A union 'charity' that gives nothing

LA Times:

A nonprofit organization founded by California's largest union local reported spending nothing on its charitable purpose -- to develop housing for low-income workers -- during at least two of the four years it has been operating, federal records show.

The charity, launched by a scandal-ridden Los Angeles chapter of the Service Employees International Union, had total expenses of about $165,000 for 2005 and 2006, and all of the money went to consulting fees, insurance costs and other overhead, according to its Internal Revenue Service filings.

Charity watchdogs say that nonprofits should never have zero program expenses in two successive years and that well-performing charities direct at least 70% of their annual spending to their charitable purpose.

"Of the 5,000-plus charities we've looked at, I don't think we've ever seen one that didn't spend anything on its charitable programs," said Sandra Miniutti, vice president of Charity Navigator, an online rating service.

Last year, the nonprofit reported spending $513,000 in connection with a Compton housing development, and $59,200 in consulting fees for its charitable programs, which together accounted for about 88% of its total outlays.

The primary mission of the charity -- the Long Term Care Housing Corp. -- is to provide affordable homes for the local's members, most of whom earn about $9 an hour caring for the elderly and infirm. But SEIU officials declined to discuss the charity, saying it is a separate legal entity from the union, even though its board is dominated by officials from the local. The charity is located at the local's headquarters.

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I think Blagojevich had hoped to get a job with an SEIU in the Chicago area as part of his selling of the Obama Senate seat. It is unlikely that the new administration will focus much of its efforts on union corruption since it owes its election to the unions. I do think that unions are going to be an issue in the coming elections. When you see how irresponsible the UAW has been in the auto bailout discussions the idea of giving these thugs card checks to intimidate workers into paying them dues makes no sense.