaign finance laws — but, as far as I know, they haven’t been called on it yet. They reworked their Constitution to require every single Local to contribute at least $6.00 per member to the SEIU’s political action committee — or they will be “fined” by the national chapter $1.50 for every dollar they fall short of that quota.
One minor catch: federal law mandates that contributions to PACs must be voluntary. Demanding contributions is… um… what’s the word? Oh, yeah — ILLEGAL.
Yes, I know that unions have done a lot of good in the past. Well, guess what? That was a long, long time ago. Over the last few decades, they’ve done far more harm than good. And even so, there’s no karmic bank where they can trade past good deeds for present offenses. It don’t work that way.
The SEIU is the fastest-growing union in the country today — and is getting way, way too big for its britches. It needs to be slapped down, and slapped down hard.
Unless, of course, you’re overly fond of these kind of thugs wielding unchecked political power. In which case, you must be in your glory at this triumph over democracy and the rule of law.
