Tasty hears that Dave Kieffer, the recently appointed Executive Director of SEIU’s California State Council, was nearly removed from his job today by a vote of the Council’s governing board. The board, which apparently is none too pleased with Kieffer, took up a formal proposal to terminate Kieffer… and then deadlocked on the vote.
Kieffer is literally hanging on by mere fingernails after reportedly wearing out the board’s patience due to his trademark combination of ineffectiveness and arrogance. Apparently, the board was especially pissed off at Kieffer’s comments that aired in the Sacramento Bee, where Kieffer criticized the Democratic governor’s proposal to bring tax and spending proposals to a vote of the people as a way to address California’s multi-billion-dollar deficit.
Kieffer called the governor’s proposal “terribly fraught with peril” and threatened to withhold SEIU’s money from any election campaign. Kieffer’s comments drew a sharp rebuke from the Governor’s spokesperson: “The people are the ultimate authority. The governor made a promise during the campaign, and he is not wavering from it.”
Kieffer, another of SEIU’s high-paid officials from Washington DC, has created substantial controversy in California and other states by pushing 'deals with the devil' in order to win "organizing rights" for SEIU at nursing home chains. Under Kieffer’s deals, SEIU throws its support behind nursing home chains’ proposals to change state laws so as to sharply restrict the rights of elderly and disabled patients to sue nursing homes for killing or injuring patients. The deals – which SEIU and its corporate partners call “tort reform” – have drawn sharp criticism from senior organizations like AARP.
Will Kieffer hang on to his job at SEIU's California State Council? Or will he be packing his bags to head back to DC to join his wife in SEIU’s Purple Palace? Stay tuned!
