1309 Vincent Place, Suite 1000
McLean, Virginia 22101
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 1, 1998
CONTACT: Dan Rene 703-847-3088
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today the National Legal and Policy Center issued seven
questions for AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka to answer during
his visit to Pittsburgh today. (the questions are attached)
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka has been accused by a U.S. District
Court-appointed Teamsters Election Officer of playing a major role in the
network of fundraising schemes employed by the Ron Carey campaign in the
1996 Teamster election. To avoid federal investigators' questions, Trumka
invoked the Fifth Amendment.
"Trumka needs to be asked and needs to answer these serious ethical
questions," said NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm. "Today's briefing is
a way for the Sweeney/Trumka AFL-CIO to distract attention away from their
own internal ethical problems."
Richard Trumka maintains his position as an AFL-CIO officer despite a 1957
federation rule which mandates the expulsion of union officials who invoke
the Fifth Amendment to avoid scrutiny into corruption. This rule was used
as recently as 1991.
"AFL-CIO President John Sweeney should immediately expel Richard Trumka
from the AFL-CIO for his participation in the Carey campaign money laundering
scandal and for taking the Fifth Amendment to save his own skin,"
stated Boehm.
Boehm continued, "The Teamster scandal is a black eye to the Sweeney
AFL-CIO. John Sweeney should take steps to ensure such an embarrassment
to the workers never happens again. Further, they should take steps to
investigate other labor leaders, like AFCSME's Gerald McEntee and SEIU's
Andrew Stern, for their ties to the Carey campaign scheme."
NLPC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation promoting ethics and accountability
in government. NLPC was a plaintiff in the lawsuit which succeeded in opening
the records of Hillary Rodham Clinton's Health Care Task Force. NLPC's
Organized Labor Accountability Project is investigating and exposing corruption
in the Teamsters, Laborers' International Union of North American, AFL-CIO
and other labor organizations.
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