Conservative group calls for probe of NLRB member

The Washington Examiner profiles our letter to the NLRB asking for an investigation into leaked information:

The Competitive Enterprise Institute said in a letter to NLRB Inspector General David Berry that Mark Gaston Pearce, a Democratic appointee to the board, leaked the news that the NLRB, the government’s main labor enforcement agency, would vacate its decision in the Hy-Brand corporate liability case the day before it was officially announced.

CEI’s letter points to a March 1 Wall Street Journal report saying that Pearce revealed at a Feb. 25 event in Puerto Rico held by the American Bar Association that the NLRB would vacate the Hy-Brand decision the following day. CEI argues that constituted a leak of internal information.

“To protect the integrity of board proceedings in the ongoing Hy-Brand case, an investigation is required to understand the conditions, and if any violations occurred, surrounding board member Pearce’s public disclosure of board internal deliberations,” CEI said.

Trey Kovacs, CEI’s labor policy expert, said the request for a probe was intended to determine on which standards the NLRB’s inspector general hold the board’s members accountable.

“There appears to be a troublesome double-standard at the NLRB. The NLRB Inspector General Office has shown zeal for investigating Republican NLRB members but not Democratic members,” Kovacs said.

…

Kovacs argued that under Barry’s broad standards, Pearce’s actions ought to result in a probe as well.

“The NLRB Inspector General has been expanding conflict of interest standards far enough to obstruct the Trump NLRB from functioning, yet the investigative office has not examined whether Democratic member Mark Pearce improperly disclosed confidential material about an important case. We hope by calling this problem to the attention of the Inspector General, it might spur the office to investigate potential violations.”

Read the full article here.