By admin 
The union president behind the Proposition 40 California billionaire wealth tax tried to “extort” other labor leaders in Service Employees International Union California state council in a bid to win support for the measure, according to confidential reports on internal investigations obtained by The Sacramento Bee.
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An investigation by the Los Angeles law firm Barboza & Associates — commissioned by SEIU California — found SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West President Dave Regan demonstrated a “propensity for bullying women and women of color who hold and previously held director-level positions within SEIU California.”
Investigators said they corroborated an allegation that in 2009, Regan kicked in the door of former SEIU California Executive Director Courtni Pugh, pinned her against the wall of the office, pushed his finger into her chest and called her a “dumbass.”
Regan and SEIU-UHW representatives denied the allegations Friday, arguing they have been disseminated as part of an effort to discredit his retroactive, one-time, 5% billionaire wealth tax intended to address federal healthcare cuts. The proposed tax was narrowly endorsed by the California Democratic Party and more decisively by the Labor Federation of California last month. It has drawn critics ranging from the California Teachers Association to Gov. Gavin Newsom. They argue it will jeopardize future tax collections if billionaires flee the state.
At a press event Friday afternoon, SEIU-UHW Vice President Debru Carthan attacked the Los Angeles Times, which first broke the story Friday morning, claiming its billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, swayed coverage of the investigation after the paper issued a rare editorial against Prop. 40 earlier this week.
“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,” SEIU-UHW said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the LA Times said Friday they stood by the reporting.
The unions’ representatives claim Pugh, who is working on the campaign against Prop. 40, is surfacing allegations as part of an effort to thwart the ballot measure two months before election day.
“The account is from supposedly 17 years ago, and is absolutely and completely fabricated by an individual with every incentive to attack me, attack UHW, and who is being paid to attempt to defeat the Proposition 40 campaign,” Regan told reporters Friday.
In response, Pugh said in an email that she was asked to participate in the investigation “because so many people had heard about the 2009 incident over the years,” calling Regan’s response “offensive to the women and people who have had to endure his threatening behavior.”
The charges now await action by the SEIU’s Internation Union, according to SEIU California spokesperson Christopher Calhoun. He accused Regan of “smearing survivors” and said Pugh’s account was backed up by two independent legal investigations.
“Enough with the excuses: No matter how much Regan wants to change the subject and play victim, nothing justifies workplace violence,” Calhoun said.
Allegations of extortion
The impetus for the investigations were complaints against Regan’s behavior filed by SEIU United Service Workers West President David Huerta and three other labor leaders in February, and a separate complaint from another SEIU California state council staffer in March. Regan and SEIU-UHW members filed their own charge in April accusing the latter group of “character assassination” and violating SEIU California’s constitution.
The investigations offer rare internal snapshots of the labor schisms created by the wealth tax and Regan’s behavior that have divided SEIU California, which includes SEIU-UHW and other unions.
In addition to the Barboza & Associates report, SEIU International commissioned an investigation from the New York law firm Cohen, Weiss and Simon.
The latter’s investigators corroborated an accusation made by Huerta that Regan attempted to coerce the council to endorse his billionaire tax ahead of Jan. 1, 2026 when Huerta served as SEIU State Council president. If he failed to do so, Regan suggested Huerta could face an investigation from the U.S. Department of Labor, which is seen as hostile under President Donald Trump.
On Friday, Regan called the claim an “absolute absurdity” and “categorically false.” He said his conversation with Huerta concerned shortcomings in the state council’s governance structure in the wake of a 2021 corruption scandal involving former SEIU California President Alma Hernández.
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Investigators noted Regan had a pattern of similar conduct. They referenced text messages where an unnamed Regan ally sought to get the state council to endorse Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Tom Steyer in the primary. In exchange, the ally suggested Regan would drop his counter-claims against state council members who’d brought forward complaints about his behavior.
Conduct toward other female union leaders
The Barboza & Associates report found a pattern of questionable conduct by Regan involving female labor leaders, which he vigorously disputes.
In one case, investigators found Regan told SEIU California Executive Director Tia Orr in December that he was “coming for” her if the state council didn’t back Prop. 40.
After a conference in December, Orr told investigators that Regan insisted on accompanying her to the airport and sitting next to her on the plane, pressing her to support Prop. 40. Orr told investigators she felt threatened by Regan’s actions and remarks, a claim they said was corroborated by staffers’ descriptions of his behavior toward past female executives like Pugh.
Regan told investigators that he considered Orr a friend and said he’d never threatened her in any way.
Investigators also found merit in a bullying allegation levied by Jess Bartholow, SEIU California State Council government relations director. She told investigators Regan attempted to intimidate her at an event in March by standing closely next to her, glaring at her, telling her she didn’t know how to do her job and cursing at her.
Regan said Friday that the report was missing important context and said Bartholow had previously “rudely, abusively and nastily threw four members of our union” out of SEIU California’s Sacramento office.
“She decided to approach me,” Regan said. “I told her what I thought about that, and it was an honest and frank exchange.”
What Barboza & Associates described as the most serious allegation is the one involving Pugh, which she told investigators came in the context of disagreements over the organization’s approach to ballot measures. Pugh said the incident left her badly shaken, hyperventilating and anxious, and lingered with her for years after.
Pressed by reporters on Pugh’s account, Regan denied it entirely on Friday, claiming it had first surfaced at a holiday party hosted by Newsom.
A polarizing ballot fighter
Regan has a reputation for brash behavior in Sacramento.
In 2009, when Regan was vice president of UHW, leaders of the rival National Healthcare Workers United union accused him of threatening to call immigration officials on undocumented members during a competitive unionization campaign, according to The Fresno Bee. A UHW spokesperson dismissed those claims as false.
In 2016, a process server accused Regan of assaulting them. Local prosecutors never filed charges against Regan, and his attorney said at the time that the server refused to leave Regan’s home. Two years later, a Democratic assemblymember accused Regan of shoving him outside a restaurant. A UHW spokesperson told The Bee that the conflict had been blown out of proportion.
The union president is perhaps best known for repeatedly bringing dozens of ballot measures, a tactic that critics say is aimed at earning concessions in labor negotiations.
In the case of the billionaire tax, Newsom failed to broker a deal to keep it off a ballot. Regan now aims to pass a measure that polls show holds support among a narrow majority of the electorate, with billionaires and business groups likely spending hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat it.
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SEIU California is officially neutral on the measure.