Newt Gingrich became the latest prominent Republican to take on the National Labor Relations Board over its suit against Boeing, writing an open letter in Human Events on the issue one day after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) called on President Obama and the Republican presidential field to get involved.
“It is clear that President Obama is packing the NLRB board with left wing ideologues as a payoff to his union boss allies, so that the fix is in with regard to this case and others like it,” Gingrich wrote. “The move is consistent with an ongoing pattern in the Obama administration, in which they use the apparatus of big government to reward their allies and punish their opponents.”
Noting that the NLRB’s general counsel and one of its members, Craig Becker, are recess appointments after their confirmations were blocked by Senate Republicans, Gingrich called on Obama to withdraw the nominees and condemn the suit against Boeing, which alleges illegal retaliation against unionized Boeing workers in Washington State. He is the second likely 2012 candidate to author an op-ed on the topic, joining Tim Pawlenty, who sided with Haley in a piece in NRO.
Gingrich’s words recalled similar complaints from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) at yesterday’s press conference with Haley, in which he suggested Obama was engaged in a conspiracy to punish an “enemies list” of Republican-leaning states.
