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Biden Task Force Built For Union Corruption?
Scandal-Ridden Labor Secretary Assigned to Pay Off Big Labor
In April, union-label President Joe Biden put his handpicked labor secretary, Marty Walsh, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, in charge of a new special task force commissioned with finding more ways for the federal government to promote monopolistic unionism.
Meanwhile, a burgeoning scandal in Boston — where Mr. Walsh reigned as the Democrat mayor until this March — was highlighting how monopoly-bargaining privileges for Big Labor bosses corrupt public agencies and hurt taxpayers and other people who rely on vital government services to protect their safety and well-being.
In 2020, Former Police Union President Was Arrested On Child-Sex-Abuse Charges
On April 11, the Boston Globe reported for the first time that the Boston Police Department (BPD) had been aware of and concealed from the public child-sex-abuse allegations against former Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association (BPPA) President Patrick Rose for a quarter-century.
Last August, Mr. Rose was arrested on an array of felony charges, including child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child.
Union Lawyer Battled to Return Suspected Child Molester to Full Active Duty
Twenty-five years before that, in 1995, the BPD had filed a criminal complaint against the then-rank-and-file patrolman, “for sexual assault on a 12-year-old” girl. The complaint was dropped after Mr. Rose reportedly pressured the alleged victim into recanting her accusations.
Nevertheless, the BPD “proceeded with an internal investigation.”
It concluded that Mr. Rose had “likely committed a crime.”
“Despite that finding,” continued the April 11 Globe report, Mr. Rose “kept his badge, remained on patrol for another 21 years, and rose to power” in the BPPA union.
Ten days later, a follow-up story in the Globe revealed the apparent reason why, after being relegated to desk duty and barred from carrying a gun due to findings by police and social service probes of “sufficient” evidence he had sexually abused a child, Mr. Rose was allowed to “return to patrol.”
On October 20, 1997, a BPPA union lawyer sent a letter to then-BPD Commissioner Paul Evans “threatening to file a grievance” if Mr. Rose was not returned “to full active duty,” allowed to carry a gun, and granted opportunities to collect court overtime!
In short order, Mr. Rose was returned to patrol, and remained there for another 21 years, until his retirement in 2018.
From 2014 until 2018, he was BPPA president.
Marty Walsh Concealed Evidence Union Brass Had ‘Enabled’ Accused Molester
The documentary evidence showing that the BPPA brass, to quote Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell, “enabled and elevated an accused child molester,” was hidden from public view as long as Marty Walsh was mayor.
National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix commented:
“From the time of Patrick Rose’s arrest last summer until he left town this March to become labor secretary, Marty Walsh rebuffed media requests to see the BPD internal investigation file on the alleged child molester.
“The 1997 BPPA letter demanding that then-Commissioner Evans promptly remedy the ‘financial hardship visited upon Officer Rose’ by returning him to active patrol is part of the public record now thanks to current Acting Mayor Kim Janey.
“The Walsh Administration’s excuse for refusing to release even a page of Mr. Rose’s internal affairs file was that it was impossible to do so without revealing the identity of the alleged victim.
“Now that Ms. Janey has released a substantial portion of the file while continuing to protect the complainant’s identity, this excuse has been exposed as a lie.
“Could it be the real reason Mr. Walsh and his appointees didn’t want the public to see Patrick Rose’s internal affairs file is that the mayor didn’t want anyone else to know how his union cronies had ‘enabled and elevated a child molester’?
“Unfortunately, up to now, key elected officials on Capitol Hill who serve on committees that are specially charged with overseeing the ethics and operations of the U.S. Labor Department have not publicly pressed Mr. Walsh to answer this question, along with other important questions about his record.
“Right now, Mr. Walsh and other members of the President’s ‘Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment’ are working to ensure, in part, that government union bosses in every corner of the country have monopoly-bargaining privileges just as extensive as those enjoyed by the BPPA brass.”
Committee Legislative Staffers Urge Key Lawmakers to Perform Oversight Duties
Obviously, the disastrous impact of coercive public-sector unionism in the labor secretary’s former stomping ground, as witnessed by the Patrick Rose fiasco, is something responsible members of congressional oversight panels should be bringing up as the Biden Administration schemes to federalize this system.
In their communications with members of the House and Senate labor and labor appropriations panels this summer, National Right to Work Committee legislative staff are emphasizing that the free ride Marty Walsh has gotten with regard to his appalling record as Boston mayor has got to come to an end.
Right to Work Members Urged to Contact Their U.S. Representatives, Senators
Mr. Mix is also asking Right to Work members to call their own U.S. representatives and senators about this matter at 202-225-3121 and 202-224-3121.
“As a Wall Street Journal editorial affirmed in May, the ‘Rose coverup is relevant to Mr. Walsh’s duties at the Labor Department,’” said Mr. Mix.
“One of the core duties of a labor secretary is to investigate and root out union corruption and protect rank-and-file employees and the public from unscrupulous union bosses.
“Based on his record, Mr. Walsh is not fit to do this job.
“That’s why the Committee is fighting this summer to get key members of Congress to step up to the plate and confront Mr. Walsh about his record of helping union bosses hide the truth about how they operate.
“If they do their jobs, Mr. Walsh’s position as labor secretary is likely to become untenable before long.”
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