LABORERS (LIUNA)
Clinton Attorney Clears Coia of Mob Ties
As widely anticipated, the
Laborers Int'l Union of No. Am. "internal appeals officer" and ex-Clinton
attorney, W. Neil Eggleston, Aug. 6 upheld a
sham ruling that cleared LIUNA boss Arthur A. Coia of permitting organized
crime to maintain its influence within LIUNA. Coia
has well-documented, close personal, financial and political ties to Clinton.
Eggleston was Clinton's lead attorney for executive privilege matters and
argued Clinton's case for executive privilege before the Supreme Court
last year. Eggleston also has several clients that are wrapped up in this
Administration's scandals including Labor Secretary Alexis H. Herman. Eggleston
left intact a slap-on-the-wrist $100,000 fine imposed
on Coia in Mar. for taking favors from a union vendor.
"This is the Arthur Coia big top," said LIUNA dissident Alex Corns of Cal. "He picked everybody that is involved in the whole cleanup. I believe that they are all controlled to a certain extent by Coia..."
The Clinton-Reno Dep't of Justice, which only mildly criticized the sham ruling last Mar. that cleared Coia, didn't comment on Eggleston's ruling. DOJ had urged the appeal by the ethically-challenged "in-house prosecutor" Robert D. Luskin. Luskin said of Eggleston's ruling, "I think we were afforded a full opportunity to present evidence relevant to the charges and a fair opportunity to be heard." Doesn't sound like some one who just lost a major case, does it? Maybe Luskin was more concerned about his other client, Mark E. Middleton of the Clinton-Gore-Asian fundraising scandal fame. Middleton took the Fifth Amendment 28 times before a House committee on Aug. 5.
The appeal focused on Coia's relationship with ex-LIUNA bosses including John Serpico. Serpico was removed from LIUNA in Jan. 1995. Some have alleged that Coia used LIUNA's failed "internal reform effort" to run Serpico, Coia's main rival for power, out of the union. [Providence Journal-Bulletin & BNA 8/10/99]
Union Corruption Update is made possible by the generous contributions from readers like you. Thanks.
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 and state-by-state index of all Union Corruption Update articles.
If you have story ideas or suggestions for future editions of Union Corruption Update, 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.
Union Corruption Update Article Index (by Union)
Union Corruption Update Article Index (by State)
Organized Labor Accountability Project