Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s labor adviser Peter Schaumber needs to tell Congress just how he used insider information, "including attorney-client privileged information,” funneled to him by National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Terence Flynn, says Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).  

In a letter to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Cummings calls for the committee to conduct transcribed interviews with Schaumber and Peter Kirsanow. Both, according to an NLRB inspector general’s (IG's) report, received confidential NLRB information from Flynn. The two are former NLRB members appointed by former President George W. Bush.

Says Cummings:

In this case, the IG identified serious and potentially criminal conduct, but he was unable to interview the former board members who benefited from receiving this inside information. Given our committee’s history of extensive oversight of the NLRB, I am seeking transcribed interviews of these former officials to determine the extent to which they may have used this information for their own private benefit or to advance their clients’ business interests.

He noted the committee has a recent precedent for compelling the interviews and subpoenaing relevant documents.

Over the past year, the committee has been conducting a wide-ranging investigation of officials at the [NLRB] who you allege were “exceeding their legal authority to pursue a partisan agenda" when they filed a complaint against the Boeing Company for discriminating against workers in Washington State. As part of that investigation, you sent broad requests for documents, held a committee hearing in which you required the Acting General Counsel of the NLRB to testify and issued a subpoena compelling the production of tens of thousands of sensitive internal documents.

Click here for Cummings' full letter. Yesterday, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) called for a federal probe of Flynn’s actions, and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says Flynn should resign immediately.