Chuck Neubauer has a great story up this morning on how the Labor Department is rolling back the disclosure requirements for labor unions:
Since President Obama took office, the Labor Department has rescinded or delayed three sets of rules proposed by the George W. Bush administration that would have required unions and their leaders to more specifically detail their finances, according to a review of records by The Washington Times.
The rules were rolled back while the Obama administration was seeking more stringent regulation of corporate America, including banks, insurance companies, health care providers and publicly traded companies.
The proposed Bush rules would have required labor unions to identify from whom they were buying and selling assets, forced union leaders and employees to file more detailed conflict-of-interest forms, and required unions to reveal the finances of hundreds of so-called labor trusts – largely unregulated entities set up to provide benefits for members.
via Washington Times – Bush’s union transparency rules retracted under Obama.
Of course Republicans are none too pleased that unions won’t have to open up their books while private corporations will. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis’ response is that the White House doesn’t want to “overburden a system where information that was previously asked for may not be of much importance or significance.”
It’s funny how over-regulation is only a concern for the White House when it applies to a core democratic constituency. Considering their history of political influence (and in some cases, corruption), increasing the amount of disclosure required by labor unions seems like a win-win proposition. Former Secretary of Labor under President Bush Elaine Chao puts a point on it:
Mrs. Chao described as “laughable” any union talk about how “onerous” it would be to comply with the expanded regulations. She said labor organizations repeatedly fought her on the added disclosures and it appeared “many labor leaders feel threatened by transparency.”
“What are they afraid of?” she asked.
Indeed.