GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES (AFSCME)
Michigan Boss Sentenced to Year for Embezzling $70,000
Cynthia M. Szymanski, ex-boss of Am. Fed'n of
State, County & Employees Local 2949 in Clinton Twp., Mich., was
sentenced Sep. 8 by U.S. Dist. Judge Bernard Friedman to 12 months imprisonment
for embezzlement of union funds. According to Asst. U.S. Atty. Barbara
McQuade, in 1985, employees of the Clinton View Care Nursing Home (now
Lakepoint Villa) joined AFSCME and were chartered under Local 2949. Szymanski
was elected as the sole office holder -- President and Secretary-Treasurer
-- and held the positions until Sep. 1998. A Dep't of Labor probe revealed
that Szymanski diverted funds for personal use. Friedman ordered Szymanski
to pay $70,672.12 in restitution.
Local 2949 hasn't existed since 1994. AFSCME terminated its charter after Szymanski stopped sending in union dues. Yet she collected dues from 1994 to 1998. During that period, misled workers didn't have union cards, didn't vote for officers, didn't get newsletters, etc., but every year the corrupt boss took $169 from their paychecks. [USAO Media Release 9/8/99; Detroit News 4/28/99]
HOTEL & RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES (HERE)
PRB Responds to NLPC Request for Boss Wilhelm Probe
On Sep. 23, the Nat'l Legal & Policy Ctr., a union corruption watchdog
group, received a response letter from the
Pubic Review Board of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Int'l
Union indicating that it will probe the apparent lack of integrity
in HERE President John W. Wilhelm and other officials' implementation of
anti-corruption reforms. "It appears to be good news for members and bad
news for corrupt bosses," said NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm. "I am pleased
that the Public Review Board is moving forward on NLPC's findings of possible
wrongdoing within HERE." PRB's response letter to NLPC, dated Sep. 20,
was from Kenneth P. Purcell who is PRB's counsel. Purcell's
letter can be viewed at www.nlpc.org.
On August 30, NLPC filed a six-page complaint 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. "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..." said NLPC.
HERE Headquarters Named for Corrupt Ex-Boss
Sending a clear message to members that corruption does pay, HERE's
headquarters is housed in the Edward T. Hanley Building. Hanley, HERE's
disgraced ex-boss, was forced to resign in 1998 amid corruption charges
and only avoided prosecution by cutting two controversial immunities deals
with DOJ. The posh, brick building is located at 1219 28th St., N.W.,
Washington, D.C.; check it out on the web at www.hereunion.org.
POSTAL WORKERS (APWU)
Las Vegas Local's Audit Says $165,000 Misused
Several officers in the Las Vegas local of the Am. Postal Workers Union
are being asked to substantiate union expenditures totaling over $165,000.
A preliminary audit by a Chicago auditing firm outlines numerous discrepancies
in the financial records of Local 761, including questionable credit card
charges by union officials for "what appears to be for personal purposes."
The local's vice-president and treasurer have resigned since a union member,
Robert Trentino, sought the audit earlier this year. The apparent unwillingness
of bosses to cooperate in the investigation has frustrated both the outside
auditor and a Las Vegas labor attorney who withdrew his representation
of the local over the issue.
"Based on our preliminary examination of the documents of the union, we believe sufficient predication exists to conduct a thorough fraud examination of the union records," Craig Greene, of Rome Associates LLP of Chicago, wrote in an Aug. 12 report to union members. In addition to the credit card charges, the report found: 1) large checks written in whole amounts to union officials, 2) a substantial number of missing documents, 3) entries in disbursement account records that differ from the actual written check amounts and 4) large and unreasonable account variances from one year to the next. These findings are based on about half of the documents requested. The remainder of the documents, including bank statements, check stubs, credit card statements and required federal reports, were either missing or incomplete.
Before the audit began on Aug. 10, vice-president Kaleen Williams, who according to the auditors' findings, had $42,820 in questionable charges, resigned. Treasurer Deborah Partida was found to have over $103,000 and was striped Sep. 11 of her financial responsibilities. President Billy Harrell, boss since 1979, said he will provide evidence that he repaid his $9,100 in questionable charges.
David Barnes, an investigator with the Dep't of Labor in San Francisco, would neither confirm nor deny that his agency is working on this case. "We have heard from members in the union," Barnes said. "They're coming up on election of officers, so we don't want to influence those. There are a lot of political ramifications to this." Nominations for Local 761 are in Oct., and election in Nov. [Las Vegas Rev.-J. 9/18/99]
TEACHERS (NEA)
Nebraska Manager Embezzled $200,000
The Neb. Teachers Credit Union was declared insolvent Sep. 22 by state
banking officials amid allegations that the ex-manager and sole employee,
Violet Crosby, embezzled over $200,000 from members. NTCU, based in Lincoln,
serves Neb. State Edu. Ass'n teachers across the state. Its assets are
about $850,000.
The state Banking Dep't began investigating in Jul. when NTCU's treasurer learned that NTCU was not earning as much interest as it should have on a major account. Crosby was fired shortly after the discrepancy was discovered.
An audit to determine the exact amount of the embezzlement is underway. The FBI and Lincoln police have worked on the investigation, and any prosecution will be handled by the U.S. Atty.'s Office.
The credit union will open under new ownership, and none of the members will lose money, since the accounts were federally insured for up to $100,000 each and there were no accounts over $100,000. [Omaha World-Herald 9/23/99]
POLICE UNIONS (PBA)
Ohio Cop Used Union for Scam
A top cop used a local Police Benevolent Ass'n to embezzle funds. John
E. Widdig, the former chief of police for Manchester, Ohio, was sentenced
Sep. 13 by U.S. Dist. Judge Herman J. Weber to two years of probation and
$2,600 in fines. On May 27, Widdig pled guilty to one count of embezzling
funds from programs receiving federal funding, and to one count of making
a false statement on a grant application.
U.S. Atty. Sharon Zaley charged that in Dec. 1994, Widdig sold a five-ton cargo truck that Manchester had acquired through the U.S. Dep't of Defense's Surplus Property Program for $5,750 and deposited the money into the Manchester Police Benevolent Ass'n bank account, an account to which only Widdig and one other person had access.
Widdig has reimbursed Manchester $5,750 for the proceeds of the sale of the truck. He faced ten years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 on the embezzlement charge. [USAO Media Release 9/13/99]
ELECTRICAL WORKERS (IBEW)
Illinois Local Probed for Wrongdoing
Internal union hearings will begin Sep. 27 investigating charges of
financial mismanagement of the Int'l Bhd. of Electrical Workers' Local
21 in Chicago. Jerry O'Connor, an int'l vice president for IBEW's Dist.
6, said IBEW put Local 21 in trusteeship Sep. 1 after an initial probe
of member complaints found that the local was not functioning properly.
A transcript of the hearings will be sent to IBEW in Washington, which
will decide whether to continue the trusteeship. Local 21 is the IBEW's
fourth-largest local. No word on any U.S. Atty. or Dep't of Justice
action. [Chi. Trib. 9/17/99]
LABORERS (LIUNA)
Chicago Boss Tied to Security Firm
A security company -- started with an allegedly illegal loan obtained
by ex-Laborers' Int'l Union of No. Am. boss John
Serpico -- reportedly got $800,000 in no-bid business from the Ill.
Int'l Port Authority while Serpico was chairman of the IIPA. After the
Chicago Sun-Times began questioning the deal, Serpico sent a letter to
Ill. Gov. George Ryan (R) saying he would not seek reappointment to the
IIPA, which oversees a Chicago's South Side industrial complex. Serpico
has been appointed and reappointed to IIPA by every governor except Ryan
since 1975. His most recent term expired earlier this year.
A federal racketeering indictment alleges Serpico used a $195,000 loan in 1988 to provide startup cash for Protective Service Systems. It was one of nine loans cited. (For news on the other loans, visit www.nlpc.org.) Allegedly, Serpico used union muscle and cash to leverage the bank loans on sweetheart terms. [Chi. Sun-Times 9/13/99]
ELECTIONS & POLITICS / GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
(AFSCME)
Hillary Holds Event at Corrupt DC37
In what the N.Y. Times called her "strongest confirmation yet," Hillary
Rodham Clinton said Sep. 22 that she would almost certainly run for the
U.S. Senate in N.Y. next year, but that she wants voters to get to know
her better before she declares her candidacy.
The outrage, however, is where Clinton chose to hold her news conference -- the headquarters of America's most corrupt local union, Am. Fed'n of State, County & Municipal Employees' Dist. Council 37. This corrupt Manhattan union has suffered a startling 27, yes 27, indictments (including 11 guilty pleas) in the last 10 months. And the Manhattan Dist. Atty. has indicated there are more to come. The union corruption ranges from multi-million dollar embezzlement of union funds to vote fraud. [N.Y. Times 9/23/99]
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ADDITIONAL BRIEFS NOT INCLUDED ON THE FAX EDITION OF THIS UNION CORRUPTION UPDATE:
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AUTO WORKERS (UAW)
Cincinnati Boss Guilty of Embezzling $2,500
William E. Willis, ex-president of United Auto Workers Local 647 in
Evendale, Ohio, pled guilty Jul. 29 in U.S. Dist Court in Cincinnati to
embezzling $2,522.56 from union coffers. From Jan. to May 1996, Willis
embezzled the funds by submitting false lost time claims. He obtained lost
time reimbursement from the local for the performance of union business
when he was actually taking unauthorized time off for personal business
and recreation. Willis admitted to federal prosecutors that he stayed home
and did not conduct union business when he got the lost time reimbursement
from Local 647. Willis was freed on a personal recognizance bond until
sentencing Oct. 22. He faces five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and
exclusion from union positions for up to 13 years. [USAO Media Release
7/29/99]
POSTAL WORKERS (RLCA)
Louisiana Boss Guilty of Embezzling $2,300
James Green, an ex-boss of the N.W. La. Rural Letter Carriers' Ass'n
Dist. 4, in Shreveport, La., pled guilty Aug. 24 to one count of embezzling
over $2,300 in union funds. Testimony at the hearing by Special Agent Roy
Roberson, Department of Labor, established that Green was the president
of the union, responsible for opening, writing checks, depositing and maintaining
receipts, recording transactions and maintaining invoices as they related
to the convention funds. From Apr. to Sep. 1995, Green embezzled $2,380
from the union's state convention funds by writing unauthorized checks
drawn from the union's convention fund. The checks were made payable to
Green, to cash or to third parties for alleged convention expenses. Sentencing
is scheduled for Nov. 22. Green faces five years imprisonment and a fine
of $10,000. [USAO Media Release 8/24/99]
TEAMSTERS (IBT) / UNION DEMOCRACY
Indicted Kentucky Bosses Fire Upstart Challengers
Teamsters Local 89 bosses fired four business agents and an office
manager Sep. 14 in a shake-up that signals the biggest challenge to the
local's established leadership since it was founded 62 years ago. A fifth
business agent resigned in support of those who were fired. The ousted
officers are candidates on or supporters of a slate that seeks to unseat
the current local president and executive board in a December election.
"We were fired for announcing our intention to run,'' said Fred Zuckerman,
a business agent who announced his candidacy for the local's presidency
Sep. 9. Zuckerman said the firings are illegal under the Teamsters constitution
and that he planned to file appeals to higher union bodies.
Zuckerman is challenging current president Robert Winstead, who succeeded to the office in Dec. 98 from the secretary-treasurer's position. Ex-president Lon Fields retired a year early to give Winstead a year in the office before he had to run for reelection. Winstead and Fields are part of a dynasty in the local that stretches back to 1952 and includes a 14-year stint in the presidency by Winstead's father, Marion, who retired in 1990. No dissident faction has ever successfully challenged the local's leadership since the local was founded in 1937.
Fired with Zuckerman were Carolin Washburn who was office manager and bookkeeper for the local and who is a candidate for secretary-treasurer; Mike Fackler, a business agent and candidate for one of the local's three trustee jobs; David Swift, a business agent and trustee candidate; and Avral Thompson, business agent and a supporter of the slate. Tim Thompson, another business agent who supports the slate, resigned in protest over the firings.
Besides Winstead, current top local leadership includes Bob Myers, secretary-treasurer; Gerald Shaw, vice president, Tom Trenaman; recording secretary; and John Wientjes, John Bolton and Gary Hug, all trustees. Hug is a son of Norman Hug, who succeeded Marion Winstead in the local's presidency, just before Fields' term.
Fields and Robert Winstead were indicted in September 1998 and charged with violating election law in the 1995 election of Ky. Gov. Paul Patton (D). The charges were dismissed in June, but the dismissal was appealed by Ky. Atty. Gen. Ben Chandler (D), and the case is pending before the Ky. Court of Appeals. Winstead, Shaw and Myers all appeared in this year's "$100,000 Club" list, prepared by the far-left activist group, Teamsters for a Democratic Union. TDU uses the list to point out what it considers excessive compensation of Teamsters bosses. [Courier-J. 9/15/99]
LABORERS (LIUNA)
Chicago Boss' Indictment Taints Wisconsin Casino
A possible Indian casino in Kenosha, Wis., faces a new roadblock because
of a party's links to a Laborers' Int'l Union of No. Am. scandal in Chicago.
State regulators -- who have almost absolute authority to approve or deny
the casino -- said they'd investigate whether Morgan Murphy, the casino's
driving force, is too closely linked to recently
indicted LIUNA boss John Serpico. At issue is the fact that Serpico
and Murphy once owned a Chicago TV studio later sold to Oprah Winfrey.
Serpico, was charged in Aug. with money laundering, racketeering and fraud.
The federal investigators allege that in 1987 the studio owned by Serpico and a person identified as "Individual A" received about $2 million in allegedly corrupt bank loans. In 1987, Murphy was the president of Studio Network Inc., and Serpico was the firm's only other officer listed on its annual report. Murphy is presumed to by Individual A. Robert D. Boyle, Murphy's law partner, said Aug. 25 that Serpico was the firm's only other investor. A year or two later, Boyle said, he bought Serpico's share of Studio Network. It seems Murphy, ex-Democratic Congressman from Ill., was bothered both by Serpico's inability to contribute needed capital and with his well-publicized testimony about his mob connections. Reportedly, when Serpico and Murphy bought the studio in 1983, the investors included John Crededio, who was jailed in 1984 for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating his ties to top syndicate bosses. Murphy later bought out Crededio.
Murphy is not charged with any wrongdoing, and Serpico is not an investor in NII-JII Entertainment, Murphy's current enterprise that wants to finance and run the Menominee Indian casino. [Milwaukee J.-Sent. 8/26/99]
Chicago Racketeering Suit Figure Dies
Fred "Peanuts" Roti, an old-time Chicago politician and reputed organized
crime figure died from cancer Sep. 20 in Chicago. He was 78. Roti's name
was in the news last month when a Dep't of Justice
and LIUNA racketeering suit was settled. It alleged that the Chicago Laborers'
Dist. Council has been dominated for 30 years by top organized crime figures.
And it contended for the first time that Roti was a full-fledged member
of the Chicago "Outfit" (a.k.a. the mob), a key patronage boss and fixer
for the mob. Roti, by then seriously ill, never commented on the allegations.
Roti long alleged to be organized crime's representative in the City Council, spent more than 50 years in government in posts ranging from state senator to city drain inspector. He was best known as the Alderman of the 1st Ward, which then included Chicago's "Loop," and he served for more than two decades--from 1968 until a few months after his 1990 indictment on corruption charges. He was subsequently convicted, sentenced to four years in prison. His father, Bruno "the Bomber" Roti, was a reportedly small-time gangster under Al Capone. [Chi. Trib. 9/21/99]
FIREFIGHTERS
New York Bosses Sentenced for Embezzling $39,000
Two bosses of the Int'l Bhd. of Fireman &
Oilers Local 266 in Fredonia, N.Y. pled guilty Feb. 4 to misusing over
$39,000 in union funds for personal benefit. Local secretary-treasurer
Linda Rafan pled guilty to embezzlement of union funds and president John
Jacchino pled guilty to falsifying union records. Rafan used union checks
and credit cards for personal use. Jacchino withdrew cash from a union
account claiming it was for members in financial difficulty, but the funds
were used by Rafan and him for undisclosed personal expenses. Rafan was
sentenced Jun. 14 to 12 months and a day in prison and ordered to repay
$39,055 in restitution to the local. Jacchino was sentenced to three years
probation, including six-months home confinement and ordered to pay a $9,800
fine. [Buff. News 6/16/99; Dunkirk Evening Observer 6/15/99]
Tainted Wisconsin Boss Appointed to University Board
Gregory Gracz, Milwaukee Prof'l Fire Fighters Ass'n president, was
one of three new members to the University of Wisconsin System Board of
Regents appointed by Wis. Gov. Tommy G. Thompson (R) on Sep. 3. Board
appointees require confirmation by the Democrat-controlled state Senate.
If approved, Gracz will serve a seven-year term, replacing Bradley DeBraska,
president of the Milwaukee Police Ass'n.
In 1992, Gracz ran unsuccessfully against Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist amid allegations of sexual harassment of a female Racine firefighter. He also has been convicted of drunken driving three times since 1985. The last time, in May 1996, he pled guilty to driving while intoxicated and was fined $750 and sentenced to 75 days in the House of Correction with release privileges. Gracz's driver's license was revoked for 15 months, and he was ordered to pay court costs and assessments totaling about $250.
Thompson considered the drunken driving convictions and sexual harassment allegations when appointing Gracz, said Kevin Keane, the governor's executive assistant. "We certainly don't condone anything like that," Keane said. "But the governor felt it was important to keep union representation on the board, and Mr. Gracz was recommended by a number of union leaders from around Milwaukee."
Not surprisingly the appointment has been challenged. Leaders of two UW student groups and a feminist caucus have raised concerns about the union boss. The groups fear his past actions might send the wrong message to students. Adam Klaus, chairman of the Associated Students of Madison, the student government at UW-Madison, said the group has long wanted the board to be more accountable to the state electorate and the students and workers within the UW System. ''To appoint a regent such as Mr. Gracz, who has an extensive drunken-driving history, in a time when the UW is working hard to solve the problem of binge drinking, is a perfect example of how out of touch Thompson and the board are with the real needs of the university community,'' Klaus said. Michelle Diggles, president of the United Council of UW Students, which includes 24 campuses, raised similar concerns about Gracz's drunken-driving convictions.
The Feminist Caucus of the American Humanist Association called on Thompson to withdraw the union boss' nomination. "Your nomination sends a message that repeat drunken driving will be rewarded, thus undermining any steps the University of Wisconsin might take to discourage responsible drinking," caucus co-chairwoman Annie Laurie Gaylor wrote to Thompson. But Thompson spokesman Keane defended Gracz, saying the union chief deserves a second chance. [Milwaukee J. Sent. 9/4/99; Wis. State J. 9/10/99]
Liberal Wis. newspapers have also come out against the union boss. The Capital Times in Madison ran a Sep. 11 editorial titled, "Gracz Pick is a Joke." Likewise, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Sept. 15 editorial headline read "Is Gracz the best choice for UW Board of Regents?"
Liberals bashing union bosses. Cats and dogs living together. Mass hysteria. It leads to the friendly suggestion: Gov. Thompson, you would be better served by avoiding corrupt union bosses altogether.
ELECTIONS & POLITICS / AFL-CIO
Corrupt Unions Start New TV Lies Campaign
The corruption plagued AFL-CIO launched a $1 million TV ad blitz on
Sep. 15 to lie about Republicans' tax cut votes. AFL-CIO spokeswoman
Naomi Walker said, "We chose areas that have a strong union presence to
get enough pressure going to generate enough calls into the lawmaker's
district office." One target is Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.).
The ads assert Tiahrt and the "others chose to use all of the current budget
surplus on a 'huge tax cut for the wealthy instead of preserving Medicare
and making sure that prescription drugs are covered in Medicare benefits
packages." Other targets include Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), Reps. Ernie
Fletcher (R-Ky.), Anne Northup (R-Ky.) and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) Rep.
Brian Bilbray (R-Cal.) on the ads: "These ads just scream status quo for
the big labor bosses" [Nat'l J. 9/21/99; Roll Call 9/20/99]
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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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