Who knew that losing tens of billions of dollars to fraud could be such a resume booster?
From January 2019 to July 2021, Julie Su served as California’s Secretary of Labor, overseeing the Employment Development Department (EDD) during the coronavirus pandemic. During this period, California’s EDD paid out upwards of $30 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims—a scandal that made headlines nationwide.
The fraudulent claims were jaw-dropping. In November 2020, CBS Los Angeles reported, “A Fresno girl who just celebrated her first birthday is collecting $167 per week in unemployment benefits after a claim was filed on her behalf stating that she was an unemployed actor.” CalMatters revealed that California may have paid up to $1 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims filed on behalf of prison and jail inmates. This included hundreds of thousands of dollars in payouts to death row inmates, such as Scott Peterson, infamous for murdering his pregnant wife.
Despite these massive failures, Julie Su seemingly “failed upward.” In July 2021, President Joe Biden appointed her as the United States Deputy Secretary of Labor, a position she held until March 2023. Following Labor Secretary Marty Walsh’s departure, Su served as Acting Secretary of Labor for the remainder of Biden’s presidency. However, not even Democrats in the U.S. Senate were eager to confirm her as the official Labor Secretary.
During her tenure as Acting Secretary, Su primarily pushed the interests of Big Labor, including advocating for further restrictions on independent contracting.
Now, Julie Su has resurfaced with a new role in New York City. She has been named Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice under New York City Mayor-elect and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani.
“Welcome to A New Era, Julie Su!” Mamdani declared on X (formerly Twitter) on December 19. “As former U.S. Secretary of Labor, Julie played a central role in fighting for workers, ensuring a just day’s pay for a hard day’s work and saving the pensions of more than a million union workers and retirees. A lover of Queens, she’s joining us as NYC’s first ever Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice.”
The irony is hard to miss. Julie Su is moving from overseeing one of the largest public fund thefts in California’s history to now being tasked with imposing “economic justice” in New York City.
When asked about her selection, Mamdani told the press, according to the New York Post, “I’m aware of the deputy mayor’s record, and I’m very excited to have her.” Unbothered by her prior management controversies, Mamdani welcomes a union loyalist with the political savvy to advance despite past failures.
What awaits New York City in the coming years is, of course, the choice of its residents. As H. L. Mencken famously said, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”
It will be quite a spectacle to observe how much damage Su and Mamdani might inflict in the name of economic justice. At least the bright side is that she will be across the country, not back here in California, potentially continuing to damage our state.
https://www.whittierdailynews.com/2025/12/23/californias-julie-su-finds-a-new-home-in-socialist-new-york-city/