On Monday, California’s
largest newspaper published an editorial bashing SEIU-UHW for its ballot initiative fraud.
The editorial,
authored by the Los Angeles Times’ deputy editorial page editor, describes
how SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan twice
introduced statewide ballot initiatives for the “ostensible” purpose of
protecting taxpayers… but then quickly tossed the public interest into the
trash so he could cut secret deals with hospital CEOs.
According to
the editorial, the “real purpose” of SEIU-UHW’s ballot measures was making
backroom deals with CEOs, “as was made clear in an arbitrator’s report last
month.”
“There’s
something undeniably distasteful about the SEIU-UHW’s tactics,” says the Times.
That’s for
sure.
Regan
cynically exploited the public’s anger about soaring income equality, the shrinking middle-class, and worsening poverty... knowing full
well he never intended to use voters’ 600,000 signatures to actually win
improvements for the public. Instead, Regan traded voters’ signatures like so
many poker chips during his secret negotiations with hospital CEOs.
That’s why
the Times attacks SEIU-UHW for trying
“to harness voters’ resentments to advance its own parochial interests.”
As a result
of recent lawsuits, we now know that Regan committed an even bigger betrayal
of the public trust.
In his
secret deal with hospital CEOs, Regan not only agreed to drop the CEO salary initiative
from the ballot, he also signed a gag clause that legally silenced SEIU-UHW from
even mentioning CEOs’ off-the-charts salaries.
 |
| SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan |
According to
court
records, Regan’s secret pact -- called the “Code of Conduct” -- legally
prohibited SEIU-UHW from issuing any “communications raising concerns about
hospital pricing and executive compensation in health care.” [See Section
I(B)(4)(a) of the Code
of Conduct]
So just how concerned
is Regan about CEOs’ sky-high salaries?
Let’s ask
the 85,000 members and staff of SEIU-UHW who’ve had a giant piece of purple duct
tape across their mouths for the past two years... thanks to SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan.
