Unholy Union Why is the SEIU boss the White House’s most frequent visitor? (Andrew Stern)

NationalReviewOnline ^ | November 23, 2009 | STEPHEN SPRUIELL

[Syncro]

November 23, 2009

Unholy Union
Why is the SEIU boss the White House’s most frequent visitor?

STEPHEN SPRUIELL

The Friday before Halloween, in response to requests from the public, the White House released records of the visitors it had received between January and July. George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, and Serena Williams were among the famous names on the list. But the man who appeared most frequently is less well-known. His name is Andrew Stern, and during the first six months of Obama’s tenure, he visited the White House 21 times — about three times per month. Most of these visits included an intimate meeting with the president or other senior officials. Among outsiders, Stern enjoys unrivaled access to the White House. And the more you know about him, the spookier that sounds.

Stern is president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a federation of health-care, public-sector, and custodial workers that claims approximately 2 million members. Stern replaced former president John Sweeney in 1996, the year after Sweeney won a bitterly fought battle for control of the AFL-CIO. At the time, Sweeney’s win was viewed as a victory for the left wing of the labor movement. Ramesh Ponnuru wrote in these pages: “Many of the people in [Sweeney’s] camp have backgrounds in the New Left.” Andrew Stern certainly fits that description.

Stern lacks the traditional blue-collar pedigree of a union boss. In a profile of him for The New Republic, Bradford Plumer wrote, “Stern was part of a generation of idealistic union leaders who came to organized labor from college, not the factory floor.” He started at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school in the late ’60s, dabbled in student radicalism, changed his major, bummed around Europe, came back to the States, and went to work as a welfare case officer in Pennsylvania. SEIU had just organized his shop, and he got active in the union. He ended up as one of Sweeney’s protégés, his successor, and, eventually, his bête noire.

SEIU president Andrew SternNam Y. Huh/AP

[Syncro]

“The most important thing to note about what SEIU is doing is that it’s really become a lobbying arm for the president,” Berg says. “Much like Organizing for America [the community-organizing group run by the Democratic National Committee], they are trying to drive bodies nationwide to lobby their congressmen and senators to try to implement the president’s agenda.”

Seen in that light, it is entirely unsurprising that Stern’s name should be the one that appears most frequently in White House visitor logs. Obama and Stern are working together to make America a more liberal place, and they want you to join them.

[FormerACLUmember]

An organized crime gangster SO in need of being perp walked off the federal prison.

[Syncro]

Glenn Beck on Monday's TV show on FOX NEWS did a great expose on this guy.

The tie in with Obama is amazing.

He had quotes of Obama saying “SEIU got me elected” and others where he unashamedly exhibited how he is joined at the hip with the thug filled anti American union.

They got him elected, and he will do all he can to pass a bogus health care “reform” bill to get them tens of thousands of jobs.

Paying off his enablers, just like the 2 billion he gave to Soros to drill for oil off shore Brazil.

[Syncro]

You got that right!

But, alas. Connected and Protected.

From an email:

---

CONGRESS BEWARE…

“WE THE PEOPLE” ARE WATCHING.

AND WE’LL SEE YOU AT THE NEXT ELECTION.

To the Congress:

The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775
- you have had 234 years to get it right; it is broke.

Social Security was established in 1935
- you have had 74 years to get it right; it is broke.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938
- you have had 71 years to get it right; it is broke.

The "War on Poverty" started in 1964
- you have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion
of our money is confiscated each year and transferred
to "the poor"; it hasn't worked AND our entire country
is BROKE!

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965
- you've had 44 years to get it right; they are broke.

Freddie Mac was established in 1970
- you have had 39 years to get it right; it is broke.

Trillions of dollars were spent in the massive
political payoffs called TARP, the "Stimulus",
the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009...
none show any signs of working, although
ACORN appears to have found a new source:
the American taxpayer.

And finally, to set a new record:

"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and
went broke in 2009! It took cars (that were the best
some people could afford) and replaced them with
high-priced and less-affordable cars, mostly Japanese.
A good percentage of the profits went out of the
country. And the American taxpayers take the hit for
Congress' generosity in burning three billion more of
our dollars on failed experiments.

So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record
that proves that "services" you shove down our
throats are failing faster and faster, you want
Americans to believe you can be trusted with a
government-run health care system?

20% of our entire economy?

With all due respect,

Are you crazy?

[Boucheau]

“Why is the SEIU boss the White House’s most frequent visitor?”

You wouldn’t question two capitalists getting together to talk shop and make plans, why question two communists?

My apologies to the wobbly-kneed conservatives (who dare not utter such an awful word as ‘communist’).

[SideoutFred]

ping

[TChris]

Why is the SEIU boss the White House’s most frequent visitor?

Just a wild guess here, but "Birds of a Feather Flock Together" comes to mind.

Thugs hang with thugs.

[rawcatslyentist]

>"Why is the SEIU boss the White House’s most frequent visitor? (Andrew Stern) "

What are you, a racist? /s

[pieceofthepuzzle]

This guy has that kind of access to the White House, but the general coordinating the war in Afghanistan gets almost no time? If this were a Republican administration this would be a major media focus.

[Soul of the South]

The Department of Education was founded in 1980. You have had 29 years to get it right; it is broke.

[RoadTest]

“Service Employees International Union (SEIU)”

It’s the “International” part that’s a Red Flag (in more ways than one). This whole Obama nightmare is run by internationalists using international Communism as its medium.

[Chode]

gotta talk to the Boss now and again... question is, who's the Boss???

[opentalk]

what SEIU is doing is that it’s really become a lobbying arm for the president

They dropped their lobbyist registration 2 years earlier. This may me illegal, but who would investigate?

HA exclusive: ATR, AWF demand probe of SEIU’s Stern for illegal lobbying

How Andy Stern Got Around the "No Lobbyist" Policy; He Just Didn't Register

from above link:

President Obama has always made a pretty big deal about not working with “lobbyists”. Registered lobbyists can’t get stimulus money, can’t be White House advisors and are not allowed access to meetings and summits. So how does one get around that? It’s simple; you just don’t register as a lobbyist. That’s what Andy Stern did and it may come back to bite him.