Under Obama: Less transparency in unions now that Big Labor gets its way

For eight years rank-and-file union members had someone looking after their interests when Elaine Chao served as Labor Secretary under President George W. Bush. But his successor, Barack Obama, the pal of the labor bosses, removed the transparency Chao put in place.

More from James Sherk in the New York Post:

To understand why the AFL-CIO this week endorsed President Obama for re-election, it helps to know that Tyrone Freeman enjoys Cognac — $175 glasses of Cognac, allegedly paid for by the SEIU local he used to run. Freeman's union also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to companies run by his wife and family.

New, Bush-era federal rules forced unions to be more open about their spending, and brought these facts to light. Soon afterward, the SEIU forced Freeman to resign. Everyone except corrupt union officers ought to support such transparency.

But the AFL-CIO's leadership hated the scrutiny, so it asked Obama to repeal these union-transparency measures — and he obliged. His Labor Department quickly rolled back most of the union transparency rules the previous administration implemented.

It was just one giveaway of many, which is why the AFL-CIO endorsement was no surprise. For all candidate Obama’s talk of putting the common good above special interests, President Obama has given the union movement handout after handout — at a high cost to taxpayers and the economy.

The AFL-CIO nod to Obama had about as much drama as learning the results of a Harlem Globetrotters game against their regular patsy, the Boston Shamrocks. But least Globetrotters games are humorous. Big Labor's lack of transparency is not.