Democrats Request Committee Hearing into “Most Corrosive Scandal” in National Labor Relations Board History

WASHINGTON – Top Democrats of the House Education and the Workforce Committee today called on the Republican chairman to hold a hearing with the Inspector General of the National Labor Relations Board into evidence he uncovered involving current and former Republican members of the Board and the transmission of confidential government information to private parties.

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democratic member of the committee, and Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.), the ranking member of the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee, wrote to Chairman John Kline (R-MN), asking for a hearing with the NLRB’s Inspector General.

“As you know, the Board’s Inspector General has issued three investigative reports so far this year that raise serious questions about the conduct of current and former Members of the Board,” Miller and Andrews wrote. “These reports cannot be ignored by our Committee. We respectfully request that you convene a full Committee hearing post haste with the Inspector General to provide all of our members the opportunity to ask questions and explore in depth the findings and potential consequences of his investigative reports.”

The NLRB’s Inspector General uncovered a number of instances where Board Member Terence Flynn, while serving as chief counsel to Board Member Robert Hayes, forwarded sensitive and nonpublic information to former Board Chairman Peter Schaumber, who has served as a labor policy advisor for the Romney presidential campaign. These leaks included a draft of an NLRB decision, draft dissenting opinions before cases have been decided, and other deliberative and non-public information on the NLRB’s internal operations.

The Inspector General concluded that these disclosures “evidence a serious threat to the Board’s decisional due process.”

“Evidence from all three investigative reports has been shared with the Department of Justice. While the Department of Justice is responsible for investigating whether any of the subjects in the Inspector General’s investigative reports committed crimes, we are responsible for directly overseeing the effective and efficient performance of the Board,” Miller and Andrews concluded. “According to the Inspector General’s latest report, such performance is in peril. With the Board’s ability to properly function at stake, it is incumbent upon us to fully engage as the oversight committee.”   

Read all documents regarding oversight and investigations into National Labor Relations Board

Full text of the letter to Chairman Kline appears below:

May 11, 2012

Dear Chairman Kline:

To date, the Committee Majority has requested thousands of documents from the National Labor Relations Board (“the Board”) and held six legislative and oversight hearings related to the Board and the National Labor Relations Act.  The Majority has also stated in its Budget Views and Estimates for FY 2013 that “[t]he committee will remain vigilant in oversight of the NLRB...” Such vigilance is particularly needed now as we confront the most corrosive scandal in the Board’s history. 

As you know, the Board’s Inspector General has issued three investigative reports so far this year that raise serious questions about the conduct of current and former Members of the Board.  The most recent reports on Member Terence Flynn detail extensive disclosures of internal, deliberative information by Mr. Flynn to select private parties for their private benefit.  Such behavior threatens the Board’s integrity and strikes at the very heart of its ability to effectively and efficiently function as an adjudicatory and rulemaking body bound by principles of due process and fair play.  The Inspector General has called these matters “a serious threat to the Board’s decisional due process.”  After concluding that Member Flynn released deliberative nonpublic information, the Inspector General in his most recent report states that:

Members of administrative bodies such as the Board cannot freely discuss decisions and points of law and fact if they are fearful that the positions that they take during deliberative discussions or in drafts of documents are going to be made public, distributed to pundits, or leaked to parties.

These reports cannot be ignored by our Committee.  We respectfully request that you convene a full Committee hearing post haste with the Inspector General to provide all of our members the opportunity to ask questions and explore in depth the findings and potential consequences of his investigative reports.

A hearing with the Inspector General is only a preliminary step in our efforts to fully investigate these matters.  We have begun the process of seeking the voluntary cooperation of a number of principals to provide the Committee with information on their involvement. 

Evidence from all three investigative reports has been shared with the Department of Justice.  While the Department of Justice is responsible for investigating whether any of the subjects in the Inspector General’s investigative reports committed crimes, we are responsible for directly overseeing the effective and efficient performance of the Board.  According to the Inspector General’s latest report, such performance is in peril.  With the Board’s ability to properly function at stake, it is incumbent upon us to fully engage as the oversight committee.   

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,