Monday, September 28, 2009

Flashback: SEIU prez met with Blago on day before election

Look for the Service Employees International Union to become a major issue in the months ahead. SEIU was the biggest contributor to Rod Blagojevich's campaign, and the union, which has many government workers as members--is government conspiring for more government.

From the Wall Street Journal in January:

Andy Stern, head of the nation's fastest-growing labor union, met with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich last fall around the time that federal prosecutors allege the governor was discussing ways to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for a lucrative union position.

Mr. Stern, president of the 1.9-million-member Service Employees International Union, met with Gov. Blagojevich on Nov. 3, the day before Mr. Obama was elected. Tom Balanoff, who is head of SEIU in Illinois, also attended the meeting. Mr. Balanoff was previously identified as an unnamed SEIU official in a complaint brought by the U.S. attorney's office against the governor. This is the first indication that Mr. Stern had met with the Illinois governor during the period under investigation.

The meeting was reported Tuesday night by the Associated Press, which said it reviewed a copy of Mr. Blagojevich's official calendar. The governor, who was arrested on Dec. 9 on federal corruption charges, has previously denied any wrongdoing.

Last week SEIU endorsed Democrat Alexi Giannoulias for the US Senate.

Thanks go to Cal Skinner for reminding me about this story.

Related posts:

SEIU and AFSCME setting up potential wedge between family members SEIU prez: Union spent $60.7 million to elect Obama

Blagojevich and union "card check"

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1 comment:

  1. Rubes,

    Good link up, Bub!

    From all that I can tell Tom Balanoff is a real union guy. I met him once when I worked in Hammond and thought him to be a good guy and straight union man. He was with the Steel Workers at the time.

    Andy Stern is a school of social work Marxist/Hegelian and he calls every move that SEIU makes - given that he allows Anna Burger a few kicks at the collectivist cats once in a while.

    SEIU is PAC. When the smoke clears, the rank and file might need a genuine union guy to straighten out the Purple mess.

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