l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 SEIU Hit With Second-Biggest Campaign Finance Fine in Michigan History
Fines follow effort to force home-based healthcare workers to pay unions
dues
BY: Bill McMorris
March 18, 2014 5:00 am
The Service Employees International Union will have to pay the second-
highest fine in Michigan history for its failed 2012 campaign to preserve
forced union dues among home care workers.
Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said that the politically powerful
union agreed to pay the state nearly $200,000 for failing to properly
disclose donors and file timely campaign reports.
The union funneled more than $9 million into two 501(c)(4) non-profit groups
, Home Care First Inc. and Citizens for Affordable Quality Home Care, which
served as the public face of a ballot initiative.
“These organizations cannot be used as a means to conceal the identity of
the true contributors,” Johnson said in a release. “This agreement
reflects our commitment to transparency and accountability in the campaign
finance process, especially in an election year.”
The union could have faced millions of dollars in fines if it did not settle
with the Secretary of State’s office. SEIU said in a statement that
reporting oversights were inadvertent.
“We have decided not to dispute the preliminary findings of the Secretary
of State and SEIU Michigan consider this matter closed,” the union said. “
The mistakes were a result of errors and reports by the Citizens for
Affordable Quality Home Care regarding the receipt and transfer of funds.”
The fine stemmed from an August 2013 complaint filed with the Secretary of
State’s office. It alleged that the union and its 501(c)(4) groups
misreported its campaign disclosures. For example, SEIU reported more than $
4 million in direct contributions to the 501(c)(4)s in September filings,
but those contributions were later scrubbed from an October campaign report,
according to the Secretary of State’s complaint.
Patrick Wright, a senior legal analyst with the free market Mackinac Center
for Public Policy, said the fine was an appropriate conclusion for an
election battle “that started off ugly and ended ugly.”
The SEIU earned about $6 million per year from the forced dues program
established by former Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm. It was willing to
spend big money to preserve it, according to Wright.
“They were willingly bend the rules to set the scheme up in first place, so
their attempts to continue it through questionable campaign finance is in
no way a shock,” he said. “Clearly it was a major income source and they
were loathe to let it go.”
The fine is the second highest campaign finance violation in Michigan
history. Former Democratic congressman Mark Schauer was forced to pay the
state more than $225,000 for taking excessive contributions from his state
Senate campaign fund in 2009. Schauer is now running for Michigan governor.
Wright said that the large amount indicates that the union recognized the
state had powerful evidence of campaign malfeasance.
“They seem to be clearly admitting fault. The amount of money seems to
indicate that the culpability was rather clear and that they’re hoping this
will go away,” he said. | t***h
发帖数: 2924 | 2 罚太少了。
应该另外追究涉案人员的刑事责任。
powerful
【在 l****z 的大作中提到】
: SEIU Hit With Second-Biggest Campaign Finance Fine in Michigan History
: Fines follow effort to force home-based healthcare workers to pay unions
: dues
: BY: Bill McMorris
: March 18, 2014 5:00 am
: The Service Employees International Union will have to pay the second-
: highest fine in Michigan history for its failed 2012 campaign to preserve
: forced union dues among home care workers.
: Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said that the politically powerful
: union agreed to pay the state nearly $200,000 for failing to properly
| C*******h
发帖数: 6095 | 3 Did this money go to Obama? Wondering how much money in Obama's presidential
campaign is illegal... I think it's a lot...
powerful
【在 l****z 的大作中提到】
: SEIU Hit With Second-Biggest Campaign Finance Fine in Michigan History
: Fines follow effort to force home-based healthcare workers to pay unions
: dues
: BY: Bill McMorris
: March 18, 2014 5:00 am
: The Service Employees International Union will have to pay the second-
: highest fine in Michigan history for its failed 2012 campaign to preserve
: forced union dues among home care workers.
: Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said that the politically powerful
: union agreed to pay the state nearly $200,000 for failing to properly
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