NLRB Member Accused of Aiding GOP Resigns
May 29, 2012
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The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member accused of funneling confidential information to GOP allies who were engaged in a campaign to discredit the agency has resigned. NLRB member Terrence Flynn submitted a letter to President Barack Obama saying he would resign effective July 24, but would immediately recuse himself from all agency business.
Flynn has been under intense pressure to step down following a report from the board’s Inspector General that found he had committed multiple ethics violations, including revealing confidential details on the status of pending cases; divulging how board members planned to vote on specific cases and leaking the board’s internal strategy for handling legal cases brought against it.
The Inspector General’s report also found that Flynn secretly aided former GOP board member Peter Schaumber to draft an opinion column denouncing the board. Schaumber, who served as labor policy advisor to the Mitt Romney presidential campaign, resigned that post in December.
“Terence Flynn committed serious ethical violations while serving as an NLRB official,” said Buffenbarger, who called for Flynn to step down following the release of the inspector general’s report. “At a minimum, the Inspector General’s report is a wake-up call about the extent to which NLRB opponents are willing to go to achieve its destruction.”
The Flynn case is being investigated by the Justice Department and has been referred to the Federal Office of Special Counsel, which is exploring possible violations of the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from participating in partisan political activity.
