SEIU-UHW's Leon Chow Calls it Quits

SEIU-UHW's Leon Chow

Yesterday, Leon Chow’s political career reached its final, fiery conclusion when Chow -- a top official at SEIU-UHW -- officially withdrew from the race for San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors amid allegations of election fraud.

The development was reported by the San Francisco Appeal -- which initially broke the story on Chow’s apparent felony violations of election laws -- and the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Here’s an excerpt from the San Francisco Appeal:

Union organizer Leon Chow, whose ties to residences outside of the district may constitute voter fraud, has withdrawn his candidacy for District 11 supervisor. In a brief e-mail sent to the Department of Elections on Monday, Chow offered no explanation for the withdrawal of his candidacy…

Chamber of Commerce CEO Steve Falk, with whom Chow serves as co-chairs of the Alliance for Jobs and Sustainable Growth, also did not respond to a telephone message seeking comment.

Chow’s candidacy had enjoyed months of planning, preparation and funding by Dave Regan’s SEIU-UHW and the Chamber of Commerce. In the end, however, it plummeted to earth in a spectacular explosion only 15 days after Tasty first published this post.

Here’s how the San Francisco Bay Guardian described it:

[Reporter Chris Roberts] dropped a journalistic bomb on Chow's ambitions a couple weeks ago when he unearthed documents indicating that Chow actually lived in Walnut Creek and that he was registered to vote at Chinatown business address – both in violation of election law…

 And the San Francisco Appeal cited Tasty in its coverage of the story:

According to self-described "labor union related gossip site" Stern Burger with Fries, Avalos is reportedly an enemy of SEIU-UHW honcho Dave Regan, who, according to Stern Burger, helped push Chow to run for office against him. Avalos is a member of the Board's progressive wing and was runner-up to Mayor Ed Lee in last year's mayoral election.

So what’s next? 

Well, one chapter of our story may be finished, but other chapters remain to be written! 

First, Chow will likely face a criminal investigation for apparent election fraud and other felonies. One source tells Tasty that the San Francisco City Attorney’s office has already begun examining Chow’s case.  

Secondly, more shoes will drop in the near future! Soon, Tasty plans to describe additional details -- revealed by inside sources at SEIU -- that implicate top SEIU officials in a variety of additional criminal wrongdoing that’s connected to Chow’s case.

Stay tuned!

Josie Mooney: Midwife to Secret SEIU Political Deal?

Josie Mooney

SEIU members and journalists have begun to speak out about the secret political deal between SEIU Local 1021 and SEIU-UHW... which Tasty revealed on Wednesday.

Yesterday, the editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian published an article entitled “SEIU Deal Could Undermine Progressive Coalition.” According to the newspaper: “…it’s really happening -- and it could be a total trainwreck for progressive politics in San Francisco.”

Here’s an excerpt from the article, which includes quotes from a well known rank-and-file leader at Local 1021:

It would be a radical change -- for the first time, the members of Local 1021 would cede final control of their endorsements to the international.

Ed Kinchley, a co-chair of Local 1021's political action committee, told me he finds the proposal troubling. "I'm not at all interested in having the international have a say in who we endorse," he said. "Decisions about endorsements should be in the hands of our members."

He said he's all in favor of trying to find areas of agreement between the two SEIU locals -- "but do I want to have something enforced on us if we can't agree? No."

Elsewhere, the article describes how SEIU-UHW “has been taken over by the international… has attacked the hotel workers union and split with most of the rest of labor around California Pacific Medical Center… Forcing a joint endorsement with a union that is distinctly not part of the progressive coalition can only undermine Local 1021's historical role.”

So… who persuaded Local 1021’s Roxanne Sanchez to ink this knuckleheaded deal with SEIU’s Dave Regan and Mary Kay Henry? Sources say it was Josie Mooney, a longtime SEIU official who’s a close ally of Andy Stern. In fact, Mooney frequently accompanied Stern on his many SEIU-paid trips to China.

In 2008, Stern directed Mooney and SEIU Vice President Tom Debruin to create a secret group of SEIU officials called the "Skunk Team" to wage a smear campaign against Sal Rosselli and other former leaders of UHW. Why? Because these former leaders had criticized Stern and introduced a series of initiatives to democratize SEIU at its 2008 convention. Fortunately, Josie Mooney’s cloak-and-dagger campaign was outed by a disgusted SEIU staffer, whose sworn statement is pasted below.

Later, Josie Mooney left SEIU and took a job as the Executive Director of the California School Employees... until she was dumped by that union’s board.

She then signed on as a lobbyist for a San Francisco-based firm called Barnes Mosher Whitehurst Lauter, which lobbies on behalf of corporations like McDonalds and AT&T. Back in 2008, this same firm was the infamous “silent partner” in the Skunk’s Team’s attempt to carry out a hit job on Sal Rosselli and other reformers (see statement below). 

In recent months, say sources, Mooney was inserted inside Local 1021 as a high-paid consultant... thanks to the assistance of officials from the Purple Palace. Sources says she's now using her perch inside the local union to try to exert growing influence on the union's leaders... including the local's recent secret political deal with Dave Regan and Mary Kay Henry.  

Dewar-DeclarationOnSkunkTeam11-20-08[1]