Background from the first article in this series:

Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement. 

House Bill 4003 would end this injustice by clarifying that Michiganders who care for relatives in their own homes are not government employees, and hence are not appropriate targets for government unions. That bill has passed the House but is stuck in the Senate. While we wait for the Senate to act, the SEIU continues to siphon money that was meant to help families.

Here's one example of where that money might be going, drawn from the SEIU's 2010 LM-2 report.

The Brave New Foundation describes itself as "[c]hampioning social justice issues by using media to inspire, empower, motivate and teach civic participation that makes a difference."  Among the many subjects that BNF has tackled are the sinister nature of the Koch Brothers, a heroic treatment of Occupy Wall Street, the general malevolence of big oil, and an expose of how "war profiteer CEOs" are promoting imperialism and militarism to improve their bottom lines.

Brave New Foundation was awarded five separate grants from the Service Employees International Union totaling $250,000, all of which were treated as charitable donations. Overall in 2010, SEIU made more than $3.6 million in "contributions, gifts and grants," ostensibly to charitable groups, but many of these charities had a definite political agenda.

This is just one of the many groups that Michigan taxpayers are unwittingly supporting with funds that were meant to go to the families of people with disabilities.

Tomorrow: The Atlas Project

Previously:

Clean Economy Development Center

Change That Works

Applied Research Center

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