Barack Obama Would Play Jimmy Hoffa by Getting Union Bad Guys Off

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards reported its 900th conviction of union leaders for criminal activity. From the press release:

During the month, OLMS obtained three convictions, seven indictments and court orders of restitution totaling more than $80,000. The office’s totals for fiscal year 2008 (which ended on Sept. 30, 2008) are 102 convictions and 130 indictments, with restitution of more than $3.2 million. The bulk of the cases involved the embezzlement of union funds.

“The triple-digit numbers of indictments and convictions obtained by OLMS in the 2008 fiscal year demonstrates that criminal activity in unions is still a major problem. This problem points to the critical role performed by OLMS in prosecuting those who steal from their members,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Labor-Management Standards Don Todd. “We are proud to have secured court orders of restitution of more than $91.5 million since 2001.”

Embezzlement yes, and cases of forgery and theft, too. The OLMS is one of the most effective federal agencies, helping to bring Big Labor’s bad seeds to justice and restoring millions of dollars to rank-and-file workers wronged by corrupt union leaders.

A Barack Obama presidency would mean a rollback of this agency’s good work. Here’s a flashback to a Wall Street Journal report from five months ago (subscription needed to read entire article):

Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to officials from the union and the Obama campaign.

Barack Obama is the Jimmy Hoffa presidential candidate, much like Bill Ritter is Colorado’s Jimmy Hoffa governor.