The White House this week transmitted two union promotions through its tax-paid email system, and although both praised the president, they gave no appearance of having any other link to Obama administration operations, prompting a Washington watchdog to wonder where is the dividing line between big labor and the president.
The criticism comes from Judicial Watch, which just one day earlier issued a report that the Obama Health and Human Services agency plans to spend $200 million of taxpayer funds to promote Obamacare, the president's signature law that has been declared unconstitutional by two federal judges.
The union promotions were from the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, and the American Federation of State, County, Municipal Employees, or AFSCME. While both interact regularly with the government and lobby on behalf of their own interests, they are separate organizations from the government.
The releases from the unions on White House email gave no indication there was any White House interaction; they simply were union statements.
"With the Obama administration, it is hard to tell where big labor unions end and the Obama administration begins," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "It is not unusual for a White House to promote favorable commentary, but it seems improper to slap 'The White House' label on it as the Obama White House did.
"It seems like the radicals at the SEIU are writing official White House press statements. And I didn't think the federal government could lawfully accept 'volunteer' assistance such as that," he said.
Read more and see the document
The criticism comes from Judicial Watch, which just one day earlier issued a report that the Obama Health and Human Services agency plans to spend $200 million of taxpayer funds to promote Obamacare, the president's signature law that has been declared unconstitutional by two federal judges.
The union promotions were from the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, and the American Federation of State, County, Municipal Employees, or AFSCME. While both interact regularly with the government and lobby on behalf of their own interests, they are separate organizations from the government.
The releases from the unions on White House email gave no indication there was any White House interaction; they simply were union statements.
"With the Obama administration, it is hard to tell where big labor unions end and the Obama administration begins," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "It is not unusual for a White House to promote favorable commentary, but it seems improper to slap 'The White House' label on it as the Obama White House did.
"It seems like the radicals at the SEIU are writing official White House press statements. And I didn't think the federal government could lawfully accept 'volunteer' assistance such as that," he said.
Read more and see the document
No comments:
Post a Comment