"Show me the dues Tyrone!!"
Workers, labor and county officials are calling for an investigation into the allegations of questionable usage of union funds by SEIU 6434 President Tyrone Freeman."This is very serious," County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, whose 1990s legislation allowed the union to organize home-care workers here, said of the financial transactions disclosed by The Times.
The LA Times has addition comments in today's edition , including a call for Freeman's removal as President, pending completion of an investigation of dues allocations to organizations associated with family members of Freeman.
Patricia L. McGinnis, executive director of the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, said the union president, Tyrone Freeman, should be removed from office until any government probe of the union's spending is complete.
"I don't see how these expenditures can be justified," she said. "It's shocking."
On the original post regarding the Times investigated report, we received these comments.
The grand jury investigation is about an alleged illegal raise of dues to try to restore the union's coffers.They gave $4,000,000 to Mark Ridley Thomas by way of an Independant Expenditure in the primary election and when he didn't win outright, they need another $4,000,000 to back him in the general election in November. This is all on the backs of his membership that cannot afford $35.00 each month dues to contribute to a candidate.The allegations are that the raise in dues is illegal; the investigation is ongoing.(P.S. Where is the sleuth Zuma Dogg? Out begging for sheckels, I guess, cause he missed this one.)
Stay tuned...
August 09, 2008 4:33 PM
I worked for the Homecare Workers Union for a little less then a year and during my short time there I witnessed and experienced many unethical and possible illegal activities. The last straw for me was when all non hourly employees (that was everyone but about a dozen outreach workers at the non profit training center) from the union and the Training Center were told they would be required to work 7 days a week, 10 hours a day for a month leading up to an important election. And all employees were required to work for the campaign of candidates the union was supporting. Non profits are NOT allowed to endorse candidates, so asking employees of the training center, a non profit, were illegal. When I left, I did call the state and federal office that supervise non profits to report this violation.
August 10, 2008 2:16 PM
I am paying for dental insurance. I never signed up. Also my dues went from $8 to $30.66 in July. Why?? I never signed on as a member.
August 11, 2008 8:15 PM
And this to be objective.
Lets start by telling the truth about this times article.
This is about Sal Rosselli President of UHW, his business and lifetime partner Adam Reeves and Paul Pringle trying to hold onto power.
Lets see if we got this right.
*Adam Reeves - Sals' Partner, owns a business called "Its in the Bag" Graphics Design company in SF. Worked with the LA Times for 13 Years developed the LA Times Graphic Design Department. Currently has the LA Times as a client.
*Paul Pringle - had relationship with Adam Reeves prior to Adam leaving to SF to develop his company and also helped Adam secure contract with LA Times.
*Sal Rosselli, President of SEIU UHW - Adam Reeves long time partner. Owns home with Adam in SF where they have the "Its in the bag" company listed as the mailing address. Adams company has been investigated by the IRS for not paying taxes. The house used as the companies mailing address has been used as a front for loans for the company and then transferred back to Rosselli many times, just to avoid paying taxes.
This whole article has been mis-leading so bad it makes me sick. This paul pringle person did the whole article based off an angry former employee. Its unbelievable this reporter still works for the LA Times and the editors should also be ashamed of themselves for letting a story like this out especially when a WAR has broken out between Russia and Georgia. Very distasteful and insulting to our Russian and Georgian citizens.
This story is not about Tyrone Freeman and his spending, its about another attack on an African American Leader about to become the largest labor leader in CA and probrobly the world.
August 12, 2008 8:25 AM
Judging from these comments, this investigation cannot get started fast enough.............
Labels: SEIU 6434, Tyrone Freeman, zev yaroslavsky
Posted by Red Spot in CD 14 @ 8/12/2008 06:54:00 AM
1 Comments:
L.A. ethics panel to vote today on levying fines against Councilman Jose Huizar
Investigators found that Huizar had improperly used a fundraising committee to pay for research on former school board member David Tokofsky.
By David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 13, 2008
The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission is scheduled to vote today on whether to issue nearly $15,000 in fines against Councilman Jose Huizar, after investigators determined that he improperly used a fundraising committee to conduct political research on former school board member David Tokofsky.
Huizar has already created two legal defense funds, which allow him to collect private contributions to pay the fines.
Under a proposed settlement with the commission, Huizar would pay $9,318 stemming from his decision in 2006 and 2007 to use his so-called office-holder account to pay the firm Varoga and Rice to perform research on Tokofsky, who was weighing a fourth run for the school board at the time.
Office-holder committees are designed to help city politicians communicate with or otherwise serve their constituents. Under the city's ethics law, such committees are prohibited from spending money on consulting, research and polling in the 12 months leading up to an office holder's election.
Huizar attorney Stephen Kaufman said his client had accepted full responsibility for committing "administrative errors" and has already collected the contributions needed to pay the fines.
Asked about the research on Tokofsky, Kaufman called it a "confidential research project" -- one designed to help Huizar -- himself a former board member of the Los Angeles Unified School District -- find ways to "improve the schools in his community."
"It certainly covered some issues in which [Tokofsky] was involved," he added. "I'm not really at liberty to discuss the confidential research project. But suffice it to say, it was not research done in connection with any election."
Tokofsky did not end up running for reelection. Huizar backed school board member Yolie Flores Aguilar -- part of a slate drafted by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- in the race for Tokofsky's seat.
Tokofsky said ethics investigators contacted him about the Huizar expenditures earlier this year, showing him documents that the councilman obtained from a paid database search on Tokofksy's policy positions and campaign contributions.
"There's a lot of creepiness to this," Tokofsky said. "A lot of people think when they give money to the office-holder account it will help the local Boys and Girls Club, so I'm sort of shocked at what the office-holder account ended up doing."
Huizar, who represents such neighborhoods as Boyle Heights and El Sereno, also has agreed to pay $5,500 to address violations committed by his reelection committee, according to a commission report.
Ethics investigators found that the committee had illegally accepted three contributions from registered lobbyists, in violation of Proposition R, and had failed to inform the commission that it had raised more than $330,000, as is required by law.
david.zahniser@latimes.com
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