Marathon Pundit: Advise and consent: Senate should reject Obama NLRB nominee Griffin

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Advise and consent: Senate should reject Obama NLRB nominee Griffin

One for President Obama's so-called recess appointments the the NLRB has a background that the Senate, in its advise and consent role, would have brought up in a nomination hearing. A US Appeals Court ruled those appointments as unconstitutional, so Obama has formally nominated them.

From Townhall:

Last week, we learned a little more about President Obama's nominee to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). We started the week knowing that Richard Griffin is a defendant in an embezzlement and racketeering lawsuit. He is named in the portion of the suit dealing with a cover up.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Mr. Griffin is named in a federal complaint filed in October by 10 members of IUOE Local 501, out of Los Angeles, which describes a 'scheme to defraud [the local] out of revenue, cost savings and membership,; by means of kickbacks, bribery, violent threats and extortion. The suit names dozens of IUOE officials as defendants, and Mr. Griffin is highlighted in a section describing an embezzlement and its subsequent hush-up."

The Washington Free Beacon reports, "According to the lawsuit filed by 10 members of Los Angeles-based IUOE Local 501, which represents workers in Southern California and Southern Nevada, Griffin participated in a conspiracy to manipulate the operation of Local 501 'through a pattern of racketeering activity.' Griffin was served with the complaint and a court summons relating to the lawsuit at his Washington, D.C., home on Dec. 4, according to documents filed in court."

We also know Griffin was general counsel of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE). As such, he was a boss in an organization that was compromised by its relationships with organized crime.