House Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Citing multiple allegations of misconduct, financial mismanagement, and breach of fiduciary responsibility by local officials of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s Senior Republican has called for a hearing into the allegations to determine the risk posed to rank-and-file union members and the degree to which federal laws may have been violated.

“The allegations against local union officials in California are deeply disturbing. If true, they would represent a serious breach in the public trust and a violation of the rights of thousands of dues-paying union members, and they deserve a thorough investigation,” said McKeon.

In late August, the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets reported that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been paid to firms owned by relatives of the president of a Los Angeles SEIU local.  These funds, paid by the union and a related charity, could represent the misappropriation of dues paid by rank-and-file union members, a violation of federal law.

On August 28, Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) issued a press release announcing that the committee had opened an inquiry into the alleged financial misconduct reported by the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets.  Since that time, the committee’s Republicans have received no communication from the majority regarding the ongoing inquiry.

Rep. McKeon sent a letter to Miller yesterday requesting that a hearing be convened to review the allegations and their impact on workers.  The full text of the letter can be found below.  Noting that the 110th Congress is scheduled to adjourn on September 26, with the House not scheduled to reconvene until January 2009, McKeon urged that a hearing be called quickly in order to avoid a months-long delay in necessary congressional oversight.

“With the Democratic Congress preparing to shutter the Capitol and leave town for the year, these allegations of financial abuse and misconduct must be investigated with all due haste,” said McKeon.  “It would be inexcusable for these reports to be ignored simply because the alleged perpetrators are political allies of the Democratic majority, and I have every expectation that appropriate action will be taken, including the convening of a hearing before the 110th Congress adjourns.”

The Honorable George Miller
Chairman
Committee on Education and Labor
2181 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Miller:

Like you, I have followed with great interest recent press accounts regarding alleged misconduct and financial mismanagement within several different locals of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), all located in California.  I am deeply troubled by the prospect that these allegations, if true, may have harmed the thousands of rank-and-file members who appropriately expect their elected union officials to conduct themselves with honesty and integrity, particularly as it relates to the management of dues those members pay to the SEIU.  Equally disturbing as this breach of trust is the potential violation of federal laws which these allegations represent.  

I was pleased to learn from your press release that our Committee has opened an inquiry into these disturbing allegations.  I am writing you today to urge that this investigation be conducted with all due haste.  More specifically, I would request that you convene a hearing of the full Committee on this matter, sometime prior to the scheduled Congressional adjournment on September 26, 2008.  I make this request so that all Members of the Committee might have an opportunity to learn more about these serious allegations.  Particularly where, as here, we are faced with the potential violation of laws within the heart of this Committee’s jurisdiction, we cannot allow this matter to escape our scrutiny, conceivably for months to come.

Mr. Chairman, throughout your tenure as Chairman of this Committee, you have repeatedly shown your willingness to devote significant Committee resources to conducting aggressive oversight, be it of alleged mismanagement within the Administration, or of alleged wrong-doing by private corporations and/or their employees.  Surely, allegations of this nature – in which elected union officials have purportedly absconded with millions of dollars of union funds, including, in all likelihood, member dues – rise to the same level of concern and urgency, one that demands that our Committee take immediate action.

It is with that same sense of concern and urgency that I request that you schedule a hearing on this matter at the earliest possible opportunity, and certainly before Congress adjourns for the fall elections.  Allegations of management misconduct and malfeasance – be it in the boardroom or the union hall – cannot go unanswered.  Your announcement of a Committee inquiry into this matter was a commendable first step.  I’d ask that you now take the logical next step, by giving all Members of the Committee the opportunity to benefit from that inquiry by way of a formal hearing.  Thank you in advance for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,                                                              

Howard P. “Buck” McKeon
Senior Republican Member