Invest1 publisher3 min readPublished
SEIU's own outside counsel corroborates a coercion claim over Prop. 40's endorsement
Two law firms hired by different tiers of SEIU examined Dave Regan's conduct. One corroborated an account that he pressed the state council to endorse his retroactive 5% wealth tax under threat of a federal labor investigation.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- The measure at issue is Proposition 40, a retroactive, one-time 5% tax on California billionaires that its sponsor says is intended to address federal healthcare cuts.
- Barboza & Associates, hired by SEIU California, found SEIU-UHW president Dave Regan showed a "propensity for bullying women and women of color" in director-level state council positions.
- Investigators corroborated an account that in 2009 Regan kicked in the door of the council's executive director, pinned her against the office wall and pushed his finger into her chest.
Compiled by The InvestorSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- exposure The provenance of the state council's endorsement is now contestable: the corroborated account says it was sought under threat of a Department of Labor investigation. Opponents can attack that without arguing about the 5% rate.
- decision SEIU's International Union has to dispose of the charges with the vote two months out, and a sanction and a deferral each hand one of the campaigns something to use.
- contradiction Calhoun says two independent legal investigations support Pugh's account while SEIU-UHW calls the same material a manufactured narrative stripped of context, and the ballot arrives before anyone settles which of them is right.
The coercion finding is the piece that reaches the ballot measure. Cohen, Weiss and Simon, retained by SEIU International [7], corroborated David Huerta's accusation that Regan tried to get the state council to endorse the billionaire tax before Jan. 1, 2026, and suggested Huerta could face a U.S. Department of Labor investigation if he did not; Huerta was the council's president at the time [8]. Regan called that an "absolute absurdity" and "categorically false" [9].
Both investigations came from inside the union. SEIU California retained Barboza & Associates, SEIU International retained Cohen, Weiss and Simon [2][7][1], and The Sacramento Bee obtained both confidential reports [1].
On the 2009 incident the two sides agree about the calendar. Investigators dated the confrontation with former SEIU California executive director Courtni Pugh to 2009 [3]. Regan told reporters the account was "absolutely and completely fabricated by an individual with every incentive to attack me, attack UHW, and who is being paid to attempt to defeat the Proposition 40 campaign", and placed it "supposedly 17 years ago", the same year the investigators give [10][2]. Pugh said she was asked to participate in the investigation "because so many people had heard about the 2009 incident over the years" [12].
The charges have been on file inside the union since February, when Huerta and three other labor leaders complained. A state council staffer followed in March. In April Regan and UHW members filed a counter-charge accusing that group of "character assassination" [15]. Seven months of internal process, then publication on Sept. 15 with the vote two months away [3][16]. On Friday the union's officers were arguing about a newspaper's proprietor. Vice President Debru Carthan said the LA Times' billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, swayed coverage after the paper's editorial against Prop. 40 [17], and a Times spokesperson said they stood by the reporting [18]. The officers left Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Teachers Association alone. Both argue the tax will jeopardise future collections if billionaires leave the state [6].
Opponents now have a cheaper argument than the economic one. The flight case needs a forecast of what billionaires do after the vote; the coercion finding needs a report the union itself commissioned [6][8].
The counter-argument is that internal union charges do not travel to voters. The Bee did not report polling on Prop. 40 or a revenue estimate for the 5% tax [4]. Neither effect can be sized from this record. The California Democratic Party's endorsement was narrow, the Labor Federation of California's more decisive [5], and a narrow endorsement is easier to reopen. Pugh, whose account SEIU California spokesperson Christopher Calhoun says two independent legal investigations support [13], is working on the campaign against Prop. 40 [16].
What to watch
- Whether SEIU's International Union disposes of the charges before election day, and whether any findings are published or handled internally.
- Whether the campaign against Prop. 40 puts the two commissioned reports into its own paid materials.
- Whether the U.S. Department of Labor takes any interest in a union dispute that invoked its name as leverage.