Unions still need scrutiny, Hatch says

Sen. Orrin Hatch, a former chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, said Wednesday that the Obama administration is unwisely doing a favor for political allies in labor by rescinding a regulation approved during George W. Bush's last days in office designed to help root out any financial corruption in unions.

"It is extremely disappointing that the Obama administration is choosing a time of financial crisis to cut investigations into financial corruption, solely because it may reside in its own political constituency," Hatch said.

The new rule would have required unions to disclose additional information in annual disclosure reports about compensation to union officers and employees, details about buying or selling union assets, and additional information about union receipts.

The Bush administration said it would discourage embezzlement by making it easier to find. But the Obama administration said Tuesday that labor unions made compelling arguments that the rule was overly burdensome and would have little effect on efforts to detect fraud.

Hatch complained on Wednesday, "In a time when the president himself said we need more accountability and transparency in government, cancelling rules to help root out corruption is not the way to go."

He added, "Americans want the administration to eliminate all fraud, not just that which is politically expedient. I urge the Department of Labor to use, instead of stow away, all the tools at its disposal to reduce financial corruption in unions."

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that unions hailed the action by the Obama administration. "From our perspective, the only interest served by this rule was to harass unions," AFL-CIO attorney James Coppess said.

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