Alma Hernández, executive director of SEIU California, which represents more than 700,000 public employees across the state, has been charged by the state Attorney General’s Office with multiple counts of tax fraud, embezzlement, perjury and failure to pay unemployment insurance taxes.

This fraud and corruption, even at the highest levels, comes as no surprise to the Freedom Foundation, a national government watchdog organization that encourages public workers to exercise their First Amendment rights to refuse to pay for the political speech of government unions.

Since 2018, the Freedom Foundation has led the charge in educating SEIU California members about the ways the union is abusing their constitutional rights and spending their money on illicit activities, including acting as primary funders of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent recall survival campaign.

Now it’s clear the problem was worse than anyone knew.

By helping to shine a light on SEIU California’s lawless actions, the Freedom Foundation has helped nearly 15,000 former members end their deductions so they can decide for themselves how their money should be spent.

That’s nearly $12 million annually that SEIU California leaders will no longer have to fund their political agenda and lavish lifestyles.

The charges against Hernández are only the latest evidence that the leaders of government unions like SEIU California are more interested in lining their own pockets than with advocating for their members, who now must decide whether they are willing to continue paying into such an inherently corrupt scheme.