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SEIU Local Paid Big Bucks to Relatives' Firm

Fast-rising union prez defends payments to wife's company

By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 9, 2008 7:05 PM CDT
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(Newser) – California's biggest union local has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on companies owned by its president's relatives, the Los Angeles Times reports. The SEIU local for low-wage caregivers, and a related charity, paid six figures to a video company run by the wife and mother-in-law of union President Tyrone Freeman. He defends the expenses, which include nearly $300,000 on a golf tournament and $10,000 on a celebrity cigar lounge.

"Every expenditure has been in the context of fighting poverty," said Freeman. But the local spent nearly $123,000 more on a fundraiser than it was reimbursed, and 10% of its annual expenses on Freeman's mother-in-law's firm. "It's very important for unions not to do this kind of thing," a labor advocate said. "Union leadership is a public trust—all the more so when the people being represented are among the lowest-paid in America."

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, right, greets members of SEIU Local 6434 with union president Tyrone Freeman in Los Angeles, Saturday, May 12, 2007.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, right, greets members of SEIU Local 6434 with union president Tyrone Freeman in Los Angeles, Saturday, May 12, 2007.   (AP Photo)
About 6,000 members of United Healthcare Workers-West to protest a plan by their parent union, SEIU, in Manhattan Beach, Calif., Monday, July 14, 2008.
About 6,000 members of United Healthcare Workers-West to protest a plan by their parent union, SEIU, in Manhattan Beach, Calif., Monday, July 14, 2008.   (AP Photo)
In this photo released by SEIU, janitors and supporters rally in the Justice for Janitors march for better wages in Los Angeles, Friday, June 15, 2007.
In this photo released by SEIU, janitors and supporters rally in the Justice for Janitors march for better wages in Los Angeles, Friday, June 15, 2007.   (AP Photo)
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