Is Obama Ethics Pledge Toothless?

Last week, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate whether Obama recess appointee Craig Becker violated his ethics pledge by participating in federal labor board cases involving his former employer, the radical Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
As you may recall, Foundation attorneys asked Becker to recuse himself in more than a dozen cases because his published writings and record as a top union lawyer reveal an extreme level of hostility toward the Foundation and independent-minded employees.

Becker refused to recuse himself in all but one case, and he now claims that he can participate in cases involving SEIU affiliates and local unions -- even though the supposedly strict ethics pledge he signed explicitly forbids him from participating in a case with his former employer for two years.

The forced unionism extremist -- who has even suggested that unionization should be mandated on all employees -- claims that the national and local unions are "separate legal entities."

The Wall Street Journal has picked up on Becker's strained argument: "No one understands better than Mr. Becker the deep organizational and financial ties between the SEIU and its locals, having been the attorney who crafted national legal strategies for use by SEIU locals everywhere."

If Craig Becker's shaky analysis stands, the Obama Administration's much-touted ethics pledge clearly is not worth the paper it is printed on.

Read the full editorial.


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