GOP leaders oppose the rights enforced by the NLRB
Since retaking control of the House, GOP leaders, along with an assortment of anti-union and corporate organizations, have subjected the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to ferocious criticism. After 15 months of desperate attacks, however, the sole “offense” of which they can credibly accuse the board is improving enforcement of the law. This explains their outrage – at heart, they oppose the fundamental rights the board enforces.
But now the NLRB’s Inspector General (IG) has produced a report that documents a real ethics scandal – as opposed to the GOP’s imaginary ones – at the board. While serving as NLRB Chief Counsel to GOP board member Brian Hayes (himself the subject of an earlier ethics investigation), newly appointed Republican member Terrence Flynn funneled confidential information about the board activities and deliberations to two former Republican NLRB members, Peter Schaumber and Peter Kirsanow. Schaumber is now chief labor advisor to the Romney campaign, while Kirsanow has represented the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
The IG’s report concludes that Flynn “violated the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch.” As Chief Counsel, Flynn must have recognized the sensitivity of the “most confidential of Agency information” that he leaked, which was intended only for key board personnel.