Well, this is pretty shocking. I say that seriously not sarcastically.

In a letter to Gephardt, D-Mo., Andrew Stern and Gerald McEntee accused Joyce Aboussie of vowing to seek the reversal of an executive order that granted Missouri state employees collective bargaining rights. The two called on Gephardt to fire Aboussie from the campaign and issue a written retraction of her threats.

Aboussie did not immediately return calls for comment. The Gephardt campaign issued a statement saying he strongly supports collective bargaining for public employees; he had no comment on the accusations.

[...] In their letter, Stern and McEntee said Aboussie warned them that if they worked for Dean in Missouri, she would prod at least 22 state legislators to write Republican leaders calling for repeal of the collective bargaining order. Republican state legislative leaders have tried and failed to challenge Holden's order in the courts and in the legislature.

"It's bad enough to deliver an ultimatum to any group of people,'' the AFSCME and SEIU presidents wrote. "But for a senior aide of yours -- who has worked for you for more than 20 years -- to do so at the expense of Missouri's state employees is deplorable.''

Kos readers, where I found the story, are pretty taken aback as well. Looks bad and Gep should stomp it out immediately and not just 'refuse to comment.'

Grab the popcorn, friends, things are starting to heat up.