Illinois recently became only the second state in U.S. history to be charged with securities fraud by federal regulators (New Jersey was the first, in 2010). On March 11, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Illinois of deceiving investors regarding the health of its state employee pension funds, in a series of bond offerings from 2005 to 2009. The SEC accused state officials of misleading bond investors “by omitting to disclose information about the adequacy of [the state’s] statutory plan to fund its pension obligations” and deviations from that plan, both of which significantly misrepresented the extent of the state’s unfunded pension liabilities.
12:06 PM 08/15/2012
Some prominent Democratic and progressive groups — including the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Governors Association, and America Votes — are shifting accounts, or at least parts of them, from Bank of America to the union-owned Amalgamated Bank. Politically charged business moves are nothing new. However, news accounts of Amalgamated Bank’s surge in politically conscious deposits have made no mention of its recent history, which includes a bitter struggle over control. As in every power struggle, there were some big winners and some very big losers.
12:00 AM 06/10/2010
Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter’s failure to win his state’s Democratic nomination was a crushing defeat for organized labor, which went all-out in supporting Halter in order to punish incumbent Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln for her failure to support the unions’ top legislative priority, the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, which was unpopular in her fairly conservative state.
12:00 AM 03/01/2010
President Barack Obama has appointed Service Employees International Union President Andrew Stern to a new commission tasked with coming up with recommendations to help reduce the federal deficit. While disappointing, this is not surprising. Stern’s appointment is merely the culmination of a series of appointments by the Obama administration of individuals closely associated with SEIU to government posts.
