The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) internal document excerpted below supports the allegation that Obama appointee John Lund has told union officials to ignore federal investigators and deal with him personally. His actions irreversibly taint criminal investigations and subvert employee protections in favor of union bosses, while raising the prestige of his labor consultant team in Wisconsin.
Above is the internal OLMS Regional Director meeting minutes that confirm what my source has been telling me. (PGHDO = Pittsburgh District Office) What Lund is doing, is much more than fixing parking tickets; he is interfering with potentially serious criminal charges.
As Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) Director, Lund heads the office primarily responsible for criminal investigations regarding union embezzlement. A union’s failure to file its union financial disclosure report in a timely manner automatically prompts a series of actions taken by the DOL personnel. A financial report delinquent more than 90 days is usually followed-up personally by DOL investigators. But, ‘former’ labor union consultant Lund has short-circuited normal procedures; he is literally telling union officials “not to deal with OLMS investigators” and “send the reports directly to” him.
The office Lund heads is responsible for investigating and reviewing union financial reports and union official conflict-of-interest disclosures. The office functions somewhat similar to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) but for unions rather than businesses.
If you will, imagine Lund as an SEC Director, giving corporations the same instructions do “not to deal with SEC investigators, just deal with me directly.” Congress and the Inspector General would rush to investigate, and the media would provide full coverage of every detail. Speculation would be rife within the media, and generate frequent headlines. The union officials who went see Lund would be under the microscope as well as their unions. Their financial records for the past decade would be reviewed and each questionable trip to Las Vegas or Australia would be questioned.
More importantly, union members and those forced to pay dues to these unions would likely be painted as victims that they are. Perhaps the press would even look back at the last three years of union disclosure elimination that John Lund has orchestrated that has no benefit for the rank-and-file. No, Lund has been systematically dismantling union financial disclosure and union boss conflict-of-interest reporting to the benefit of his union boss clients.
As OLMS Director, Lund wields the power to instigate, influence and/or shut down criminal investigations or union audits. This kind of authority requires responsible oversight and unimpeachable ethical standards, which, it appears, are not being maintained, and thus destroying public confidence in the integrity of OLMS.
According to the official DOL minutes excerpted above, Lund is not only “directly” providing his personal services to delinquent union disclosure filers, but he has also instructed union officers “not to deal with OLMS investigators.” If this does not violate federal employee ethics, then there are no federal employee ethics.
John Lund has betrayed the trust of the American public and the hard-working union members and forced-dues payers who never have a say in where their money goes and now may never know where it went.
Have we all become so jaded that we EXPECT this type of systemic corruption from a Big Labor consultants appointed to DOL positions? Regardless, there is no reason to allow these allegations to go uninvestigated. Union members and forced-dues payers are entitled to know what or who their hard-earned money is buying. The criminal justice system should not be subverted.
Until Lund’s actions were exposed two weeks ago, it was not certain that the White House knew about Lund’s unethical and possible criminal behavior. If the White House had cared to confirm Lund’s behavior, it would have only taken one call to his DOL supervisor, or perhaps White House staff could have just asked Dick Trumka during their daily conversations. We must infer from its inaction that the Obama Administration condones this misuse of federal oversight.
Congress must act quickly to thoroughly investigate these questionable activities at DOL. When John Lund’s actions are combined with the past three years of OLMS regulatory changes; it is clear that DOL is concealing how forced dues are being spent by Big Labor bosses, with the Department’s late reporting insider treatment, conflicts-of-interest, union trust funds, and union receipts.
It is time for Big Labor Secretary Hilda Solis appear before Congress and defend her Department’s actions that benefit Big Labor Bosses at the expense of justice and the rank-and-file. Will she admit that the Obama’s Ethics Executive Order is a joke and try to defend John Lund’s actions? Or, will Congress finally call this Obama DOL to the carpet and let Solis know that there is a new Sheriff in town?
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