Dan Rush

Dan Rush
Born (1960-08-22) August 22, 1960
Oakland, California
Occupation Founder and National Director, United Food and Commercial Workers, Medical Cannabis and Hemp Division[1]

Dan Rush is an American union organizer and former statewide political and special operations director of the United Food and Commercial Workers for cannabis and hemp worker.[2] He is known for being a leader in the United States Labor movement in politics and for cannabis and hemp industry workers, and a civil and motorcycle rights activist.[3][4] Rush began his career in the union in the 1980s as a senior official responsible for carrying out statewide ballot industry politics and eventually founded the concept of organizing medical cannabis and hemp workers in the United States and Canada.[5] He was later investigated by the FBI for allegedly breaching union discipline in 2015, by influencing unions’ decisions for bribes from cannabis and hemp industry stakeholders.[6][7][8]

Career

He was born in Oakland, California. He has a high school diploma from the Dewey Continuation High School in Oakland CA. He was a known as a Democratic Party reformer[9] and in his elected position as 15th Assembly District executive board member for much of his career, beginning his term as a Political Director at the UFCW Local 120 from 1991 to 2006.[10] He was put in charge as a statewide special operations director inside of the union’s Political Department and then founding and developing UFCW Local 5's medical cannabis and hemp workers in 2007.[11][12][13] In 2011, he was named national director of medical cannabis and hemp division for the UFCW International Union.[14] In September 2013, he was summoned from the Bay area to Washington DC, to serve as the director of cannabis workers rising of the North America campaign of the UFCW.[15]

Controversy

In September 2013, he was named as the director for cannabis workers rising of the North America campaign to organize the medical cannabis in the North America.[16] In August 2015, he was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the corruption charges for using his influence to favor Oakland cannabis business people in order to pay off a loan.[6][7][17] Rush is scheduled to go to trial in January 2017.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Union Organizer Indicted for Corruption, Attempted Extortion, and Money Laundering". FBI. 17 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Peter Hecht (3 October 2010). "Growth of California's pot industry is good news for unions". Mcclatchydc.com.
  3. ↑ John Hoeffel (22 September 2010). "California's largest labor union backs pot legalization initiative". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ↑ Chris Harland (10 November 2015). "Will unionizing the cannabis industry bud in Oakland?". Oakland North.
  5. 1 2 Chris Roberts (21 July 2016). "Former Cannabis Union Honcho: Feds Took Me Out". CannabisNow.
  6. 1 2 David Downs (24 September 2015). "Pot Union Organizer Dan Rush Pleads Not Guilty to Corruption, Attempted Extortion, and Money Laundering". East Bay Express.
  7. 1 2 "Union Organizer Indicted For Corruption, Attempted Extortion, And Money Laundering". United States Department of Justice. 17 September 2015.
  8. ↑ Romain Bonilla (14 August 2015). "Marijuana Union Organizer Wanted by FBI on Corruption Charges". Marijuanapolitics.com.
  9. ↑ Ari Berman (2 September 2010). "Just Say Now". Oakland North.
  10. ↑ "Program: Speakers". Deepgreenfest.com.
  11. ↑ "UFCW Local 5 Statement on the Indictment of Dan Rush". UFCW Local 5. 15 August 2015.
  12. ↑ Steve Elliott (28 May 2010). "California Medical Marijuana Workers Form Union". Tokeofthetown.com.
  13. ↑ "Union endorses initiative to legalize marijuana in California". Los Angeles Times. 14 July 2010.
  14. ↑ "After cannabis school raid, big turnout expected at S.F. protest". Los Angeles Times. 2 April 2012.
  15. ↑ "CCPR Board of Directors". Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform.
  16. ↑ David Downs (18 August 2015). "Indicted Pot Union Ex-Official Dan Rush Says He Will Be Vindicated". East Bay Express.
  17. ↑ Laurel Bard, Maya Eliahou and Emma Soldon (24 September 2015). "Berkeley Medical Cannabis Commission member arraigned for extortion, taking bribes". The Daily Californian.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.