ACORN and SEIU: Anatomy of a Shakedown

*Aiding ACORN are groups like DEMO’s, the Democracy Alliance, Soros Open Society Institute, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

*“ACORN’s so-called ‘muscle for money’ strategy extorts ‘donations’ from targeted government and corporate officials by offering them Mafia-like protection from protests by the group’s own paid thugs, ..”

*..their 2007-2008 ventures with SEIU against the Carlyle Group that deserve a closer inspection. ..

*“...SEIU .. staged a protest outside the Pennsylvania Avenue headquarters of The Carlyle Group as part of the union’s bid to organize Manor Care, the Toledo-based nursing home giant Carlyle is buying for $6.3 billion.”

*...On cue, enter ACORN and Barack Obama. ...SEIU hires ACORN as a “consultant” to protest the Carlyle Group. ACORN readily accepts the money...ACORN spins the fight against the Carlyle Group as rich (whites) versus poor (blacks):

*…U.S. Senator Barack Obama, for instance, issued this statement: ..stopped leaders of both parties from requiring elite investment firms to pay their fair share of taxes, even as middle-class families struggle to pay theirs.’

*... thick wads of campaign cash from that same industry going to Chicago’s top-ranking congressional Democrats: presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the No. 4 House Democrat?

*…Public Citizen, has identified more than a dozen industry chieftains who have bundled together at least $50,000 each in contributions to Mr. Obama’s campaign. Included are two principals in Carlyle Group, a Washington private-equity firm.

* While the Carlyle Group appears on the surface to be a victim of SEIU and ACORN’s shenanigans, their ties to the current administration have been carefully crafted. The group not only donated heavily to the Obama campaign, but two of Obama’s tech and telecom policy team were employees of the Carlyle Group, including William Kennard.

See also: "Not far from the tree"

One needn't be a mathematician to imagine what a national health-care option might mean to a union in search of new dues-paying recruits. The SEIU, which has promised "to fight tooth and nail" for a public option, is demonstrably persuasive. In Illinois, former governor Blagojevich (thank you for your patience) helped position the SEIU so that it could unionize health-care workers when he signed an executive order allowing collective bargaining. The SEIU showed its appreciation in advance by becoming Blagojevich's largest contributor, handing over $1.8 million for his two gubernatorial campaigns.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2349237/posts

SEIU’s top recruiting priority is unionizing hundreds of thousands of health care workers across the nation.

What better way to get a leg up on unionizing health care workers, (and further driving health care costs up in the process) than by sneaking a few precious policy advantages into federal law via the 1,000-page health care bill?

Among the SEIU sops in the bill are vast new funding mechanisms for home health care organizations. The union has focused on unionizing home health care workers and now the taxpayers will provide hundreds of millions each year to pay these new union members.

The bill also provides $10 billion in direct taxpayer subsidies to pay health care costs for retired union members. This foists the every increasing health care cost of no-longer productive members off on the treasury.

In addition, it sets up all sorts of government bodies to micro-manage the health care industry to the advantage of labor. These bodies will make regulations for the workplace, training and wage levels. They will also serve as “diversity panels” and will be empowered to seek appropriate participation in health care jobs for disadvantaged groups. Buried in Title II, Part 3, Subtitle D of the bill is the requirement that the HHS panel that will set standards for health care employment must have union (read SEIU, the biggest health industry union) representation.

The bill also ties big piles of grant money to unionization. In Title V, Subtitle D, which funds grants for nurse training, the bill limits eligibility for funding to employers that “provides wages and benefits to its nurses…that have been collectively bargain with a labor organization.”

These little set asides tucked away in the bill will strengthen SEIU’s hand by helping it unionize more of the health care workforce and provide billions in funding for those new union jobs. They also allow labor to infiltrate the regulatory process and push for further advantages.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.