Dim sum and then some
Ninety comments on a Saturday? You guys need some new thread, so here it is.
And say, if you're now off the phone banks for the evening, how about going out tonight to Monterey Park, the base from which Judy Chu is waging her District 4 State Board of Equalization race (primary: June 6)?
If you like to watch expenditures (and who doesn't?) you see that Chu's second highest expenditure total is approaching $13,000, which has gone to...
Campaign consultants?...Direct mail?...
Nope...nope...
It's everyone's favorite: Monterey Park's own Ocean Star Seafood, of course.
That ain't chicken feet, my friends...by contrast, Jerome Horton has only spent two grand at Texas Mexican Restaurant. Never heard of it---I guess it's the one in Sacto.
Good luck on the phones tonite and tomorrow, and I hope your candidate wins.
And say, if you're now off the phone banks for the evening, how about going out tonight to Monterey Park, the base from which Judy Chu is waging her District 4 State Board of Equalization race (primary: June 6)?
If you like to watch expenditures (and who doesn't?) you see that Chu's second highest expenditure total is approaching $13,000, which has gone to...Campaign consultants?...Direct mail?...
Nope...nope...
It's everyone's favorite: Monterey Park's own Ocean Star Seafood, of course.
That ain't chicken feet, my friends...by contrast, Jerome Horton has only spent two grand at Texas Mexican Restaurant. Never heard of it---I guess it's the one in Sacto.
Good luck on the phones tonite and tomorrow, and I hope your candidate wins.
Posted by Joseph Mailander @ 3/04/2006 03:57:00 PM
30 Comments:
Still got egg in your eyebrows, Joe.
I wonder where Eric Siddall is spending his campaign cash in this race?
Politicians and Unions Target Charitable Organizations
Written by Fernando Oaxaca
MISREPRESENTING THE PEOPLE
"Follow the money" is a cliché but a good rule to observe when checking out a politician's behavior. Yet, sometimes our elected representatives do strange things that make constituents feel hard-pressed to believe that the persons they helped elect would engage in such tacky behavior. Here is a good object story based on my presence on the board of a California non-profit, charitable foundation. All of the described behavior is probably legal.
Enter the politicians. Assemblywoman Judy Chu, (D) Monterey Park, while this disruptive activity at MAOF was ongoing, telephoned the director of the Foundation, delivering what was, in effect, a thinly veiled "encouragement" to cooperate with union access and organizing requests (veiled by such rhetoric as "the need for fair treatment of workers" and an honest concern for "the well-being of the community.")
How Ms. Chu, a Chinese-American from heavily Asian-American Monterey Park, developed such a passionate concern for Mexican children under five years of age and their preponderantly single Mexican mothers far from her city was not made clear. Her 49th Assembly District is 40% Asian, 46% Latino, and about equal in Asian vs. Latino voter registration. As a Democrat, though, she is in a relatively safe seat; and being nice to Latinos, as she may have analyzed the case, just can't hurt!
The next unexpected request to cave to union demands was in the form of an agressive full page letter on U.S. Congressional stationery from Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D) southeastern Los Angeles, essentially parroting the message already received from State Assemblywoman Chu, this time, though, leaving a paper trail. Ms. Solis, it is widely acknowledged, knocked out old-time Democrat Marty Martinez from his 32nd Congressional District only with the generous and effective aid of union money and precinct workers in 2000. She can retire in that seat if ambition does not otherwise move her!
Why all the fuss from these elected officials? One can only surmise that beyond possible union "payback for past favors," it involves $110,000 in annual union dues. The union must have asked for their "enforcement" assistance.
The SEIU targeted for a "bargaining unit" the 220 MAOF employees that are instructor/child-care specialists working in teams daily, with around 80-100 kids in each MAOF children's center. These "teachers", mostly Latinas, earn around $19,000 to $20,000 a year (for 12 months work, not 9 months, like school district teachers!). The SEIU dues are $41/ month for any "covered" employee making over $16,000. ($41x220x12---do the math!)
The SEIU eventually eked out a victory in an employee "election." The next months were to be devoted to reaching agreement on a union contract with the foundation.
That $110,000 from MAOF Latina child care instructors going into union coffers will help with the donations of hundreds of thousands of union dollars given to elected officials, all Democrats, each California election cycle. Per union reports to the U.S. Department of Labor, the SEIU, its state council, its local branches and its affilliates took in $32,430,213 in dues in the Los Angeles area alone, in the year 2001. In the rest of California, including the San Francisco zone, they collected $88,476,325 making for a grand total of over $120,900,000 in one year¹s California union-member dues!
Looking further into the money trail, California Secretary of State records for the 2001-2002 election cycle show SEIU contributions to Ms. Chu of about $20,000 and $25,000 from other California unions. MAOF only got a phone call last spring from her, on the union¹s behalf. Senator Escutia, who wrote a chiding letter to MAOF this May, received $23,500 from the SEIU but reported $ 62,000 from other California unions.
California, a state in precarious economic waters, is now swimming in a case of extreme moral irony with the potential passage of a bill that would take federal funds away from low-income and unborn children and use them to provide abortions for women. A.B. 794, proposed by California Assemblywoman Judy Chu (D-49, Monterey Park), aims to direct $304 million from children's health and prenatal services to women's health care programs. Federal guidelines require that the $304 million mentioned in the bill be spent on children from conception to the age of 19. However, Assemblywoman Chu in her draft of A.B....
What politicians received phone banking services, money from SEIU?
LA City Mayor Villaraigosa Abandons 350 Poor Families in South
US Attorney -
http://www.lawfuel.com/index.php?page=press_releases&handler=focus&pressreleaseid=5619&return=blur-article
LAWFUEL - The Law News Network - Federal and state charges have been filed against two former heads of prominent labor organizations in connection with a scheme to embezzle money from Service Employees International Union Local 99 to help finance the successful Los Angeles City Council campaign of one of the defendants, United States Attorney Debra Wong Yang and Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley announced today.
The charges, brought in separate cases filed in federal and state courts, result from federal, state and local investigations into the City Council campaign of Martin Ludlow, who was elected to the City Council in 2003 and resigned last year to head the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Ludlow resigned that post late last month, citing the investigations.
The federal charges involve the use of union funds to pay expenses for Ludlow's political campaign. The state charges stem from violations of campaign laws.
Ludlow and Janett Humphries, former Local 99 president, were charged in both jurisdictions. The state case against Ludlow and Humphries was filed today. Humphries, 63, is scheduled to appear after 1:30 p.m. today for arraignment in Division 30, Los Angeles Superior Court, 210 W. Temple St. Ludlow, 41, is to appear on Monday in the same court. Both defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to exceed the $500 campaign contribution limit, a felony. Humphries was charged with a second felony count of conspiracy to conceal campaign contributions.
Ludlow was charged with two additional misdemeanor counts of violating campaign laws.
The United States Attorney's office this morning filed charges and a related plea agreement in federal Court in which Ludlow agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of conspiring to violate federal labor laws that outlaw embezzling from a labor organization.
Ludlow has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, which makes it a crime for an officer of a labor organization – in this case, Humphries – to embezzle union funds. Ludlow is expected to be arraigned on the charges on March 27.
The plea agreement does not contemplate jail time for Ludlow, but a federal judge will make the final determination if jail is appropriate. The plea agreement does include a provision that bars Ludlow from working with any labor organization for 13 years. It also requires him to pay $36,492 in restitution to the union.
Gordon S. Heddell, Inspector General, United States Department of Labor, stated: “Using union funds to illegally aid a political campaign represents a betrayal of union members’ trust and weakens the public trust. This indictment and plea agreement highlights my office’s determination to investigate corrupt entities who misappropriate union coffers for personal gain. We will continue to work with other law enforcement agencies and DOL agencies to safeguard union employee benefits.”
John Heaney, regional director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards, said: “This investigation reflects OLMS’ commitment to safeguard union assets by ensuring that members’ hard-earned dues are spent for properly authorized, union-related purposes. These officials will be held accountable for their actions.”
Janett Humphries, expected to face charges of conspiring to provide SEIU funds to a council race, alleges others were behind the scheme.
By Patrick McGreevy, Times Staff Writer
The day before she was to face criminal charges, former union President Janett Humphries filed a civil lawsuit Thursday alleging that key prosecution witnesses against her were the actual agents of an alleged plot to make secret campaign contributions to former Los Angeles City Councilman Martin Ludlow.
An attorney for Humphries said he intends to question under oath other politicians who got support from Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union to look for more signs of illegal union campaign activities.
"Most of the political community and elected community in Los Angeles will be given a chance to testify on this, including but not limited to the mayor," said Ricardo A. Torres II, an attorney for Humphries.
Good Book
"Betrayal : How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics" (Hardcover)
by Linda Chavez, Daniel Gray
Group Lists 13 'Most Corrupt' in Congress
Three California lawmakers are named by the ethics watchdog. A spokesman for one senator says the report is 'pure politics.'
By Chuck Neubauer, The Los Angeles Times
Rep. Maxine Waters: The report cites a December 2004 Los Angeles Times investigation disclosing how members of the congresswoman's family have made more than $1 million in the last eight years by doing business with companies, candidates and causes that Waters has helped. Before publication of the Times investigation last year, Waters declined to be interviewed, but said of her family members: "They do their business, and I do mine."
Prosecutors declined to say Friday whether they are probing any other 2003 campaigns, although both federal and local officials said their investigations are continuing.
What is wrong about Maxine Waters helping her family? Don't we all do that?
That report on Maxine was a disgusting smear. What's the big deal if a bunch of corporations hire her daughter? Her daughter doesn't vote on their legislation.
It's not like companies such as Nielson Research/Ratings are really special interests.
11:17 PM
It's not the politicians who received money from SEIU, it's the politcians who received money and didn't report it.
The typical phone bank rate is .30 to .60 cents a call. Those SEIU phone banks could do 40,000 calls a day. That's $24,000 a day and these phone banks run non-stop for at least 30 days. (I begin getting calls sometimes 100 days out in certain campaigns.) That's $720,000 in phone banking alone. I don't think Antonio's 2003 campaign reported this much.
Neither did every other COPE endorsed candidate out there. Thats 3 members of the Board of Supervisors; 12 members of the L.A. City Council; every Democratic member of the Assembly, State, Congress and U.S. Senate in California; - get the picture.
What pandora's box did Ludlow open up here? What hell will Ricardo Torres unleash?
Think the Karl Rove and Arnold aren't looking at this?
Didn't the LA Times do a huge story on all the corruption of Maxine Water's family and all the money they were getting paid?
Is it safe for Torres III and/or Pacheco to walk in East L.A.?
It looks like they are trying to take down the entire group of elected officials that were supported by the Unions.
Is that a popular thing to do?
Maybe they are closet Republicans.
The smear on Maxine Waters smack of racism. What about the corrupt antics of our esteemed and white County Supervisor Don Kanabe. He is one corrupt f'er but nobody writes about his fathead son making $$$ off sellin his pop's votes to the highest bidder. what up with that honkeys?
8:00AM Yes! I'm not sure Rove's looking at this but arnold can't ignore it.
8:57 Shut up dude. You conspiracy theorists! Can't believe in era it is POLITICALLY INCORRECT to practice democracy and trash people for their choice of party.
Nah! Nick Torres are democrats but shit hit the fan any your pissed.
10:20
if the BoS votes 5-0, than Knabe lobbying his father for a vote won't change the outcome.
The LA Times article was nothing and notice how it hasn't been picked up anywhere else?
What the hell!!! You can trash the mayor but ultimately you won't catch him. He is smart and gets away with shit you can't and your jealous mother fucker.
Fu Off you fer and our mayor is #1
stick with fucking with CD 14 folks and leave Maxine's family out of the petty bullshit that comes on this blog.
You guys are just a bunch of jealous haters who can't do a better job. You're scared of the Mayor, and take pride in talking shit about politics when you don't work in any office, or campaign. If you worked with, or for Maxine, you would know that she is effective. Sure her daughter, son and now grandson does work for her and has her ear. What politician doesn't. AV's son will soon be President of a YD group and will open his own consulting business. Herb Wesson's son has done the same after years of toiling on campaigns.
So shut the fuck up and do something, bitches!
Stop with the CD 14 stuff. People citywide post on this blog. If you can't take the heat don't post on here. Maxine Waters obviously has done some unethical stuff and got caught. The LA Times pieces shredded her. IF she cared about her constituents how could she allow King/Drew to go down the toliet in a community that needs a hospital the most???The last poster is definitely in need of psychiatric help. In order to make a point if you're intelligent and mature you don't need to use curse words. This is a political blog. Therefore, people are posting your political opinions.
11:18 - Not so fast. Late last week, the US Attorney's office issued several subpoenas for County records related to dirty Don's antics. It aint over by a long shot.
US District Attorney has been active as of late on County Supervisors?
What about the Mayor?
12:24 obviously has not worked in politics or else he/she would know that people curse in the political environment. Ass.
Maxine is not responsible for King/Drew. It is a COUNTY hospital and the BOD is responsible for monitoring that place.
Know what you're talking about pendejo.
Last poster is???????
Called every blogger pendejo, must be???????
Latino Politician Staff Member
Lets clean up our act in politics, be it Dem or Rep. Lets bring back the government of the people, for the people and by the people. starting with CA politics and finishing up with LA politics. How about it, whos with me?
Here Here! I'm whith ya. When do we start the NEW PARTY of the people and for the people?
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