The Obama Administration revealed yesterday that it plans to cut funding for the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Mangement Standards (OLMS).

OLMS conducts oversight over union finances to detect and prevent embezzlement. The Department of Labor reported that investigations into union corruption between 2001 and 2008 yielded over 1,000 indictments, 929 convictions, and more than $93 million in court-ordered restitution. Given these troubling statistics, one would imagine that there’d be a need for more oversight, not less.

Gutting funds for union oversight is just another component in labor’s agenda for the Obama Administration. They’ve already successfully requested the Administration to roll back transparency and disclosure requirements, which was a top priority for them. In fact, reducing transparency was on the AFL-CIO’s “To Do” list for the Obama Administration, which has adhered to many of their demands.

Cutting funding for actual oversight over union (mis)management of funds should not come as too much of a surprise.