Oakland union official took bribes from pot dispensaries, feds say

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

An Oakland labor union official has been charged in federal court with accepting bribes or kickbacks in exchange for endorsing prospective marijuana dispensary operators, court records unsealed Wednesday show.

Daniel Rush, 54, of Oakland, the executive director of the cannabis division of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, was charged this week in U.S. District Court in Oakland with honest services fraud and accepting payments in violation of the Taft-Hartley Act, which restricts the activities and power of labor unions.

The investigation by the FBI included a review of bank statements, secretly recorded phone conversations and testimony by witnesses cooperating with the agency, authorities said.

Rush worked to expand his union’s presence in the medical marijuana industry, including unionizing dispensary workers, FBI Special Agent Roahn Wynar wrote in an affidavit. Rush also serves as treasurer of the Instituto Laboral de la Raza, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of the working poor.

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