Stuart Buttrick Comments on Controversial Choice for NLRB Board

As critics continue to question whether his strong union ties will affect his impartiality, a vote on prominent labor attorney Craig Becker's nomination to serve on the National Labor Relations Board nears for the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Law360 reported in its story, "Controversy Over NLRB Pick Persists on Eve of Vote."

President Barack Obama nominated Becker in April to serve as a member of the NLRB, a controversial move among business and pro-management groups, many of which have weighed in against Becker's confirmation, the story reported.

Becker - who currently serves as associate general counsel to both the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO - drew criticism both for his deep ties to prominent unions and for past academic articles in which he suggested, among other things, that employers had no legally sanctioned role in union elections, according to Isakson.

Stuart Buttrick of Baker & Daniels LLP told Law360 that Democrats were racing against the political clock, as Senator-Elect Scott Brown, R-Mass., prepares to be sworn in as the 41st Republican Senate vote.

"It's one last attempt to jam through a pro-labor appointee before the composition of the Senate changes," Buttrick told Law360, noting that Democrats are attempting a similar last-minute vote on U.S. Department of Labor solicitor general nominee M. Patricia Smith.