Who knew that losing tens of billions of dollars to fraud could be such a resume booster?

As California’s secretary of labor from January 2019 to July 2021, Julie Su oversaw the Employment Development Department (EDD) during the coronavirus pandemic. And we all know the story: California’s EDD paid out upward of $30 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims.

The reports of fraud were nothing short of astonishing. For example, CBS Los Angeles reported in November 2020, “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 reported in 2020 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 this staggering failure in oversight, Julie Su “failed upward.” She was tapped by President Joe Biden to serve as the United States Deputy Secretary of Labor from July 2021 to March 2023. After Labor Secretary Marty Walsh left his post, Su served as acting labor secretary for the remainder of Biden’s presidency.

Even so, not even Democrats in the U.S. Senate wanted to confirm her as the official labor secretary. During her tenure as acting labor secretary, Su primarily pushed the interests of Big Labor, including advocating for stricter limits on independent contracting.

Now, Julie Su has reemerged with a new role in New York City as the 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 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.”

It’s almost too on the nose that Julie Su would go from overseeing the staggering theft of public funds in California to now being tasked with imposing “economic justice” in New York City.

In response to questions about her selection, Mamdani told the press, “I’m aware of the deputy mayor’s record, and I’m very excited to have her,” according to the New York Post.

Of course he is. Unbothered by her poor management abilities, Mamdani is glad to have a union ally with the political savvy to keep advancing despite her failures.

What happens to New York City in the coming years is, of course, the choice of New Yorkers. As H. L. Mencken famously put it, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”

It will be quite the spectacle to watch how much damage Su and Mamdani can do in the name of economic justice. The only bright spot? She’ll be across the country — not back here in California — helping to avoid further decline in our state.
https://www.dailybreeze.com/2025/12/23/californias-julie-su-finds-a-new-home-in-socialist-new-york-city/