SEIU Local 1000 president used union credit card for laundry, medical clinic

Since he became SEIU Local 1000’s president in June, Richard Louis Brown has used his union credit card at a French launderer and a medical clinic specializing in weight loss, according to statements he posted online last week.

While the laundry and medical spending don’t make up a large sum of money, they raise questions about whether Brown is spending dues in the best interest of members.

Brown this week posted six years’ worth of credit card statements to the union’s website, including the expenditures he’s made since taking office and the spending of former union officials including past president Yvonne Walker.

Brown took office June 30. The first expenditure on his invoice for July was a $3,000 payment on July 5 to a company identified only as DBM.

A nine-digit number on the invoice is a phone number for Daily Beauty Management, a day spa in Irvine. At the same address is “DBM private investigator.”

On July 6, Brown made a $35 payment to Spring Medical Clinic in West Sacramento. The clinic’s website advertises medical weight loss, vitamin B12 and travel shots, TB tests and physical exams.

On July 9, Brown spent $26.25 at Boulevard French Cleaners in Sacramento.

Also listed on the invoice is spending on gas, restaurants, Costco and parking. He spent $3,636 total for the month, an invoice shows.

The invoice also lists charges for Boulevard French Cleaners in August and October. The charges for the two months total $97.

Brown did not respond to calls or a text about the spending. The invoices he posted for July through October show he spent about $7,600 in total, with most of the money going to gas and food.

Brown posted the invoices for himself and his predecessor after a union member requested he do so for the sake of transparency during a discussion that was live-streamed on Facebook.

The union is a nonprofit organization subject to IRS tax exemption laws. In general, nonprofit organizations may not spend money in ways that privately benefit individual officers or members.

Local 1000 is a 501(c)(5), a labor-specific organization that to preserve its tax-exempt status must remain dedicated to “bettering the conditions of persons engaged in the pursuit of labor, improving the grade of their products, and developing a higher degree of efficiency in their occupations,” according to the IRS.

This story was originally published November 22, 2021 at 5:00 AM.