Memo to the American Labor Movement from John Wilhelm (UNITE-HERE)
To: The American Labor Movement
From: John W. Wilhelm
Date: May 26, 2009
Re: Private Investigator
Beginning in early 2009, Andy Stern, Bruce Raynor, and Steve Rosenthal struck an arrangement with a noted private investigator, Terry Lenzner, to investigate my family and me. We know for example that on March 6th, Andy Stern hosted a meeting at the SEIU Washington, DC headquarters with Mr. Lenzner, the founder and chairman of Investigative Group International (IGI), where they discussed tactics to force me into settling our dispute with SEIU on terms unfavorable to UNITE HERE members.
Steve Rosenthal, a consultant to SEIU and Change to Win, and Mark Fleischman of UNITE HERE accompanied Andy Stern at the March meeting with Mr. Lenzner. Along with Bruce Raynor, these are the chief perpetrators of the scheme to split UNITE HERE, defame me personally within the UNITE HERE membership, and raid UNITE HERE’s industry jurisdictions.
For a union leader to even entertain the idea of hiring a private investigator to go on a fishing expedition into another union leader’s personal affairs is beyond the pale. The SEIU-inspired hostile takeover of UNITE HERE has included numerous attacks on my integrity and on the integrity of other honorable UNITE HERE elected leaders.
We now know that SEIU has a history of hiring private investigators when it mounts campaigns against other unions. A federal lawsuit was recently filed by the OSO Group against SEIU in California related to SEIU’s battle with the National Union of Health Care Workers (NUHW). OSO is suing SEIU for non-payment of bills for surveillance and security services related to the NUHW trusteeship.
The OSO Group provides surveillance, intelligence, counter-terrorism and other services to multinational corporations and describes itself as “the first commercial counter-espionage group established in the private sector.” Its leaders and staff are mainly former agents of the U.S. Secret Service, FBI and CIA, as well as national law enforcement officials.
I bring this to your attention because it has become readily apparent that Andy Stern will stop at nothing to encroach on other Unions’ jurisdictions. Today, he covets the hospitality industry. Tomorrow?
IGI describes itself as a “preeminent private investigation and corporate intelligence firm.” IGI’s staff of approximately 100 includes attorneys, prosecutors, reporters, producers, and is reportedly led by ex-law enforcement officials from the FBI, CIA, DEA, and local police.
In a 1998 New York Times profile entitled “The White House Shamus,” reporter David Samuels wrote, “Lenzner is a front-line soldier in a new kind of war, in which embarrassing information about political and legal opponents is provided for use as ammunition in today’s partisan culture of scandal.”
Mr. Lenzner’s clients have included Marc Rich, Mike Tyson, Microsoft, Oracle, Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco, the DNC, the United Way, the CIA, and the Brown & Williamson tobacco company in what critics contend was a smear campaign against the tobacco giant’s whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand, and countless other major corporations.
Among other kinds of investigations, the firm conducts “surveillance and sting” operations. It was described by Washington Post.com as “a major strike force among the nation’s swelling legions of button-down dirt diggers…IGI has been retained for everything from checking out potential business partners in the former Soviet Union (he’s hired former KGB agents to help with that)…According to the Wall Street Journal, he was even hired by Ivana Trump to investigate her rival, Marla Maples.”
IGI investigations have resulted in news stories alleging wife beating, shoplifting, lying, child abuse, sexual promiscuity, corruption, secret payments, hypocrisy, and resume falsification.
I cannot say for certain whether SEIU or some other entity controlled by SEIU, Bruce Raynor, or Steve Rosenthal is paying for an investigation. Only Andy Stern can answer that question.
But I can say this. From time to time, union-busting corporations have investigated me to stop workers from organizing a union. I never imagined a fellow unionist would do the same.
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