In an unprecedented move, Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury has inserted himself ? and his Workers' Rights Board Fair Election Oversight Commission ? into the labor dispute between the Providence Health System and the Local 49 of the Service Employees International Union. While Bradbury admits that he lacks legal authority to get involved, he claims this doesn't prevent him from getting involved in the process; Providence and the NLRB disagree.
See "Secretary of state steps in on union vote", Peter Korn, Portland Tribune, June 8, 2006