Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Dave Regan

No. 31

Dave Regan has been the head of the 120,000-member SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West union since 2011. In that time he has crafted a reputation as a no-holds-barred fighter for his members no matter how much it might cause friction – the kindest way we can put it – with other unions and the healthcare industry itself. So maybe it should not have been a surprise last year when Regan launched the billionaire tax ballot initiative, a measure that has put him at extreme odds with not only Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders but much of the rest of Big Labor, who oppose the measure. For months those forces courted and cajoled Regan and the initiative’s supporters to pull the measure off the ballot. That didn’t happen so now it will be up to voters. Nobody knows what will happen in November, but we know for sure that a lot of money is going to be spent before then. And win or lose, Regan is not getting Christmas cards from many of his labor colleagues this year.

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