The court said while Coia's conviction does not involve any actions in his capacity as an attorney, it expects "that all attorneys in this state shall at all times comport themselves in accordance with state and federal criminal laws." The court continued, Coia's "admitted illegal conduct warrants the imposition of professional discipline by this Court."
Under the suspension, Coia is not entitled to receive any income from his firm, Coia & Lepore. The court's chief disciplinary counsel, David D. Curtin, says that he would like to see Coia's name removed from the firm.
When the court began considering whether to disbar Coia last summer, Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) and others urged leniency. Kennedy wrote the court, on official congressional stationery: "In his dealings with people in the public realm, [Coia] conducts himself with an impressive level of integrity." Kennedy called him "a credit to the Rhode Island Bar" and urged the court to consider "the totality of Mr. Coia's contributions to society."
The letters, among nearly two dozen written by politicians, lawyers, businessmen, and clerics, helped convince the court not to disbar Coia, as Curtin had sought. Curtin criticized Coia for trying to "downplay the significance of his conduct" and called it a "scam" "motivated by personal greed, and executed with guile." Curtin added, "His conduct is a calculated plan, and not an anomalous act in an otherwise unblemished career."
Kennedy's support reveals a political friendship cemented by the millions of campaign dollars that Coia and LIUNA have given to Kennedy and the Democratic Party. Since Kennedy took over as chairman of the DCCC in 1998, LIUNA has donated $278,000 to the DCCC. LIUNA has donated over $2 million to Democratic causes since 1998. Coia has also provided Kennedy with fundraising advice and contacts. According to Kennedy chief of staff Anthony Marcella, Kennedy still seeks Coia's counsel on fundraising and other issues, and considers him a friend. [Providence J.-Bull.; BNA 11/29/00]
Brown Univ. Prof. Darrell West, an expert on political fundraising and a biographer of Kennedy, called it "rather shocking" that Kennedy would "embrace Coia as closely as he has." "Arthur Coia has been the target of various investigations; he has controversy written all over him," West said. "There's at least the appearance that Kennedy and the Democrats have leaned heavily on Coia for fundraising. This guy has delivered big-time for Kennedy, so he's in the tent."
CARPENTERS (UBC)
Ohio Clerk Sentenced for $194,000 Theft
Leslie S. King, a former clerk for the Carpenters Union Hosp. Fund
in Cleveland was sentenced Nov. 30 to a mere 14 months in federal prison
for embezzling more than $194,000 from the fund. According to Asst.
U.S. Atty. Thomas J. Gruscinski, King pled guilty to embezzling the money
between July 1999 and Apr. 2000 by submitting false reimbursement claims
for medical procedures she never underwent. King then reportedly used the
union fund's computer to issue checks to herself. King pled guilty to one
count of theft from an employee benefit plan and will serve three years
of probation upon her release. She will also reimburse $194,138. [Plain
Dealer (Cleveland) 12/1/00]
FOOD & COMMERCIAL WORKERS (UFCW)
New Jersey Boss Accused of Bribery
Ex-president of United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1262 in
New Jersey, Joseph P. Rizzo, Jr., was arrested by federal agents Nov. 29
and charged with soliciting bribes from supermarkets seeking to prevent
labor disruptions during the holidays. Reportedly, Rizzo solicited payments
from unnamed employees for Foodtown and ShopRite supermarkets over nearly
20 years. In exchange, he allegedly vowed to ensure labor peace and offered
one chain favorable treatment when the union was on strike. Rizzo was charged
with four counts of conspiracy related to bribery, in a sealed grand jury
indictment handed up Nov. 15.
Allegedly, Rizzo began demanding annual payments during Christmas from the operators of Foodtown in the early 1980s. The amounts of the alleged bribes were not specified in the indictment, although it says each payment exceeded $1,000. The indictment says an unidentified Foodtown official acted as a co-conspirator. In the early 1990s, Rizzo allegedly began demanding bribes to prevent disruptive union activities at non-holiday times. In exchange, the union allegedly overlooked differences over Foodtown's wages and working-hour policies. In one instance, Rizzo allegedly met with an unnamed Foodtown employee, who gave him a $25,000 bribe.
Rizzo also was charged with soliciting bribes from ShopRite, since Thanksgiving 1984. An unidentified ShopRite owner/operator was allegedly a co-conspirator in that scheme.
Rizzo was arraigned in U.S. Dist. Court in Newark before Magistrate Judge Ronald J. Hedges, who allowed release on $300,000 bail. Hedges also ordered Rizzo not to have contact with members of the union, after Asst. U.S. Atty. Amy S. Winkelman told the court that authorities have "credible evidence" that he has made threats to the local's current officers. [Record (Bergen County, N.J.) 11/30/00]
AFL-CIO
New Hampshire Boss Guilty of $124,000 Theft
A "longtime labor activist" pled guilty in U.S. Dist. Court in New
Hampshire Nov. 27 to stealing funds from the N.H. AFL-CIO while he was
secretary-treasurer. Daniel P. Courchesne pled guilty to one count of mail
and wire fraud. Federal investigators accused Courchesne of taking about
$124,597 from the N.H. AFL-CIO between 1995 and 2000. Some of those funds
were repaid, but remainder was used to pay his personal expenses.
Courchesne, who also is an ex- agent of the N. New Eng. Council of Carpenters, admitted to depositing into his account checks payable to the N.H. AFL-CIO. He also admitted to using a signature stamp without authorization to draw checks against the union's account for his personal benefit.
Mark MacKenzie, N.H. AFL-CIO president, said the chapter cooperated fully in the investigation after it alerted the U.S. Atty.'s Office in June of "problems in record filings" discovered during an internal audit. The chapter is bonded and will recover all the money that was lost, he said. He estimated the chapter is still owed about $50,000. The funds came from the per-capita tax local unions pay to the N.H. AFL-CIO. "It's caused us to look at a lot of things," MacKenzie said. "We have a whole separate accounting policy in place that really stiffens things up." [Union Leader (Manchester, N.H.) 11/28/00]
FIRE FIGHTERS (IAFF)
Kansas City Boss Pleads Guilty to Cover Up
Max E. Biggerstaff, ex-secretary-treasurer of Int'l Ass'n of Fire Fighters
Local I-34 in Kansas City, pled guilty Nov. 29 to falsifying union records
to conceal embezzlements by him and the local's ex-president. In Aug. 2000,
Roger L. Mathisen pled guilty to embezzling $18,404 while president from
1996-98. The embezzlement was uncovered after the local inquired into his
financial dealings.
Biggerstaff acknowledged that he had prepared a document in Apr. 1998 that falsely showed that Mathisen had received a $2,159 loan from the local. Mathisen had, in fact, embezzled the funds. Biggerstaff also admitted that he embezzled $2,478 when he was reimbursed for unauthorized mileage, travel and meeting expenses. Biggerstaff was secretary-treasurer from 1995 to 1998. [K.C. Star 11/30/00]
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES (AFSCME)
New York Boss Sent to Bellevue
Albert A. Diop, an ex-boss of Am. Fed'n of State, County & Mun.
Employees Dist. Council 37 in Manhattan, had his $125,000 bail revoked
Nov. 22 after a court-appointed psychiatrist found he was not mentally
fit to be tried on charges of stealing more than $1 million from AFSCME.
Diop, who had been in an in-patient program at local hospital, was ordered
transferred to a jail ward at Bellevue Hospital by State Supreme Court
Justice William Leibovitz. Diop was president of Local 1549 and a
member of DC37's executive board.
The embezzlement case would be Diop's second run-in with the prosecutors' probe into widespread corruption in DC37. He was previously convicted of fraud for rigging a vote to ratify a controversial city contract. Prosecutors and Diop's attorney Ramon Pagan said it was unlikely that he would be sentenced as scheduled in mid-Dec.
Diop's three codefendants in the case involving the theft of money pled guilty last month. One agreed to a sentence of probation; two accepted pleas calling for prison terms of 1.5 to 4.5 years in prison and 2 to 6 years in prison. [Newsday (N.Y.) 11/23/00]
HOTEL EMPLOYEES (HERE)
DOJ Terminates HERE Oversight
On Dec. 1, the Clinton-Reno Justice Dep't signed an agreement to end
five years of "oversight" of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant
Employees Int'l Union. The deal was signed after a court-appointed monitor
found that the HERE had been largely purged of its ties to organized crime.
In the agreement, DOJ officials and U.S. Dist. Judge Garrett E. Brown,
Jr., Dist. of N.J., praised the "cleanup" and said they would look
to the union's internal ethical practices board to play a strong watchdog
role. Brown directed that HERE maintain its ethical-practices code and
a three-member board to investigate suspected violations. [N.Y. Times 12/3/00]
However, this board has failed to move on Nat'l Legal & Pol'y Ctr. request for a probe of HERE boss John W. Wilhelm's questionable moves implementing "reform recommendations." The allegations included apparent maintenance of the old guard and a failure to close the Midwest Regional Office despite a firm recommendation from a court-monitor to do so. NLPC filed the complaint in Aug. 1999. In Sept. 1999, NLPC received a polite letter from the board's attorney Kenneth P. Purcell stating that the board shared NLPC's concern. However, no further action has been reported, which raises questions about the integrity of HERE's self-policing apparatus.
- - - - - -
ADDITIONAL BRIEFS NOT INCLUDED ON THE FAX EDITION OF THIS UNION CORRUPTION UPDATE:
- - - - - -
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES (AFSCME)
Ohio Boss Sentenced for $1,900 Theft
Painesville (Ohio) Mun. Judge Michael Cicconetti sentenced James
R. English, a former corrections officer in the Lake County Jail, Nov.
30 to jail time and a diversion program for stealing from a police union.
English pled guilty to misuse of property, which is a misdemeanor. He admitted
he took $1,900 to pay his rent from the Am. Fed'n of State, County &
Mun. Employees in Feb. 2000. He was president of the union at the time.
Reportedly, English cashed several checks without proper authorization
from a small fund.
English was suspended from his corrections job in Sept. 2000 when the Lake County Sheriff's Dep't was alerted to the missing money by union officers. He resigned after he was told he would be fired. The AFSCME local has since disbanded, and jailers are now members of the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Ass'n.
English, who said he took the money to offset his financial problems, has since repaid the money. Cicconetti ordered English to serve 32 days in jail but suspended 10 days. He also ordered English to complete a diversion program, placed him on probation for three months and fined him $50. [Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 12/1/00]
TEACHERS (NEA)
New Jersey Union Fined $45,000
Striking teachers and custodial workers in the Magnolia (N.J.) School
District have racked up fines totaling $45,000 for the New Jersey Educ.
Ass'n and $1,500 for three of its officers. State Superior Court Judge
Theodore Z. Davis ordered fines yesterday of $15,000 against the union
for each day of school missed and $500 each for the union president, vice
president and secretary. [N.Y. Times 11/23/00]
BROADCAST WORKERS (NABET)
Ousted Officials Sue Parent Union
Four ousted officials of the Nat'l Ass'n of Broadcast Employees &
Technicians Local 700 in Toronto have filed suit Nov. 8 against their parent
union, the Communications, Energy & Paperworkers Union of Canada claiming
wrongful dismissal. The suit, which seeks $12.7 million in damages, was
filed by ex-NABET 700 president Daniel Latour, business agent and secretary-treasurer
Linda Gordon, service representative Edward Jeffrey and employee Donald
McKay. The four were ousted in Oct. 1999 when the CEPU placed NABET 700
into trusteeship to stop a rival union from raiding its membership. [Hollywood
Rep. 12/1/00]
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES (AFSCME)
New York Dissent Loses LMRDA Suit
U.S. Dist. Judge Robert W. Sweet, S. Dist. of N.Y., ruled Nov. 13 that
the Am. Fed'n of State, County & Mun. Employees did not infringe on
a dissident officer's rights under the Labor-Management Reporting &
Disclosure Act, popularly known as the Landrum-Griffin Act, when the union
removed him from office and barred him from seeking another position for
two years as punishment for making unauthorized mailings. Ray Commer, ex-president
of AFSCME Local 375 failed to show that the discipline imposed by
an AFSCME judicial panel was directed at suppressing his free speech rights
under the LMRDA.
Commer asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction reinstating him as president of the N.Y.C. local and lifting the ban barring him from running for office for two years. Commer contended that the discipline imposed by the AFSCME judicial panel was a retaliatory move aimed at ending his ongoing criticism of union officials.
The punishment was imposed after Commer was found on two occasions to have violated Local 375's constitution by distributing literature regarding an upcoming local election in the name of the union, but without proper authorization.
After the first incident, Commer was formally reprimanded, warned against repeating his actions, and ordered to compensate the local for the cost of printing and mailing the unauthorized materials. Shortly thereafter, Commer again was charged with improperly using union funds to print and distribute election-related mailings.
The AFSCME judicial panel upheld the charges, and found that Commer had violated the union's constitution by failing to comply with the initial order that he reimburse the local for the costs of the first mailing. While acknowledging that he failed to seek or obtain the proper authorization to make the mailings, Commer insisted such an effort would be fruitless since those in a position to authorize the mailings were among the individuals he had been criticizing since being elected local president. [BNA 11/29/00 (citing Commer v. McEntee)]
MACHINISTS (IAM)
Union Loses Dues Case
U.S. Dist. Judge T.S. Ellis, E. Dist. of Va., ruled Nov. 22 that the
Int'l Ass'n of Machinists may not require nonmembers who object to agency
fees being used for nonrepresentational purposes to file objections every
year. The case was a class action covering IAM-represented airline
and railroad workers nationwide.
Granting summary judgment to the class of approximately 1,039 nonmembers, Ellis decided that the union's annual objection requirement, and its refusal to accept continuing objections, imposed an undue burden on nonmembers' First Amendment rights and was unjustified. Under union security clauses in IAM collective bargaining agreements with airline and railway carriers, each nonmember must pay the union agency fees equal to the dues paid by members to cover the nonmember's pro rata share of collective bargaining costs. However, nonmembers may object to paying for nonrepresentational expenditures such as political activities.
Ellis rejected the union's arguments that the annual objection rule
was rational because the union determines annually the percentage of expenditures
for representational activities and that nonmembers should be required
periodically to reconsider whether to object. Ellis said, "This justification
does not support the denial of a continuing objection because it is based
not on any legitimate need of IAM, but rather on a supposed benefit to
objecting nonmembers." [BNA 11/29/00 (citing Lutz v. IAM)]
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.
Union Corruption Update Article Index (by Union)
Union Corruption Update Article Index (by State)
Organized Labor Accountability Project