Wall Street Journal columnist (and Tarheel!) Alan Murray warns of a shakedown by the private equity hate group Services Employees International Union, which runs the private equity hate site BehindtheBuyouts.org.  Here's Murray on the president of SEIU, Andy Stern:

He also discovered what may prove to be the buyout business's Achilles' heel: the tax treatment of "carried interest." The top executives of buyout firms make their exorbitant paydays by keeping as much as 20% of the profits of their funds, which are then paid out to them and taxed at the low capital-gains rate of 15%, rather than the top personal income-tax rate of 35%. The Senate Finance Committee is looking into the tax issue, and Mr. Stern, with his close ties to Democratic politicians, could prove critical in the debate.

Therein may lie the makings of a deal. Mr. Stern has suggested the buyout firms could help his cause by, for instance, adopting standards that would encourage the use of unionized janitorial services in buildings. He hasn't said what he wants in return. But one possibility: He eases up on his criticism of their favorable tax treatment.

A few years ago I started referring to my leveraged buyouts as "worker buyouts."  Am I now going to be asked to make concessions to win the support of unions in the carried interest tax debate?  Frankly, I'm satisfied that my position that the profits interests of the managers of pools of capital should receive the same treatment as the profits interests of the investors in those pools of capital will win on the merits.  Besides, we fund managers have fiduciary duties to our investors — all of them, not just the union-dominated public pension fund investors — and couldn't possibly engage in any mutual backscratching with a union that doesn't benefit our investors.  Because of Murray's column, private equity managers would best be served by not appearing too cozy with Mr. Stern.