FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 30, 1999
CONTACT: Dan Rene, 703-847-3088 or drene@nlpc.org
WASHINGTON -- Today the National Legal and Policy Center, a union corruption watchdog group, requested that the Pubic Review Board (PRB) of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Int’l Union (HERE) initiate a probe of the apparent lack of integrity in HERE President John W. Wilhelm and other officials’ implementation of anti-corruption reforms.
“NLPC believes that these possible lapses of integrity should be investigated by PRB in order to ‘insure high moral and ethical standards in the administration and operational practice of [HERE]’ [as stated in HERE’s Constitution.] Further, if PRB finds that such lapses in integrity occurred or persist, NLPC requests that PRB “remove, suspend, expel, fine or forfeit the benefits...of any officer” in accordance with PRB’s jurisdiction,” stated NLPC’s complaint.
NLPC’s six-page complaint was addressed to HERE’s former court-appointed Monitor Kurt W. Muellenberg, who is also a member of PRB. Muellenberg’s final report last year included reform recommendations to help reduce corruption within HERE. NLPC’s complaint detailed three sources of concern: 1) Wilhelm’s refusal to close HERE’s Midwestern Regional Office, 2) HERE Secretary-Treasurer Ted T. Hansen’s role in the reform process and 3) HERE General Counsel Robert J. Rotatori’s role in the reform process.
“One of Mullenberg’s Recommendations states, ‘Consider abolishing Midwestern Regional Office.’ Wilhelm asserted that this has been completed. But, Wilhelm didn’t abolish that office,” said NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm. “Offering his best imitation of Bill Clinton, Wilhelm alleged that this reform has been completed because he and HERE ‘considered’ it. Such double-speak violates at least the spirit, if not the letter, of HERE’s Ethical Practices Code.”
Boehm continued, “Hansen was listed by Wilhelm as being responsible for a number of reforms. But Hanson is reportedly the son-in-law of corrupt ex-boss Edward Hanley and the brother-in-law of corrupt ex-boss Thomas Hanley. How can an individual with such intimate ties to two corrupt ex-bosses be trusted to implement reforms? Further, how can an individual who has had a leadership role within this union for over twenty-five years be trusted to implement reforms when during those twenty-five years this union was alleged to be one of the most corrupt unions in America? The common sense answer would appear to be that such an individual should not be trusted to implement reforms.”
“HERE has long been a union troubled by corruption... Practices and individuals with links to the ‘old guard’ should at the very minimum be investigated by PRB, and if violations are found, PRB should administer the appropriate penalties,” NLPC’s complaint concluded.
For a copy of NLPC’s complaint visit www.nlpc.org or call 703-847-3088.
NLPC’s Organized Labor Accountability Project is investigating and exposing corruption in the Teamsters, LIUNA, HERE, AFL-CIO and other labor organizations. NLPC publishes Union Corruption Update, a fortnightly newsletter. NLPC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation promoting ethics and accountability in government through research, education and legal action.
PRB's September 20, 1998 Response to NLPC
NLPC's Subsquent September 23, 1999 Media Release
Organized Labor Accountability Project