The American Spectator

AmSpecBlog

Controversial Obama Labor Nominee Withdrawn

By Philip Klein on 10.14.09 @ 2:20PM

Lorelei Boylan, Presidential Obama's controversial nominee to serve as the administrator of the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, has been withdrawn, according to the White House website.

During her time in the New York Labor Department, Boylan ran an initiative, devised by Patricia Smith -- another Obama appointee -- which tasked union members with policing the behavior of businesses. As Americans for Limited Government wrote in a report earlier this year (pdf):

The enforcement initiative essentially deputizes private entities, such as ACORN, to do enforcement work through "formal partnerships" with the state. Groups participating in this initiative are given a specific geographic zone to patrol, are provided with training and literature, and are assigned a designated contact person to which they provide "referrals" when they find what they decide are violations of wage and hour laws....

The vast majority of the groups participating in this initiative are either labor unions or labor union affiliated entities. The notion of labor bosses patrolling a beat instead of Labor Department officials has caused New York business groups to take note and express serious concern. A group of business associations made their concerns known stating, "To give quasi-enforcement capabilities to certain, seemingly hand-selected constituencies sets a troubling precedent that could spread among the spectrum of state agencies. We wonder how such an effort can create an atmosphere of anything other than vigilantism where every honest employer will have a legitimate concern for the preservation of his or her rights as a taxpaying business owner in the state of New York. The image painted by the Department in its January 26 release is of a posse of activists, duly deputized by the weighty imprimatur of the Department, demanding access to any employer in the state whom they have chosen either at random, by will, or by prejudice."

The nomination of Boylan's partner in the New York scheme, Patricia Smith, still remains intact. Smith was nominated to be Solicitor of Labor, the third highest official in the department, and the one who is in charge of offering legal advice. Sen. Mike Enzi has put a hold on the nomination, meaning 60 votes will be required to block a filibuster and get her confirmed.