FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 21, 2000
CONTACT: Dan Rene, 703-847-3088 or drene@nlpc.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm today blasted the Justice Department’s new oversight agreement with Laborers’ Int’l Union of North America (LIUNA) as a “capitulation” to the union.
Boehm also called on Attorney General Janet Reno to disclose the terms
of any deal that would protect former LIUNA President Arthur Coia from
future criminal prosecution. Coia stepped down as LIUNA President on January
1.
LIUNA is generally considered to be the nation’s most corrupt union.
A 1994 draft RICO Complaint detailed control of LIUNA, and of Coia,
by organized crime. in 1995, the Justice Department refrained from filing
the RICO suit in return for LIUNA undertaking a program of ‘internal reform.’”
The Justice Department retained the right to take over LIUNA if this reform
effort did not meet department expectations. The new agreement removes
that threat.
“Ending the possibility of a takeover is a capitulation to LIUNA,” said NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm. “Without this threat, the ‘fox guarding the hen house’ analogy is truer than ever. Furthermore, the circumstances of this new agreement invite suspicion. Coia unexpectedly quits on January 1,but he gets to keep a $335,000 salary and his associates keep control of the union. Now Reno claims that LIUNA is clean because Coia is gone. Was Coia promised something for stepping down? ”
Through its Organized Labor Accountability Project, NLPC 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.
Organized Labor Accountability Project