Board’s integrity

Terence Flynn resigned this week as a member of the National Labor Relations Board. Mr. Flynn, a Republican, came under fire from unions and congressional Democrats after the board's inspector general alleged that he had improperly revealed details on the status of pending cases.

Mr. Flynn denied wrongdoing, but calls for his head grew louder when it was discovered that one of the supposed leaks had been to a former adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.

Critics of Mr. Flynn argued that his disclosures compromised the agency's integrity.

Mr. Flynn's actions may indeed have been inappropriate and misguided. But it's hard to believe this body's integrity could get any lower.

Consider the case of Craig Becker, an NLRB board member who stepped down in December. Mr. Becker, a Democrat, joined the board after receiving a recess appointment from President Barack Obama.

Before his back-door ascension to the board, Mr. Becker had been a labor lawyer who once wrote that employers shouldn't be allowed to present their case if workers seek to unionize. As a member of the board, he pushed initiatives - since tangled up in the courts - that threatened employer free speech rights and sanctioned ambush union elections.

And what does Mr. Becker do now that he no longer sits on the National Labor Relations Board? Why just last week he walked right through the revolving door and found a new gig as co-general counsel of the AFL-CIO.

Integrity of the board, indeed.