Democrat calls for NLRB investigation

By Kevin Bogardus - 03/28/12 12:11 PM ET

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) has requested that Congress investigate alleged ethical violations by a Republican member of the National Labor Relations Board.

A report by the NLRB’s inspector general, released last Friday, found that board member Terence Flynn shared confidential information with former board members and lawyers outside the agency. That information on the agency’s internal workings was not meant to be public, according to the IG report, putting Flynn in violation of ethics rules.

Cummings wants the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, of which he is ranking member, to focus on former NLRB members Pete Kirsanow and Peter Schaumber, who received information from Flynn when he was an agency chief counsel. Flynn was recess-appointed by President Obama to the labor board in January.

Cummings sent a letter to committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) Wednesday saying the panel should conduct interviews and request documents from the former NLRB members.

“Given our committee’s oversight of NLRB, I request that the committee conduct transcribed interviews of former board members Peter Schaumber and Peter Kirsanow to determine to what the extent they may have used the information they obtained for their private benefit or to advance their clients’ business interests,” Cummings wrote in his letter.

Schaumber, in addition to being a former NLRB member, is an adviser to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

In his letter, Cummings wrote that it appears the IG did not interview Kirsanow or Schaumber for the report.

The Oversight Committee, under Issa’s direction, has aggressively investigated the NLRB in the past, especially in regard to the labor board’s complaint against Boeing for allegedly retaliating against union workers. That complaint has since been dismissed.

A spokesman for Issa said the letter from Cummings was received and is being reviewed.

Both Flynn and Kirsanow have denied wrongdoing in response to the IG’s report. Schaumber didn’t immediately reply to messages asking for comment.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has called on Flynn to resign from the board and Romney to remove Schaumber from his campaign.

— This story was updated at 1:48 p.m.