Union leader behind California billionaires’ tax proposal accused of threatening, harassing women

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California labor leader behind a proposal to tax billionaires has been accused of harassing and intimidating several women who work for an affiliated union.

The allegations against Dave Regan, president of the SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, are detailed in an investigative report commissioned by SEIU California and obtained Friday by The Associated Press. It includes interviews with several current and former SEIU members and others who say Regan tried to intimidate union leaders into supporting the billionaires’ tax, which goes before voters in November.

The Los Angeles Times was the first to report on the allegations.

The report also includes allegations that Regan physically assaulted an SEIU leader more than 15 years ago amid a political dispute and that more recently he engaged in harassing behavior against other women who work for the organization.

Regan acknowledged using curse words with union leaders but denied the physical assault allegation.

“I will own up to and take responsibility for anything that I’ve said and anything that I’ve done,” Regan said at a news conference. “But I absolutely am not going to stand by and … be expected to accept flat out lies.”

The ballot measure, Proposition 40, would impose a one-time, 5% tax on billionaires living in the state to help backfill federal funding cuts to healthcare for low-income people. The proposal has caused a rift within the Democratic Party and among labor unions that are typically aligned. While Regan’s union supports it, the larger SEIU California has not taken a position.

The SEIU-UHW alleged that opponents of the measure worked to make public the report, which was labeled as being completed in June, in order to hurt the initiative’s chances of passing.

“The billionaires are trying to play us all, but we’re not falling for it,” the union said in a statement. “We want our healthcare and our money back. Tax the billionaires.”

“Unrelated verbal interactions spanning nearly two decades are being stitched together and stripped of context to manufacture a false narrative about the union’s leadership,” it added.

SEIU California said it took action in response to the allegations to uphold values of respect, fairness and equity in the workplace.

“We ask members every day to stand up to power and speak out against abuses. We are inspired by their courage, and our leaders, too, are saying, ‘Enough!’” the group said in a statement.

According to the report, SEIU California executive director Tia Orr told investigators that Regan told her in December that the union needed to support the tax measure by Jan. 1 or “I’m coming for you.” Orr later told members that she felt unsafe, and she learned about other allegations of Regan threatening or berating female union leaders and staffers.

SEIU California has filed charges against Regan with the SEIU International Union alleging a pattern of bullying, extortion and threats.

The report also alleges Regan acted aggressively toward Courtni Pugh, the union’s former executive director, amid a political dispute sometime before she resigned in 2009. Pugh told investigators he yelled at her, kicked in her office door and backed her up against a bookcase. That followed Regan yelling expletives and telling her she was not tough enough for the job, the report said.

SEIU-UHW called Pugh’s allegations a “trumped-up claim from 17 years ago” and noted that the political firm she works for has worked for groups opposing Proposition 40. Pugh did not immediately respond to a request for comment about her involvement with the ballot measure.

But in a statement, she called Regan’s response “offensive to the women and people who have had to endure his threatening behavior.” She said she told colleagues about the incident at the time and it was well known around SEIU.

“I chose to participate in the investigation because I saw that his behavior had continued and in hopes that no one else would have to endure this kind of treatment from him,” Pugh added.