On April 20th, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint alleging that  “Boeing’s decision to transfer a second production line for its new 787 Dreamline passenger plane to South Carolina was motivated by an unlawful desire to retaliate against union workers for their past strikes in Washington and to discourage future strikes."

House and Senate Republicans have been quick to attack this decision by the agency, including Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Interestingly, on April 28th, Boehner’s leadership PAC, Freedom Project, received $5,000 from Stacey Dion, a registered lobbyist and “director of corporate public policy” for Boeing, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Prior to working for Boeing, from 2007 to 2008, Dion was Policy Adviser and Counsel to House Minority Leader John Boehner.

This donation, and the donations handed out by Boeing's PAC in April, raise serious questions about whether Boeing is pursuing a legislative strategy to discredit the NLRB, an independent agency. Instead of following the legal process—where this decision belongs—are they instead trying to use their influence to supersede this through legislative action?

Public Campaign Deputy Research Director Tam Doan contributed to this report.