Still no word yet from the Department of Justice on the request to look into the lobbying activities of SEIU’s Andy Stern. According to CNS News they’re reviewing the request. Hmmm, I wonder how long that will take.
“I don’t think there is a lot that we can say at this point, other than to say that we continue to review the matter,” Benjamin Friedman, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, told CNSNews.com.
For its part, the SEIU is dismissive of any allegations of impropriety from its top officials.
“The charges were meritless,” SEIU spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette told CNSNews.com in a written statement last week. “We have been informed by the Senate that the complaining parties were notified.”
The key question is whether Stern or Burger, no longer registered lobbyists, spent 20 percent of the work time in a quarterly period lobbying lawmakers and whether they failed to report it.[...]
Stern touted his visits at the White House and with other lawmakers on his Twitter account, with messages that include “cocktails with prez and VP,” “lobbying with Mayor Bloomberg,” and “great discussions last two days with Senators.”
Meanwhile, visitor logs show that Stern visited the White House 28 times in 2009. The SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger, chairwoman of the Change to Win Federation, who was a lobbyist until the end of 2007, visited the White House 32 times, according to the White House logs.
The secretary of the Senate’s office, on Dec. 29, informed Norquist and Johnson that “Ms. Burger has not spent 20 percent of her time on lobbying activities in either 2008 or 2009. Accordingly, we intend to close our file on this matter.” ….
Not only is Stern lobbying Obama, he’s also lobbying New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is threatening to lay off cops and firefighters. The meetings with Stern kind of explain why Bloomberg’s pointing his finger in the wrong direction.
It appears mayor Bloomberg does not have the courage to point the finger where it belongs.
Not a single public servant needs to be laid off. All they have to do is take a pay cut like workers at GM, Ford, or anyone in private industry had to do. If there are layoffs, unions are totally responsible.
[...]
Unions Understand Mayor Bloomberg Is A Pushover
On one hand the mayor says “The bottom line is we don’t have any money. Forget about raises — that is so far down the road, it’s not the right question.”
On the other hand the mayor proposes that city teachers agree to a much smaller raise in their next contract or face the possibility of 2,500 job cuts.
Which is it?
I think we know the answer to that last question.
Via memeorandum
