Rewarding incompetence? Why Kevin Kiley is fighting against Julie Su as U.S. labor secretary
Rep. Kevin Kiley is leading the fight to persuade President Joe Biden not to name California’s Julie Su as the next U.S. Secretary of Labor, and warns Gov. Gavin Newsom is quietly pushing her candidacy so he can gain more power in Washington.
Kiley, R-Rocklin, has moved on two fronts in his effort to deny Su, whose nomination for the job has been pushed by Asian American activists.
On Friday he and six other California Republican congressmen sent Biden a letter opposing her.
The same day, on his campaign blog, Kiley warned that not only is Su “at the center of Newsom’s corruption and incompetence” but her appointment would be a boost for his nemesis, the governor.
“There is no doubt that Newsom, who just returned from D.C. is working behind the scenes to install Su,” Kiley warned. Newsom was in Washington two weeks ago, visiting Democratic lawmakers to discuss a variety of California-related issues and work with the National Governors Association. Newsom’s office has not responded to a request for comment.
A Su appointment, Kiley said, “would give him a greater foothold in Washington and play into his absurd ’model for the nation’ pitch as he prepares to fail up himself.”
Under that paragraph in the blog email sent to supporters is a link to a campaign contribution page, urging readers to “Help me fight back against Newsom and Biden.”
On that page are boxes backers can check to give Kiley’s campaign up to $6,600, and arrange for contributions on a regular basis.
Individual contribution limits to House candidates are $3,300 per election — the primary and the general election — in the 2023-24 cycle.
The labor job is open because Marty Walsh, the current secretary, said last week he is leaving the post in mid-March to become executive director of the National Hockey League Players’ Association. Su is currently deputy secretary of labor and will be acting secretary until a replacement is confirmed by the Senate.
In addition to Asian American activists pushing for Su’s nomination, Congress’ Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus have backed her.
Su has been lauded for being a champion of workers’ rights.
In 2001, the MacArthur Foundation awarded Su a genius grant, citing her work in filing a landmark federal lawsuit that helped undocumented immigrants working in sweatshop conditions. She won monetary compensation for her clients as well as legal immigrant status.
Su and unemployment policy
But Su has come under fire for her work as Newsom’s Secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. She oversaw the California Employment Development Department (EDD), which managed the state’s unemployment system.
The controversy came up during her 2021 Senate confirmation hearing, and no Republicans voted to confirm her as deputy labor secretary. She won entirely with Democratic support.
The state’s unemployment system was heavily criticized during the Covid pandemic for poor customer service as it tackled a sudden deluge of claims as well as new federal benefit programs in 2020.
The federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, created as COVID ravaged the economy, was aimed at providing help to people who traditionally cannot qualify for benefits, such as independent contractors. But it has been riddled with fraud, with estimates of lost claims topping $20 billion.
Thirty-three House members sent Biden a letter Friday praising Su’s stewardship of the department.
“She was also a critical leader during the COVID crisis, addressing the delivery of unemployment insurance, ensuring workplace health and safety, and promoting a sound economic policy to support small businesses and their workers,” they wrote.
Kiley and his supporters cited EDD’s problems in their letter to Biden.
It cited “heartbreaking stories that we are hearing from our constituents caused by mismanagement of these EDD funds.” It quoted a Bee article from August 2022 that found payments were delayed for an estimated 5 million workers during the pandemic.
The state Legislative Analyst’s Office found that EDD “caused hardship for unemployed workers and their families” during tough economic times and “mischaracterized” the extent of its problems to the state Legislature.
The Republicans were also appalled by Su’s enthusiastic support of California’s Assembly Bill 5, a law that aims to provide employee benefits such as minimum wages and overtime to many independent workers.
The letter says the law “makes it nearly impossible for independent contractors to operate in the state.”
Because of the unemployment confusion and the AB5 fallout, “these two situations scream ‘incompetence,” the letter says.
Besides Kiley, signers included Republican Reps. Tom McClintock, Jay Obernolte, Young Kim, Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa and Mike Garcia.
This story was originally published February 21, 2023 at 1:08 PM.
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