When you give money to your spouse, aren’t you giving money to
yourself?
Regular readers will know that I hate corruption, especially by
elected officials and unions. The press seems to love the stories
about the elected officials, but rarely focuses on the unions. The
LA Times breaks the mold:
Advocates for low-wage caregivers called on authorities Monday
to investigate the spending practices of a Los Angeles union and a
related charity that have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to
firms owned by the wife and mother-in-law of the labor
organization’s leader. …
It gets tastier:
In addition, the union last year spent nearly $300,000 on a Four
Seasons Resorts golf tournament, a Beverly Hills cigar club,
restaurants such as Morton’s and a consulting contract with the
William Morris Agency, the Hollywood talent shop, records show.The union paid a combined $219,000 in 2006 and 2007 to a
video firm whose principals include a former employee of the
local, according to Labor Department filings and
interviews. And a now-defunct minor league basketball team
that Freeman’s brother-in-law coached received $16,000 for what the
union described as public relations.The local paid about $106,000 to a firm called the
Filming, for which no incorporation record, business license,
address or telephone listing could be found.
And:
The Times reported Saturday that the payments to the company
owned by Freeman’s wife, Pilar Planells, were among the local’s
largest single expenses last year, at about $178,000. Planells has
said she did not personally profit.
With all that money, no wonder they could afford
such a swank destination wedding.
For more, try the
LAT story from the weekend too.