TEACHERS/GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
New Subpoenas Stir Florida Probes
Federal labor racketeering investigators are looking into the possible
misuse of $210 million worth of employee insurance contracts in the Broward
Co. (Fla.) School Dist. After 30 months of apparent dormancy, the investigation
is alive again with grand jury subpoenas delivered Feb. 12. The subpoenas
requested minutes of the Superintendent's Insurance Committee. A key member
of that committee is Broward Teachers Union president Tony Gentile. [Sun-Sentinel
2/17/99]
Alternatively, the subpoenas may be targeting Fed. of Public Employees boss Walter "Buster" J. Browne. Brown heads a union the represents many non-teacher School Board employees and he is a member of the Insurance Committee. The union boss is also the ex-Port Everglades Commission chairman. Investigators have been looking into payment to Browne since Jan. 1992 from local shipping firms and two other unions: Dania Beach Am. Maritime Officers and Teamsters Local 769. Further, they're interested in Browne's influence on the Insurance Committee. Browne has a corrupt history. In 1996, he pled guilty to mail-tampering to rig a union election. He just finished two years probation.
One final twist, the U.S. Dep't of Justice in Washington is heading the investigation because the U.S. Attorney for the So. Dist. of Fla., Thomas Scott, was Browne's defense attorney in the boss' mail-tampering case. [Broward Daily Business Review 2/23/99]
In addition to the unions and organizations covered in this Union Corruption Update,readers can look forward to news and information on other corrupt and abusive unions in future editions.
All back issues of the Union Corruption Update can be viewed at NLPC's website (www.nlpc.org). Also available is a union by union index of all Union Corruption Update articles.
If you have story ideas or suggestions for future editions of Union Corruption Updatte,please email NLPC at nlpc@nlpc.org. Thank you.
Union Corruption Update is part of NLPC's Organized Labor Accountability Project which is investigating and exposing corruption and extremism in the Teamsters, LIUNA, AFL-CIO and many other union organizations. NLPC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation promoting ethics and accountability in government through research, education and legal action.
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