In a nine-page letter sent February 11, 2000 to the 51 current Executive Council Members, NLPC made the case for Trumka's removal.  In 1997, when Trumka was first alleged to have wrongfully routed $100,000 and $50,000 in two different schemes to ex-Teamsters President Ron Carey's 1996 campaign, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney narrowly interpreted the AFL-CIO's 1957 policy on removal of union officers who invoke the Fifth Amendment to conceal corruption.  Sweeney's loopholes: 1) Trumka denied wrongdoing and 2) Sweeney's internal investigation did not find wrongdoing.

"However, in light of United States v. Hamilton, these two convenient loopholes are no longer tenable," wrote NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm. "The facts that led a federal jury to convict [ex-Teamsters political director] William Hamilton on November 19, 1999 of six criminal counts of conspiracy, embezzlement, fraud and perjury call into question to truthfulness of Trumka's denial of wrongdoing as well as the credibility of Sweeney's internal investigation."  The letter is available at: http://www.nlpc.org.

LABORERS (LIUNA)
Coia Gets Off Easy, Keeps $250,000 Annual Salary
After pleading guilty, Arthur A. Coia, the ex-president of the Laborers' Int'l Union of N. Am. was sentenced Jan. 31 on charges related to union corruption to two years' probation, fined $10,000 and agreed to pay $99,646 in restitution, but he gets to keep his $250,000-a-year salary.

Coia, an attorney, defrauded Rhode Island taxpayers of nearly $100,000 in car taxes on three Ferraris that he purchased from a LIUNA vendor, for $215,000 to $1 million. Coia could have received five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  Instead, under a sweat-heart deal negotiated with the Clinton-Reno Dep't of Justice, Coia received a light sentence. The controversial deal bans Coia from any positions of power within LIUNA for life, but allows him to collect his salary as "general president emeritus," an allegedly ceremonial post created especially for him.

Reportedly, Coia, "looking tanned and solemn in a dark blue suit, crisp white shirt and silver tie, took advantage of his brief remarks to the judge to reflect on four decades as a Laborer, a union in which his father, Arthur E. Coia, a confidant of New England mob boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca, had risen to secretary-treasurer."

Asst. U.S. Atty. Alex Whiting said Coia had "longstanding ties to organized crime," but requested that U.S. Dist. Judge George A. O'Toole grant Coia leniency because of his so-called efforts in creating the failed LIUNA "internal reform effort."  Laughably, Whiting "painted a Jekyll-Hyde portrait" of Coia as union reformer and tax-evader. [Providence J. Bull. & Boston Globe 2/1/00]

HOTEL & RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES (HERE)
Chicago Duff Family Tied to HERE Corruption
Kurt W. Muellenberg, the former-court-appointed monitor over the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Int'l Union, banned Chicago boss John Duff III Feb. 11 from HERE office for life.  Muellenberg issued a report that said Duff cheated HERE out of $172,000, knowingly associated with organized crime figures, and ran an illegal Fla. bookmaking operation while on the union payroll.  Duff remains a boss in the Liquor & Wine Sales Reps., Tire, Plastic & Allied Workers Union, Local 3, a union founded by his father.

Duff is a son of John Duff, Jr., the head of a family whose companies have won $100 million in government business from Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (D). The U.S. Atty.'s office is reportedly investigating several Duff contracts with the city as well as Muellenberg's allegations.

Muellenberg reported that in 1996, Duff pocketed over $202,000 -- including $35,000 as a HERE organizer and $88,333 from the liquor union.  He also drew salaries from Duff firms. The Duffs and the family of the late, corrupt HERE boss Edward T. Hanley have allegedly been friends for years.  Hanley testified that he hired Duff in 1991 to organize a casino in Alton, Ill.  But by 1992, the report said, Duff was living in Fla., where he was running an illegal bookmaking ring with organized crime figures.

When Duff was in Chicago, he gambled at riverboats while on HERE's payroll, the report said."Of the 80 visits [Duff] made to Chicago area riverboat casinos during 1993-1996, at least 30 of these visits occurred during Local 1 office hours when [Duff] was allegedly in staff meetings and making office calls at...Local 1," the report said. In four trips to the boats, Duff used cash to buy $36,300 in chips.

Muellenberg said that because of his time in Fla., his trips to the boats, and overseas travel, Duff wasn't working when he filed reports saying he was. "I find that [Duff] embezzled approximately $172,930 from [HERE] in the form of salary received for services not performed."

Reportedly, Duff's association with organized crime  dated to 1988. The report said Duff testified in the 1992 trial of reputed mafia boss Rocco Infelice. Testifying under immunity, Duff said he often bet with bookmakers and had two meetings with Infelice over a debt. In Nov. 1993, Duff was arrested by Fla. police and reportedly boasted of his ties to Chicago mafia leaders, threatening to have a police officer and his family killed. [Chi. Trib. 2/12/00]

Illinois Dissident Demands $260,000 Return
Martin Preib, a Chicago dissident of HERE Local 1 that paid large fees to allegedly bogus consultants, called Feb. 13 on Chicago Alderman Patrick Levar (D) to account for $260,000 his firm was paid. Preib requested that HERE explain the payments or recover money paid to Levar's firm, Gateway Associates, between 1988-96.

Under his contract, Levar's firm received $267,488 "for consulting on state and federal matters" from Oct. 1988 to Nov. 1996. Kurt W. Muellenberg, the former-court-appointed monitor over HERE said there is no indication what Levar did.

Levar's involvement with HERE  surfaced in Aug. 1998, in a report by Muellenberg. It questioned millions of dollars in contracts to Hanley's associates. Among the contracts cited were $50,000 to Dan Rostenkowski for producing one memo, and $213,700 to the son of reputed Chicago mobster Pat Marcy for "public relations." Levar is running for Cook County Circuit Court clerk.  [Chi. Trib. 2/14/00]

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES (AFSCME)
$100,000 Abused; Another New York Takeover
Am. Fed'n of State, County & Mun. Employees Dist. Council 37 in N.Y. seized another of its 56 locals Jan. 28 after an audit found over $100,000 in questionable spending by Local 1508 president Al Cannizzo.
 He allegedly had the local reimburse him $15,000 for 215 visits to the Golden Gate Motor Inn, a Brooklyn "short-stay motel" from Jan. 1995 and Dec 1998. It's not known exactly what Cannizzo did during his stays at the motel, where rates are $53 for a four-hour stay and $110 for the night.  He reportedly often checked in during the afternoon and stayed a couple of hours.

In addition to the motel stays, Cannizzo reportedly had the union pay personal credit card expenses of $3,650, make a $1,650 personal loan payment and pay $270 for a family member's psychiatric exam. The auditors also questioned more than $43,000 in bills for car phones and pagers.  Cannizzo's expenditures have been reportedly referred to Manhattan Dist. Atty. Robert M. Morgenthau.

The charges against Cannizzo, a self-proclaimed reformer, have embarrassed the Committee for Real Change,
a reform group within DC37, of which Cannizzo was a member.  The group has criticized DC37 bosses for not moving more aggressively against corruption. "I don't get how someone who knows that he did what he did was hanging out with the reformers denouncing others who stole," said dissident attorney Arthur Schwartz.

The Local 1508 takeover signals a second wave of charges in DC37 as its audits start to "flush out" problems not previously revealed in criminal charges issued by Morgenthau. Over two dozen DC37 bosses and its vendors have been indicted on a variety of union corruption charges.  [Newsday 1/31/00; Daily News 2/9/00]

Gore & McEntee Do DC37
Al Gore spent Feb. 7 campaigning  with corrupt-AFSCME boss Gerald W. McEntee in the scandal-scarred DC37 and Republican Nat'l Comm. Chairman Jim Nicholson demanded to know why.  "Al Gore wore a hardhat for his meeting at AFSCME District Council 37, and it's a good thing," said Nicholson.  "At DC37, you need a hardhat to dodge the falling indictments!"

"What was Al Gore doing at AFSCME DC 37 just two weeks after an internal report identified widespread corruption within AFSCME, and pointed to [DC37] as the source of more than half of the fraud in the entire union nationwide?" Nicholson asked.

"You can judge a man by the company he keeps, and in Al Gore's case, he's keeping company with AFSCME President Gerald McEntee...  Just two weeks ago, McEntee [was accused] of ‘turning a blind eye' to the corruption that's infested AFSCME."

"We know what Al Gore's getting out of his relationship with Gerald McEntee and [DC37]," Nicholson said.  "The question is, what do McEntee and his cronies get?  A commitment to that there'll be ‘no controlling legal authority' to go after union corruption in a Gore administration?" [RNC Media Release 2/8/00]

McEntee has been implicated in the Teamster's money-laundering scandal that brought down Ron Carey.  Other corrupt Gore backers include AFL-CIO boss Richard L. Trumka, who took the Fifth Amendment in the Teamsters investigation, and LIUNA boss Arthur A. Coia, who pled guilty to a corruption charge last month. This prompted the Wall Street Journal to note that "President Reagan and Vice President Bush had met with [Teamsters president Jackie] Presser while he was under federal investigation. ...[T]he Reagan Adminstration [was warned] that ‘certain political alliances and well-timed political contributions can create the appearance of impropriety.'"

The Journal continued: "[M]aybe, that off-odor smell in the air is the Sleaze Factor, bubbling back to the surface of this campaign for the Presidency." [Wall St. J. 2/11/00]

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ADDITIONAL BRIEFS NOT INCLUDED ON THE FAX EDITION OF THIS UNION CORRUPTION UPDATE:

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LONGSHOREMEN (ILA)
South Carolina Rioters Indicted
S.C. Atty. Gen. Charles M. Condon announced Feb. 8. that a grand jury in Charleston, S.C., has indicted four union-represented dockworkers for their roles in a Jan. 20 Int'l Longshoremen's Ass'n protest that turned into a street war between several hundred longshoremen and 600 riot police.  The unionists were rioting over the use of nonunion stevedores by a Danish shipping line that had previously used union labor.

Condon said that four people, Elijah Ford, Jr., Rickey Simmons, Kenneth Jefferson and Jason Edgerton, all members of ILA Local 1422, were charged with criminal conspiracy and riot. Ford was charged with assault and battery with intent to kill, while another was charged with assault. The two others were charged with resisting arrest. The assault charges are the most serious and carry prison sentences of up to 10 years, while the riot and criminal conspiracy charges carry jail terms of up to five years. Resisting arrest is punishable by a year in jail. The sentences also can include fines, said Condon, who added that the investigation is continuing. [Post & Courier 2/9/00, BNA 2/10/00]

AFL-CIO / TEAMSTERS (IBT)
Federation Gives $500,000 to Teamsters Strike Fund; No RICO Suit Yet
On Feb. 8, the AFL-CIO announced that it would give the Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters $500,000 for a strike fund for IBT's ongoing campaign against Overnight Transportation Co.  This grant comes on top of $100,000 the AFL-CIO gave to IBT last fall for the strike. [BNA, Chi. Trib 2/9/00]

Ironically in Dec., IBT was reportedly close to filing a treble-damages civil suit under the Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act against disgraced ex-boss Ron Carey for his role in the 1996 money-laundering scandal that ejected him from the union. Other defendants reportedly included the AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard L. Trumka [Time 12/27/99]

Question: What's really going on here?

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES (AFSCME)
Buffalo Boss Misused $4,400
John Scardino, ex-president of AFSCME Local 264 in Buffalo, was convicted of six noncriminal charges involving the improper use of over $4,400 in union funds.  According to an AFSCME letter to Local 264 members, Scardino was found guilty by an AFSCME judicial panel. Scardino, who controlled Local 264 for a decade, has made restitution of $4,421.88. Charges against Scardino were referred last Oct. to AFSCME after an audit of the local. Scardino was barred from union leadership. Erie County Dist. Atty. Frank Clark said his office also reviewed the charges and found no criminal violations. [Buffalo News 2/11/00]

UNION DEMOCRACY
Court Holds that Union Must Continuously Inform Members of Rights
 In Thomas v. Grand Lodge of International Association of Machinists, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 27 that unions are obligated under federal law to effectively and continuously inform union members of their rights under the 1959 Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, also know as the Landrum-Griffin Act. The ruling marks the first time the courts have attempted to define unions' notification obligations under Landrum-Griffin, which was originally established to guarantee workers the right to democratic and corruption-free unions. The unanimous decision gives new teeth to section 105 of the act, which requires labor organizations to inform members of the provisions of the LMRDA. The judicial panel commented that the act is irrelevant without continuous, effective, and meaningful notification of its provisions.

"The LMRDA's protections are meaningless, however, if members do not know of their existence," Chief Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote for the panel. "Simply put, if a member does not know of his rights, he cannot exercise them. This is where section 105 kicks in. Section 105 is the statute's informational linchpin, requiring labor organizations to inform members what rights Congress has granted them."

Andrew Rotstein, who represented the three Wichita, Kan. IAM dissidents, said the ruling technically applies only to unions in the Fourth Circuit, but carries important national ramifications. He said union members across the country would use the ruling to assert their rights under the LMRDA.  "Our decision affects all labor organizations located in the Fourth Circuit, but I think this should be viewed as a green light for union activists around the country -- a green light that section 105 has to be implemented continuously and that they [federal courts] will hold unions responsible for compliance," said Rotstein of the New York firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher [BNA 1/31/00]

Union Corruption Update is made possible by the generous contributions from readers like you. NLPC, P.O. Box 6273, McLean, VA 22106-6273. Thank you.

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.

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