RedState has been following the Latinx Scandal involving L.A. City Council members and the California Federation of Labor closely. Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar, my colleague Bob Hoge, and I have covered this October surprises here, here, here, and here. What has fascinated this writer is watching the Los Angeles City Council take the heat from this scandal, while Cal Labor has been pretending to be the savior of the moment.
Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, the newish Secretary-Treasurer of Cal Labor has been “leading” the charge in decrying the racism spouted on the leaked recordings and playing at unifying union workers.
It is rich that a woman who delighted in doing so much damage to independent professionals and people who only wanted to maintain their ability to labor as they chose is now spouting about unity and healing.
As is her wont, Gonzalez Fletcher uses her children as props in her drama, this time her adult daughter, who happens to conveniently be, “Black-Mexican.”
Fascinating.
I always warn: watch out for bright, shiny objects. In the case of the Latinx Scandal, the object here is to get people focused on Nury Martinez and the L.A. City Council, and distract from Cal Labor. After she did her AB5 dirty work for Cal Labor in the Assembly, Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher was chosen by them as their Secretary-Treasurer, effectively pushing out the person who held this position. Her modus operandi is to take power by force, intimidation, arm-twisting, and cheating. Coast News of San Diego revealed in 2021 that Gonzalez Fletcher used made-up data in order to get the California Senate labor committee to get the then-AB5 bill passed out of committee:
Did Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) — the author of the disastrous AB 5 law that has cost hundreds of thousands of independent contractors in California their livelihoods — use bogus data to help get her onerous labor bill passed in 2019?
According to the Berkeley Research Group (BRG), the answer is an unequivocal yes.
A former union organizer turned legislator in District 80, Gonzalez has stated repeatedly that the state of California loses $7 billion a year in payroll tax revenues because of independent contractors.
As it turns out, her claim is without evidence and has no basis in fact, according to William Hamm, managing director of Berkeley Research Group’s San Francisco Bay Area office. His team helped lead a study beginning in 2019 about the fiscal impact of independent contracting in California.
“Her claim is utter nonsense,” said Hamm, former head of the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office in California. “Anyone who cites this $7 billion number is doing so knowing full well that it is completely bogus.”
Gonzalez quoted this dubious number on April 3, 2019, when she first introduced her AB 5 bill to the senate labor committee and cited the labor commissioner as her source.
Gonzalez Fletcher has used these effective methods for decades to manufacture her position and hold on to power. So, why would she stop now?
Ron Herrera probably never knew what hit him. The first “sacrificial lamb” of the Latinx Scandal has been recorded, and Gonzalez Fletcher has divested an obstacle in her path to total power and control.
The Los Angeles Times reports.
Facing outrage over a controversial leaked audio recording with top L.A. city officials, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera offered his resignation at a Monday night meeting with the federation’s executive board, which accepted, according to two sources close to the situation.
Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, head of the California Labor Federation and former head of the AFL-CIO’s San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, confirmed to The Times that Herrera offered his resignation to the board. “We are focused on rebuilding solidarity and trust in the worker movement,” she said.
Gonzalez Fletcher needs drama and controversy to make herself look like a unifier. Those of us who were destroyed by AB5 and are familiar with her tactics saw this one coming a mile away.
A spokeswoman for the county federation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The sources requested anonymity to describe sensitive internal matters. One source said that the organization would make a formal statement Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, reports circulated that Herrera had reportedly been “placed on administrative leave, pending an LA Federation of Labor Executive Board meeting to be held this evening,” the California Labor Federation said in a Monday email to state labor leaders obtained by The Times.
One obstacle out of Gonzalez-Fletcher’s way. How many more to go? And what is the endgame?