Sunlight on SEIU Part IV: Union, ACORN Intertwined Before – and After – 'Pimp and Prostitute' Video Scandal

It was common knowledge that SEIU and ACORN were of the same tree prior to the James O’Keefe/Hannah Giles coast-to-coast video sting. At ACORNcracked.com, I chronicled nearly two dozen SEIU contributions to ACORN in just a few years.

In 2009, SEIU gave to a variety of ACORN affiliates both before and after the sting videos began to be released. Consider these:

Entity	Purpose	Date	Amount
ACORN Labor Partnership	“Support for organizing”	4/2009	$37,878
Community Labor Organization Committee	“Support for organizing”	1/2009 & 3/2009	$73,682
New Orleans Worker Resource Center	“Organizational Support”	1/2009 – 6/2009	$134,000
Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now	“Support for organizing”	1/21/2009	$20,000
WARN	“Support for organizing”	1/2009 & 3/2009	$44,000
Brooklyn ACORN	“Contribution”	7/23/2009	$25,000
Citizens Services Inc	“Support for political activities”	4/2009 – 9/2009	$165,536

The last one, Citizens Services Inc, is particularly interesting, given that CSI was the entity Obama for America also hired for campaign work, as Michelle Malkin pointed out.

SEIU 1199, the largest local affiliate of the national union (and former employer of White House Political Director Patrick Gaspard), gave a whopping $550,000 to the Working Families Party in 2009. WFP was co-founded by ACORN.

The national SEIU also made expenditures to the National Public Pension Coalition, an outfit that “supports state-based activities in defense of public employee defined benefit pension systems,” according to a job posting for the executive director position.

The American Federation of Teachers listed other members of the coalition, “in addition to the AFT, are the AFL-CIO; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; Change to Win; the National Education Association; and the Service Employees International Union.”

The Center for American Progress Action Fund was the recipient of a $236,036 contribution from the SEIU. The Economic Policy Institute, the “think tank” or “issue advocacy group,” according to the financial filing, receives huge financial support from organized labor and surprise-surprise, produces economic data favorable to…….organized labor!

The Chicago-based Gamaliel Foundation – the organization that gave a young Barack Obama his start in community organizing – received $100,000 in the middle of 2009. The organization’s views are in line with ACORN, they’re just a little more diplomatic in how they go about it.

The SEIU’s contributions to Healthcare for America Now surpassed the one-million mark with an additional $550,000 in financial support. SEIU’s and HCAN’s efforts proved successful when ObamaCare finally passed the Congress.

The free Huffington Post received $15,000 in “subscription services” from SEIU.

This is America. SEIU can spend its money however it wishes. Previously, we compared the Marxist Andy Stern’s compensation to that of his secretary. The reality is, the union could increase the wage disparity ten-fold and I could care less.

What I have a problem with is Andy Stern using the “power of persuasion” to change our economic system when he won’t enact those principles voluntarily at his own union. Until you live up to your own principles, Andy, I will fight you at every turn.