FOIA Production: National Labor Relations Board Documents Regarding the Boeing Lawsuit
Cause of Action obtained documents from the NLRB including communications among staff and counsel during the Boeing lawsuit.
Here are the full FOIA productions Cause of Action received.
NLRB – Boeing production – Disc 1
NLRB – Boeing production – Disc 2
NLRB – Boeing production – Disc 3
NLRB – Boeing production – Disc 5
NLRB – Boeing production – Disc 6
Big Government: FOIA Shows Link Between ACORN and NLRB
FOIA Shows Link Between ACORN and NLRB
“Cause of Action, a nonpartisan group that seeks more transparency in government, recently discovered e-mails through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that show linkages between top National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) executives and ACORN, the liberal community organizing group Andrew Breitbart helped expose and eventually put out of business.
As the NLRB was attempting to block Boeing from relocating to the right-to-work state of South Carolina in the spring of 2011, Acting NLRB Counsel Late Solomon forwarded an e-mail to NLRB Director of Public Affairs Nancy Cleeland in which ACORN founder Wade Rathke expressed support for the NLRB’s attempts to block Boeing from relocating to the right-to-work state of South Carolina in the spring of 2011, according to information brought to light by the transparency group, Cause of Action.”
See the full post here.
“Friends like these” NLRB email suggests ACORN, Union ties to the Board
An email produced via FOIA to Cause of Action in documents regarding the Boeing case before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) suggests a close relationship among union leaders, ACORN, and the NLRB.
In an email dated Wednesday, April 27, 2011, in response to Acting Counsel Lafe Solomon’s forwarding of email support from Wade Rathke and a union attorney, Nancy Cleeland, Director of Public Affairs at the NLRB declares: “Friends like these…”
Read the email trail for yourself and let us know what you think: NLRB-FOIA-U00004019
Citing CoA Findings, Rep. Kline Calls for Investigation into NLRB Communications on Boeing
Citing emails uncovered by Cause of Action through FOIA, on Friday, April 13, Rep. John Kline (R-MN) sent a letter to David Berry, the Inspector General at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) requesting an investigation into Acting Counsel Lafe Solomon at the NLRB for potential ex parte communications. Rep. Kline calls for the IG to look into communications between Lafe Sol
omon and then-Chairman Wilma Liebman concerning the Board’s case against Boeing, which have been previously brought to light by Cause of Action.
Read Rep. Kline’s letter here.
See related items from Cause of Action here.
NLRB’s Lafe Solomon Admits to Ex Parte Communications
Image source: Flickr user NABET-CWA
In November, Cause of Action sent a request for investigation to the National Labor Relations Board regarding improper communications between former Member and Chairman Wilma Liebman and Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon. We have just received an update from the NLRB to a FOIA request we sent on this matter, and what we were told is worth noting.
In communications that were delivered to us via FOIA production, Cause of Action found through redacted emails that Solomon and Liebman were communicating about a press strategy regarding the case that the NLRB brought against Boeing. As Cause of Action has previously pointed out, the NLRB’s own ex parte rules prohibit communications with outside, interested persons. In this case, Liebman and Solomon should have had no communications about the Boeing case, as Solomon was the acting counsel on the case. Doing so in regard to a press inquiry is a clear violation of these rules.
In a letter from
Lafe Solomon to CoA dated April 9, 2012, the NLRB states that, “The previously redacted portions of these documents, in fact, demonstrate that Agency's internal deliberations were structured to specifically respond to the two questions posed by the CNN producer.”
Solomon clearly acknowledges what we found in the emails: That he and Wilma Liebman were engaged in communications about press strategy concerning the Boeing case. With Solomon acting as the General Counsel, will we ever see an investigation into this most recent example of the NLRB acting in its own interests, and even violating rules? Or will this Board continue to behave as if it has no accountability?
Some of the redacted emails we received via FOIA to the NLRB: