This past September, Denver United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union voted out its president of 11 years, Ernie Duran. The longtime union operative was ousted in favor of Kim Cordova, an unassuming Safeway bakery clerk.

Cordova pulled off her stunning upset in the union election by exposing Duran’s shameless nepotism and possible corruption. As union head, Duran earned $162,368 a year. But Duran had also put his wife, Crisanta Duran, on the union payroll for $133,410 and his son, Ernie Duran III, was paid $134,378.