SEIU's Dennis Rivera Hires P.R. Firm in Wake of Allegations of Business-Funded Influence-Buying Scheme

SEIU's Dennis Hickey Rivera

Just one day after news surfaced about Dennis Hickey Rivera’s involvement in an alleged influence-buying scheme linking multiple deep-pocketed business executives to Puerto Rico’s scandal-plagued governor, Rivera hired a pricey New York public relations firm to do damage control, according to press reports.

Nell Callahan, Vice President of SKDKnickerbocker (also known as SKDK), said Rivera had retained the firm “to set the record straight.” Within 24 hours, SKDK reportedly circulated a memo to legislators’ offices in Washington DC defending of Rivera.

SKDK is a full service public affairs practice that offers crisis communications, branding, marketing, media training, digital/social media advice, speech writing, and message development. Its clients have included Barack Obama, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, AT&T, Facebook, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Jennifer Cunningham, SEIU 1199NY’s former political director, is a Partner and Managing Director at SKDK, where she advises politicians and provides “C-suite message and communication strategy for many Fortune 50 corporations,” according to SKDK’s website. Cunningham was formerly married to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

 

Jennifer Cunningham

Rivera was the president of SEIU 1199NY from 1989-2007. Since then, he's since served as a “Senior Advisor” to SEIU President Mary Kay Henry.

In an earlier post, Tasty described Rivera’s role in founding and operating the organization that took hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks, hedge funds, real estate developers, private equity funds, and other big business… and then hired the governor’s brother to fill an alleged no-show job as the organization’s only staff member. 

In 2014, SEIU-UHW, headed by President Dave Regan, was the fourth-largest contributor to the organization, “Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País” (SEAP), according to federal tax returns.

along with SEIU’s Dennis Rivera, SEAP’s Board of Directors is composed of corporate executives including the CEOs of GM Capital, Banco Popular, UBS Financial Services, Bacardi Rum, Putnam Bridge Funding, and Putney Capital Management.

SEIU-UHW Gave $25,000 to Group Linked to Alleged Influence-Buying Scheme and Scandal-Plagued Puerto Rican Governor

Banco Popular in San Juan

California-based SEIU-UHW contributed $25,000 to a group at the center of an alleged influence-buying scheme linked to Puerto Rican governor Alejandro García Padilla, according to records obtained from two federal agencies.

Why did SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan give $25,000 of his members’ money to a Puerto Rican organization that’s co-financed by a massive hedge fund and the island’s largest bank… and which allegedly funneled money to the Governor’s brother for a no-show job?

The answer apparently lies with Dennis Hickey Rivera.

Rivera -- who was the president of SEIU 1199NY and is now a “Senior Advisor” to SEIU President Mary Kay Henry -- is closely associated with the Puerto Rican governor and his political party, the Popular Democratic Party.

Rivera reportedly set up the organization that’s at the center of the alleged influence-buying scandal -- the “Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País” (SEAP) -- by using the shell of a nonprofit corporation he previously established in New York.

 

SEIU's Dennis Rivera

What does SEAP do? And who funds it?

Here’s where the story gets interesting.

According to its website, SEAP seeks “to support economic development in the Commonwealth” by “bringing investment and creating jobs in Puerto Rico.”

However, critics allege that the organization is a tool for corporations to buy influence with the governor. They point to the organization’s funding sources and its payouts to the governor’s brother to back their claims.

In 2014, a majority of SEAP’s funding -- $200,000 of its total $275,000 -- came from just three corporations: Banco Popular (Puerto Rico’s largest bank), St. James Security, Inc. (a security firm that holds contracts with the Puerto Rican government), and Putnam Bridge Funding (a hedge fund operated by its billionaire CEO, Nicholas Prouty, which has made huge bets on Puerto Rican real estate).

Excerpt from SEAP's federal tax return for 2014 indicating some of its sources of funds.

Banco Popular’s CEO Richard Carrion serves as the Chairman of the SEAP’s Board of Directors while SEIU’s Dennis Hickey Rivera is the Vice Chairman, according to the organization’s website and federal tax returns.

Another member of the organization’s board is Miguel Ferrer, former Chairman of UBS Financial Services Inc., which in 2012 paid a $26.6 million penalty to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle allegations that it misled customers and engaged in fraud, according to Reuters.

What about the governor’s brother?

 

The Puerto Rican governor and his brother, right.

Curiously, SEAP has only one staff member -- the governor’s brother, Antonio García Padilla. 

He’s a full-time professor at the University of Puerto Rico… but he nonetheless was paid $70,000 over 11 months by Rivera’s nonprofit organization to serve as the organization's full-time Executive Director, according to SEAP’s 2014 tax returns. 

What role has SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan played in the scandal?

In 2014, SEIU-UHW was SEAP’s fourth-largest contributor, according to SEAP’s federal tax returns. 

SEIU-UHW’s annual filing with the US Department of Labor confirms the union’s $25,000 contribution to the group (see excerpt immediately below).

Excerpt from SEIU-UHW's US DOL Form LM-2 for 2014

Now… it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why corporations would want to buy influence with the governor. But why did SEIU-UHW contribute to SEAP, which is located some 4,000 miles away?

Tasty’s sources say it was part of an effort by SEIU-UHW’s Regan to buy influence inside SEIU’s DC headquarters during his battle against SEIU President Mary Kay Henry.

Regan delivered the $25,000 to Rivera in July of 2014 as Regan was sharpening his attack against Henry. Only five months later, Henry and SEIU’s International Executive Board approved a resolution ordering the transfer of 65,000 members of SEIU-UHW’s members to a separate SEIU local union controlled by one of Henry’s allies, Laphonza Butler.

According to Tasty’s sources, Regan’s donation of $25K to Rivera’s organization was intended to curry favor with Rivera, who works inside SEIU's headquarters and also has great influence with leaders of 1199NY, the largest and most powerful local union inside SEIU.

Interestingly, the scandal surrounding SEAP comes just months after another influence-buying scandal involving another brother of the Governor. 

In December, the FBI arrested 10 businessmen and Puerto Rico officials in the first scandal.

Press coverage of scandal with Gov's first brother

Anaudi Hernández Pérez -- a businessman, political fund-raiser, and the head of campaign finances for the governor’s party -- allegedly used his relationship with the governor’s second brother (Luis Gerardo García Padilla) to steer government contracts to corporations that, in turn, lined Hernández Pérez’s pockets. 

The government then paid the corporations for contract work they never actually performed, thereby lining the businessmen’s pockets with cash, according to a 25-count indictment handed down by the US Attorney’s Office.

On June 24, Hernández Pérez faces sentencing of up to six years after pleading guilty to 14 corruption charges. He also agreed to forfeit his $4 million home in Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, the governor has announced he will not run for another term of office.

Smart move.

SEIU and Dennis Hickey Rivera have a long and dirty relationship with the governor’s party, the Partido Popular Democratico or "Popular Democratic Party."

In 2008, SEIU used its cozy relationship with the party and then-Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila to try to eliminate one of Puerto Rico’s largest and most militant unions, the Federacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico (FMPR), and replace it with SEIU as a “company union” that would do the governor’s bidding, according to reporting by Juan Gonzalez at the New York Daily News.

 

Puerto Rican teachers confronting SEIU's 2008 convention

The current SEAP scandal underscores SEIU will officials' cozy relationships with the captains of big business, including the hedge funds, banks, and real estate corporations that have played an outsize role in the economic crisis affecting Puerto Rico and the United States.

More news to follow in the days ahead. 

Here's a full copy of SEAP's federal tax return for 2014, which includes disclosure of Regan's $25,000 contribution to SEAP on page 22.

  Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País's federal tax return for 2014

Did SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan find religion?

As SEIU President Mary Kay Henry celebrates the miraculous resurrection of SEIU's order to transfer 65,000 California long-term care workers, SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan is experiencing his own kind of religious moment.

Did "Diamond Dave" find religion?

Not quite.

But he has undergone a sudden “religious conversion” that’s allowed him to perform a flip-flop of biblical proportions. 

In a fantastic about-face that's befitting of only the sleaziest politician, Regan -- who has fervently supported SEIU’s order to "unite" all of California's long-term care workers into SEIU Local 6434 – is now suddenly opposed to it.

It's like that famous politician who said, "I voted for it, uh..., before I voted against it."

Well, that's Dave Regan. But on steroids.

Back in 2007 and 2008, Regan was a member of SEIU’s Long Term Care Division Steering Council and aggressively pushed for the transfer of SEIU-UHW’s 65,000 long-term care workers into Local 6434.

And in June of 2008 at SEIU’s convention in Puerto Rico, Regan aggressively campaigned in support of “Resolution # 206a” which called for the transfer of SEIU-UHW’s 65,000 long-term care workers to Local 6434.

Regan even worked hand-in-hand with Tyrone Freeman to launch a PR and direct-mail campaign in California to push for the transfer of the 65,000 members... including a website called www.StrongerAsOne.com

Then, in January of 2009, Regan was a member of SEIU’s International Executive Board and voted in favor of ordering SEIU-UHW to transfer the 65,000 members.

Soon thereafter, Regan voted to put SEIU-UHW into trusteeship when its governing board failed to transfer the 65,000 workers fast enough.

But today, my friends, is apparently a brand new day for Diamond Dave. 

Dave has miraculously found religion. Or maybe he was struck by lightning. Or bumped his head too hard on the underside of Duane Dauner’s desk.

Whatever happened, Diamond Dave has flip-flopped so hard that his head is bouncing back and forth like one of those plastic bobble heads you get at the baseball game.

Quite the image of integrity...

Source: SEIU's Mary Kay Henry Moves to Transfer Homecare Workers Out of SEIU-UHW

What happened at last month’s meeting of SEIU’s International Executive Board (IEB) in Puerto Rico?

According to Tasty's sources, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry backed the transfer of SEIU-UHW’s homecare workers to SEIU Local 6434, which currently represents homecare and nursing home workers in California.

Tasty hears that when the news first reached him, SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan lost control of his bowels.

Why?

First of all, it's well known that Regan is plotting to seize Mary Kay Henry’s position at the Purple Palace. A transfer of homecare workers means Regan will lose the "delegated votes" of these 60,000 homecare members during future elections inside SEIU. (In SEIU, rank-and-file union members don't get to vote for SEIU’s president and International Executive Board -- instead, members' votes are assigned or "delegated" to local SEIU officials, who then cast the votes of tens of thousands of rank-and-file workers.)

Secondly, a transfer of the homecare workers means less dues money for "Wall Street" Dave.

Thirdly, it changes the political equation inside SEIU-UHW. Regan has relied on the votes of homecare workers to win SEIU-UHW’s internal elections. Without their votes, he’ll become more vulnerable to challengers.

So what’s Dave gonna do?

His first move appears to be to stall Mary Kay Henry’s plan. He reportedly requested that Henry put the transfer on hold for six months because, says Regan, the loss of the public-sector homecare workers will somehow diminish the "bargaining strength" of SEIU-UHW’s Kaiser workers, who are set to begin negotiations for a new contract in April.

Not exactly a persuasive argument, right? It's especially lame because SEIU-UHW’s upcoming contract negotiations with Kaiser Permanente are so tightly rigged that SEIU officials have already calendared the precise day in June when they will stand arm-in-arm with Kaiser execs and announce an "historic contract settlement." In fact, Regan and Kaiser’s executives have already scheduled the exact dates for SEIU-UHW workers' contract ratification votes. (More on this in a future post.)

What will happen if Regan resists the transfer of the homecare workers?

Tasty hopes that Mary Kay Henry and the IEB are busily preparing the legal papers to impose an emergency trusteeship on Regan. Of course, once the trusteeship is implemented, Mary Kay Henry can simply ignore the order to transfer the homecare workers for, uhh, at least a decade.

Remember, this is SEIU… where workers are pawns on a purple Monopoly board that’s shamelessly used by SEIU officials to pursue their personal quests for power, fame and money.

Union Staffer's Tweet Offers Window into SEIU's Secret Deal with Puerto Rican Governor

Bruce Raynor

From time to time, little fragments of information sneak through the internet to offer us interesting glimpses into the lives of SEIU’s top officials.

Here’s one.

A former staffer from the Change to Win Coalition recently tweeted the following message about his experiences with Bruce Raynor and Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, the former governor of Puerto Rico. Raynor, of course, is the guy who famously teamed up with SEIU President Andy Stern to unsuccessfully raid UNITE HERE.

Translation? 

This unfortunate union staffer was assigned to serve at the beck and call of Raynor and then-Governor Acevedo Vila… including fetching them icecream bars during the 2008 Democratic National Convention at Denver’s Mile High Stadium.

Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila

At that moment, Acevedo Vila had been indicted on 24 counts of campaign finance violations.

He'd also been doing lots of dirty deeds for SEIU. 

Earlier that year, Acevedo Vila worked hand-in-glove with SEIU’s Dennis Rivera in an effort to take over the largest and most militant union in Puerto Rico: the 42,000-member Puerto Rican Teachers Union (La Federacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico or “FMPR”).

SEIU got the governor to issue a declaration decertifying the FMPR and then suspended the union’s right to collect membership dues. Next, the governor scheduled an election to allow the island’s 42,000 teachers to choose a union... but Gov. Acevedo Vila carefully rigged the election so that SEIU was the only union on the ballot!

So... it's no wonder that SEIU/Change to Win assigned its staffers to race through Mile High Stadium to buy icecream bars for the corrupt governor and SEIU officials!

What happened to Puerto Rico's teachers?

SEIU's Dennis Rivera

Fortunately, the teachers could smell a rat a mile away. When the ballots from the rigged election were counted in October of 2008, the teachers trounced SEIU… and sent Dennis Hickey Rivera and hundreds of purple-shirted staffers scurrying for the first flight back to the U.S. 

Quite a story... whose latest chapter was written by the tweet from the union staffer!

SEIU Officials: “Help us during Kaiser election… before we lay you off”

SEIU is parachuting more organizers into California for the election at Kaiser Permanente… even though this will be the last campaign for many of them.

According to Tasty’s sources, SEIU officials will soon be laying off a large number of its staff due to SEIU’s declining membership and its $42 million in red ink, which were detailed in SEIU’s recent filing with the U.S. Department of Labor.  

The Purple Palace has already asked staff to take voluntary retirements and will soon begin implementing the layoffs, say Tasty’s sources.

SEIU's Dennis Rivera

The layoffs are coming despite the fact that the Purple Palace lavishes fat salaries upon its top officials. Check out the case of Dennis Rivera, a “Senior Policy Adviser” to SEIU President Mary Kay Henry.  Rivera was formerly the president of SEIU 1199 New York. 

In 2012, SEIU paid Rivera a salary of $275,764... and then tossed him another $20,000 in payments via a separate “consulting” contract with SEIU. (See excerpt below,)

Hmm… why is SEIU’s Henry giving $20K side gigs to one of her top advisers who's already a full-time SEIU employee? Does Dennis only begin his consulting work once he clocks out at the end of the day?

Interestingly, SEIU’s $20K in consulting fees were delivered to the island of Culebra, located off of Puerto Rica, where Rivera reportedly owns “a mansion” and farm in a setting that's described as a "tropical paradise." Here are excerpts from SEIU’s LM-2 detailing SEIU's payments to Rivera during 2012. Click on image below to enlarge it.

Source: SEIU's DOL Form lm-2 for 2012

The layoffs of SEIU staffers are only the latest in a string of conflicts between SEIU and its staff. 

Last September, SEIU’s clerical staff picketed the Purple Palace after Mary Kay Henry demanded a three-year wage freeze from the staff during contract negotiations. And here’s an older column written by the former president of the Union of Union Representatives (UUR), one of SEIU’s staff unions, in which he sharply criticizes SEIU's top officials. And back in 2008, the UUR even passed a formal resolution urging its members to refuse to participate in SEIU's trusteeship of SEIU-UHW.