You almost want to close your eyes and not look. That’s how shockingly this administration is governing. Taking a cue from Saul Alinsky, author of Rules for Radicals, President Obama is running the country like a community organizer.
The number one goal of an organizer is to deal with the leaders of the community. That way the members will fall in line, or else. Obama’s biggest communities today are unions. Therefore, union heads have access to the White House. And no union leader has had more access than Andy Stern of Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Andy Stern has visited the White House 22 times since Obama took office. The 2.1 million union members he represents mostly work in health care. As president-elect, Obama said, “Before debating health care, I talked to Andy Stern and SEIU members.”
Andy Stern trained at Midwest Academy. Its founders, Heather and Paul Booth, wanted to teach left-wing community organizers how to promote social change and infiltrate the labor movement. Today, their star pupil Andy Stern yells, “Workers of the world unite!”
Stern has a big problem with America’s past 223 years. In his words, “The question is how is everyone going to share the wealth? And I think that after we get through this health-care situation and finally solve this problem of 223 years, you know, we are going to see a change in our labor laws.”
Believe me, there is no bigger beneficiary of Obamacare than Stern. Stephen Spruiell of the National Review Online writes, “Stern has openly bragged about the SEIU’s $61 million investment in Barack Obama.” Politico online says Andy Stern practically lives at the White House. “We get heard,” says Stern.
Right before Obama was to make his Democratic presidential nomination acceptance speech in Denver, the L.A. Times published an investigative report on SEIU. It found that SEIU’s Tyrone Freeman used $600,000 in union contracts for his wife’s video production and entertainment ventures, $8,000 per month for his mother-in-law’s babysitting services, $13,000 at a Beverly Hills cigar club, $12,500 at Morton’s The Steakhouse, and $8,000 for his Hawaiian wedding.
The L.A. Times then looked into SEIU’s Rickman Jackson. He was Freeman’s chief of staff working in Michigan. Jackson was making a six-figure salary plus another salary in California and accepted $33,500 in housing payments. Next, there was SEIU’s Annette Grajeda, whose ex-boyfriend, SEIU official Alejandro Stephens, received multiple salaries and consulting fees while also pocketing a salary as an L.A. County health-care services employee. Grajeda arranged for him to receive an eight-month leave of absence. She didn’t lose her job, though. She’s been more or less promoted, working for Anna Burger, SEIU secretary-treasurer.
Who’s on the inside at the White House? Patrick Gaspard was the acting political director for SEIU back in 2006. According to The Washington Examiner, based on disclosure forms filed with the U.S. Department of Labor, SEIU “contributed $7.4 million between 2005 and 2008 to the national organization, state chapters and allied groups” of ACORN.
On Sep 28, The American Spectator called Gaspard “ACORN’s man in the White House.” Gaspard formerly served as National Political Director for Obama’s presidential campaign. He’s currently the director of the White House Office of Political Affairs.
After ACORN was exposed in “brothel-gate” it assigned an independent advisory board to investigate. Two members of the board are Andy Stern of SEIU and John Podesta, progressive liberal at the Center for American Progress (which of course is funded by George Soros). Nothing like keeping this in-house.
The workers of SEIU deserve much better. Trust in leadership in America has plummeted. The price of gold, in addition to being a gauge of inflation, is a barometer of people’s trust in leadership. Why do you think it continues to surge? The irony is that Soros is putting his money in gold. Where’s his trust?
The access Andy Stern has had to the White House is incredible. The further I look into SEIU, the more appalled I become. Imagine what we don’t hear about. What a joke. This is not about representation of the hard workers in SEIU. This is about leadership getting fat at the trough and not wanting to lose control.
As long as there are union leaders like Andy Stern, there will be people like Tyrone Freeman, Rickman Jackson, Annelle Grajeda, and Alejandro Stephens. They are a perfect example of what happens when a few speak for the many of a community.
E.J. Smith is Managing Director of Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. an investment advisory firm managing portfolios for investors with over $1,000,000 in investable assets.
