Annelle Grajeda believes her only offense was standing by a friend. The Service Employees International Union, however, will have the final word. Grajeda, president of SEIU Local 721, is yet another Los Angeles SEIU official to step aside in the wake of revelations of possible misuse of office. That she also is president of the SEIU California state council and an executive vice president of the international union makes the need for damage control all the more imperative. A Los Angeles Times report indicated there was evidence that she had arranged a transfer of tens of thousands of dollars in improper payments to a former boyfriend, Alejandro Stephens.
The abrupt departure by Andrew Stern this spring as president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), after 14 years on the job, blindsided a lot of observers. After all, he was a shadow cabinet member of the Obama administration. Reported ongoing federal investigations into two unrelated, and possibly illegal, financial arrangements may shed light on his motives. The 
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) long has been a major booster of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. The head of an SEIU local in Los Angeles appears to have engaged in ACORN-like behavior on his own. On August 27, 
