The top contributor, of $30,671,426, was the Amer. Fed. of State, County & Municipal Employees, followed by the Natl. Educ. Assn. with $21,116,383. Also in the top 10 are the Intl. Bhd. of Teamsters at no. 6, the Intl. Bhd. of Electrical Workers at no. 7, the Serv. Employees Intl. Union at no. 9, and the Comm. Wrkrs. of Amer. at no. 10. Of the top 100 contributing organizations since 1989, Dem. candidates received 60% of their total donations, thanks to the 94% of union contributions that went to the Dem. party. The study can be read at the CRP's web site, http://www.opensecrets.org

GOVERNMENT WORKERS (misc.)
Hawaii's "26th Senator" Tried for Fraud & Embezzlement
Once known as the "26th Senator," United Public Workers union chief Gary Rodrigues began his trial on 100 counts of mail fraud, defrauding the union's health & benefit program, and embezzlement on Oct. 2. Also on trial for allegedly accepting kickbacks disguised as consulting fees is Robin Sabatini, Rodrigues's daughter. Presiding over the jury trial is fed. Judge David Ezra (U.S.D.C. HI, Reagan).

According to Rodrigues's ex-secy. and girlfriend, Georgietta Carroll, insurance agent Herb Nishida showed up at the union hall almost every month during the 1990s with a white envelope, Afterwards, Carroll testified, Rodrigues would say, "A payment was made," or "we can go out to dinner tonight," then take the envelope to a downstairs safe. Nishida himself later testified that he gave Rodrigues an annual average of $20,000 for five years by skimming from commissions he got selling insurance policies to union members.

According to Carroll's mother, Marietta Loughrin, Rodrigues employed her husband, Al, as a paid "consultant" to the union on its dental plan in 1992. Allegedly, Rodrigues paid Loughrin from union funds as a way of repaying $10,000 he had borrowed from the Loughrins for a sprinkler system.

Federal prosecutors charge that Rodrigues never informed the union of Loughrin's hiring, nor the hiring of his daughter, Robin, in 1997 to provide analysis of insurance benefits. William Hancock, Robin's frmr. employer, testified that she formed Four Winds RSK Inc. to take on union business referred by her father. After that, acc. to Hancock, she devoted one to four days a month to her business, while prosecutors said she was making more than $142,000 a year.

U.S. Attny. Florence Nakakuni said that the illegal consulting fees funneled by Rodrigues added up to nearly $200,000. She also said, in her opening statement, that Rodrigues showed "consciousness of guilt" by ordering documents to be shredded after learning of the fed. investigation in 1998. The trial is currently in recess while Judge Ezra presides over a case on the mainland. [Honolulu Advertiser]

OPERATING ENGINEERS (IUOE)/ LABORERS/ GOVERNMENT WORKERS (AFSCME)
WI  Sen. Leader Indicted for Laundering Contributions through Union PAC He Controlled
The Milwaukee Dist. Attny. announced on Oct. 17 the indictment of Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Chvala on charges of laundering campaign contributions through a union-backed political action committee (PAC) in violation of state law.

The indictment appears to have been filed just one day after Chvala's chief of staff, Doug Burnett, agreed to cooperate with investigators and plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges. Chvala faces three counts of extortion, seven counts of misconduct in public office and 10 campaign finance violations. Nine of those charges allege that Chvala conspired to funnel campaign contributions to PACs he controlled, in violation of Wisconsin law barring such coordination between PACs and candidates.

The largest of these was Independent Citizens for Democracy (ICD), which in 2000 received over $200,000 from Local affiliates of the Intl. Union of Operating Engineers, Laborers' Intl Union of N. Amer., and the Amer. Fed. of State, County and Municipal Employees. According to the D.A. complaint, Chvala and Burnett directed the so-called "independent expenditures" of ICD, through ICD Dir. Thomas Boeder and Treas. Scott McCormick, to three legislative candidates: Senators Mark Meyer of La Crosse, Dave Hansen of Green Bay and Alice Clausing of Menomonie. ICD was the 2nd biggest spender in the 2000 campaign, behind the Wisc. Educ. Assn. Council.

According to Burnett, Chvala would direct lobbyists to write checks either directly to ICD and other groups he controlled, or to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Cmte. in Washington, D.C., which then transferred the funds to ICD. [Wisconsin State Journal  10/18/02]

MARINE ENGINEERS (MEBA)
S. Fla. Govt. Workers Abandon Indicted Union Chief
As indicted union boss Walter Browne awaits trial on racketeering charges, the employees of Sunrise, Fla., voted by a 4-1 margin to oust his union as their bargaining representative in mid-Oct.

Browne and his sister, Patricia Devaney, were indicted in Nov., 2001, on 22 counts of racketeering within the Natl. Fed. of Public & Private Employees (a.k.a. Marine Engineers Beneficial Assn., Dist. 1) he headed. In April 2000, the owner of Coleary Transport pled guilty to paying a $2,000 bribe to Browne, and agreed to cooperate in the fed. investigation. Browne is also accused of taking and/or seeking bribes from Hvide Marine (n.k.a. Seabulk Intl.) ($263,000); SeaAmerica Cruise Lines ($50,000), and Intl. Cruises ($12,500). Hvide has pled guilty for his part in the racketeering.

In March of this year, 72% of Sunrise city employees asked for a vote to switch from Browne's union to the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), after months going without a contract while city commissioners voted to increase their own pensions. The vote earlier this month was 259-63 [Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel  10/23/02]

TEACHERS (NEA)
Fla. Teacher Union Bosses Mortgage HQ to Defeat Jeb Bush
Fla. teacher union bosses have more than doubled the mortgage on their own headquarters to support the Dem. candidate for Gov., Bill McBride, against incumbent Jeb Bush.

On Dec. 20, 2000, just one week after Al Gore conceded the pres. election to George W. Bush, the Fla. Educ. Assn. (FEA) signed a new mortgage on its HQ in the state capital of Tallahassee, more than doubling its debt/equity from just over $1 million to $2.7 million. FEA officials have spent some $1.5 million, representing nearly 90% of the increased equity, to support McBride's campaign against Gov. Bush.

FEA president Maureen Dinnen claimed that in May 2001, the union's delegate assembly gave her "not exactly a blank check" to defeat Bush for his support of student vouchers and standardized testing of teachers. However, that authorization came five months after the new mortgage. [Bernadette Malone, National Review Online, http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-malone102102.asp]

TEAMSTERS (IBT)
NY IBT Official Let Barred Boss Speak at IBT Seminar
The Independent Rev. Bd. (IRB) recommended that NYC's top Teamster official be disciplined for allowing an ex-Teamsters boss speak at a union seminar, even though he was forced to resign from the union due to charges of embezzlement.

The IRB was formed in 1989 with broad powers of investigation over the Intl. Bhd. of Teamsters and its affiliates, and continues its work under the supervision of U.S. Dist. Judge Loretta A. Preska (S.D.NY, H.W. Bush). On Oct. 17, the IRB ruled that Joint Council 16 president Anthony Rumore wrongly allowed a predecessor, Barry Feinstein, to speak at a council education seminar in Fla. in Feb. Feinstein resigned from the Teamsters union for life in April 1993, after U.S. Dist. Judge David Edelstein refused to throw out IRB charges that Feinstein embezzled nearly $400,000 from the union. Feinstein reportedly spent the stolen funds on three trips to China and the rental and furnishing of a penthouse apt. in Manhattan, among other things.

Rumore allowed Feinstein to speak before his frmr. affiliate, ignoring the objections of Local 282 president Gary LaBarbera and Local 202 pres. Daniel Kane, Jr. According to the IRB, Rumore initially said he would not let Feinstein speak to the council, then changed his mind. "Rumore...deliberately closed his eyes to apparent problems" with Feinstein's history with the union," concluded the IRB [New York Post 10/18/02,  New York Times 10/25/02]

GOVERNMENT WORKERS (AFSCME)
Yet Another Guilty Plea in DC 37 Scandal in NYC
Helen Greene, the frmr. no. 2 official in Dist. Council 37 of the Amer, Fed. of State, County & Municipal Employees pled guilty on Oct. 24 to falsification of union records, and was sentenced to 5 yrs. probation.

Until her Apr. 25, 2001, indictment, Greene was the only top DC37 boss to emerge unscathed in a string of rigged contract votes and elections, along with nearly $6 million in kickbacks and other thefts, that have led to more than 30 convictions of DC37 officials. Appearing before Justice Michael Orbus in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Greene agreed to repay the $13,000 her crimes cost the union. [NY Newsday 10/25/02]

STEELWORKERS (USW)
NY Treasurer Sentenced for Embezzlement
On Oct. 11, 2002, in the U.S. Dist. Ct. for the N. Dist. of NY, Anthony Brock, former treasurer of Steelworkers Local Union #4-6989, was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay $12,573.40 in restitution after pleading guilty to one count of embezzlement on May 29, 2002. The charges were brought following an investigation by the Buffalo branch of the U.S. Ofc. of Labor-Mgmt. Standards. [DOL OLMS 10/25/02]

QUOTABLE QUOTE
Employee Who Worked during Strike must "Live with Antipathy" of Union Bosses
"If you crossed a picket line...the antipathy of the union leaders is something you will have to learn to live with.

...Life is inherently unfair."

Flint Journal columnist Bruce Williams, responding on Oct. 21, 2002, to a unionized employees who worked during a strike "because of finances and my family's need for medical insurance," and who is now "doubtful of the diligence of the union" in representing him in a workman's compensation dispute with his employer.

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

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TEAMSTERS (IBT) / MACHINISTS (IAM)
Union Pension Manager Gets Light Sentence for Kickbacks
A N.Y. pension fund consultant received a lighter-than-requested sentence for paying kickbacks to a union pension trustee without performing any services for the two funds involved.

The U.S. Attny. for the Dist. of Mass. had requested a sentence of one year, six months for George W. Philipps, ex-president and owner of Pension Fund Evaluations, Inc. (PFE) in Centerreach, NY. But U.S. Dist. Judge Nancy Gertner (D. Mass., Clinton) sentenced Philipps to two years probation on Oct. 10 for his role in a scheme carried out with William V. Close, then a trustee of the pension funds of Intl. Bhd. of Teamsters Local 710 and Intl. Assn. of Machinists Local 701, both based in Chicago.

On Feb. 6, 2002, Philipps admitted to paying kickbacks totaling $55,000 to Close between Sept. and Nov. 1997. In return for the payments, Close used his influence to cause the two funds' investment mgr., Fiduciary Mgmt. Associates, to execute the funds' asset trades through PFE brokers. Philipps' firm then agreed to let the brokers keep 70% of the commissions. At Philipps' sentencing, the U.S. Attny. argued that PFE did nothing to earn its commissions other than pay kickbacks to Close, the trustee. [U.S.A.O. D. MA  10/15/02]

TEAMSTERS (IBT)
FEC Finds Widespread Irregularities with Teamster PAC
Auditors with the Fed. Elect. Commission (FEC) found a widespread failure of Teamster officials to maintain proof that individual members had authorized deductions from their paychecks to the Teamsters' political action cmte (PAC), as well as poor record-keeping of donors.

The FEC audit of "Democratic Republican Independent Voter Education" (DRIVE) and its 2000 election activities began April 15 of this year, and was completed on Oct. 4. In their initial examination of DRIVE records, FEC auditors discovered that nearly 40% of DRIVE's listed contributors lacked any proof that they had authorized payroll deductions to the PAC. Teamster PAC officials then began to reconstruct these authorizations by contacting local affiliates to either fax authorization cards for contributors, or send new ones to DRIVE headquarters in Washington, DC. After this effort, 12% of the listed contributors still lacked a record of permitting the deductions. Eventually, acc. to the FEC, DRIVE reconstructed the records of most of its contributors to the auditors' satisfaction.

Also, in violation of fed. law requiring the disclosure of individuals contributing more than $200 to the PAC, DRIVE officials failed to disclose the identity of contributors who gave $24,618 to DRIVE, 15% of the $163,500 for which such disclosure was required. The problem seemed to stem from local affiliates not transmitting the names of individual contributors along with the contributions. And when local officials did later pass on the names of contributors giving over $200, DRIVE staff in Washington failed to update their records. [FEC  10/4/02]

Convicted Extortionist Goes from Mass. Sheriff to Union
In 1994, Middlesex County Sheriff John McGonigle confessed to extorting cash from his employees and other racketeering charges. After completing a nearly five-year sentence, McGonigle began a new life -- thanks to his friend, James P. Flynn, which ran the movie crew of Intl. Bhd. of Teamsters Local 25. For chauffeuring cast members, McGonigle is paid $2,000 a week, plus guaranteed overtime and expenses.

Local 25 officials, incl. Flynn, are under fed. investigation for allegations of featherbedding and shakedowns of the movie-making industry in Boston. Flynn is accused of plotting to kill Susan Christy, a snack truck driver on the set of "What's the Worst That Could Happen" who refused to turn over her concession contract to Teamster member Robert Martini. Local 25 president George W. Cashman instead had a teamster thug beat her. After Cashman, Flynn, and other Local 25 officials made a deal allowing Christy to continue her work on the set in exchange for her non-cooperation with police, Flynn allegedly argued for double crossing Christy, but was overruled by Cashman. [Boston Herald  10/21/02]

STEELWORKERS
6th Person Indicted for Looting Disaster Relief Fund in Western Virginia
Robert E. Martin Jr. became the sixth person to be indicted for stealing from a disaster relief fund for workers affected by a Radford, Va., plant explosion. The indictment was handed down earlier in Oct. in the U.S. Dist. Ct. for the W. Dist. of Va. The fund was established after an explosion at the Intermet New River Foundry on March 5, 2000. Among the officials of United Steel Workers Local 9336 administering the fund was Martin's girlfriend, Local Rec. Secy. Elizabeth George. Unlike other workers, Martin was never laid off from the plant as a result of the explosion. But George allegedly funneled $900 in relief payments to Martin between May 30 and June 19.

Four Local officials have already pled guilty for embezzling from the relief fund. But George has been a fugitive since being charged. Last month, police found George and Martin together in West Va. But George snuck away in Martin's car while he distracted them in conversation. Martin had not previously been charged in the case, but now stands indicted on charges of embezzlement, submission of false disaster relief vouchers, harboring George as a fugitive from justice, and aiding her escape.

In a further development, two of the four officials who have pled guilty were each sentenced to three years probation on Oct. 18. Ex-vice president Rhonda Creed and ex-fin. secy. Joseph Buress confessed, not only to stealing from the relief fund, but also submitting false reimbursement claims for work time supposedly spent on union business from 1996-2000. They were sentenced by Samuel Wilson, Chief Judge of the U.S. West. Dist. of Va. [U.S.A.O. W.D. Va., Roanoke Times & World News]

IRON WORKERS (IAIW)
Ex-NY Bookkeeper Sentenced to 5 Months Jail Time for Embezzlement
U.S. Dist. Judge Lawrence E, Kahn (N.D. NY, Clinton) sentenced Nancy Barber on Oct. 16 to five months in prison for embezzling $57,769 from an Albany local union. Judge Kahn could have sentenced the mother of three children under the age of 13 to 16 months in prison. He also ordered five months of home detention, three years of probation, and full restitution by Barber. She pled guilty on June 24 to stealing from Local 12 of the Intl. Assn. of Iron Workers (IAIW) between 1993 and ‘99 by pocketing dues payments in cash. [Times-Union, Albany, NY 10/17/02]

LABORERS (LIUNA)
Ex-Bus. Mgr. Sentenced for Embezzlement in Mich.
On Oct. 10, 2002, in the U.S. Dist. Ct. for the E. Dist. of Mich., Edward K.Wiebeck, Sr., frmr. bus. mgr. of Laborers Intl. Union of N. Amer. Local 503, was sentenced to confinement in a community corrections center for six months followed by six months home confinement with electronic monitoring followed by three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $32,790.82 in restitution. On May 9, 2002, Wiebeck pled guilty to one count of embezzling union funds following an investigation by the Detroit branch of the U.S. Ofc. of Labor-Mgmt. Standards. [DOL OLMS 10/25/02]

TRANSIT WORKERS (ATU & others)
Intl. Takes over Las Vegas Local amid Grumblings over Strike
As local dissidents rebelled against what they termed inadequate help from the Intl. hierarchy during a strike, the Local has been placed under trusteeship for what the Intl. described as mismanagement by local officials.

Rafael Rivera, the trustee appointed by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), refused to say what kind of mismanagement had been alleged against Local 1637 officials. But some frmr. Local officials claim that more than 200 Las Vegas bus drivers are attempting to resign from the ATU and form a new union. According to Steve Mora, a member of the local negotiating cmte., Intl. officials pressured local drivers into approving a new contract June 28 by threatening to cut off their strike pay. Rivera denied that drivers were attempting to resign. [Las Vegas Review-Journal  10/15/02]

PLUMBERS & PIPEFITTERS (UA)
New Indictment on Taxes Returned agn. Minn. Union Boss & City Councilman
On Oct. 16, in the U.S. Dist. CT. for the Dist. of Minn., a 2nd superceding indictment was returned against Thomas Martin, ex-bus. mgr. of the United Assn. of Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 15, and Joseph Biernat, Minneapolis city councilman.

The latest superceding indictment contained the same 13 counts of extortion, mail fraud and union embezzlement against Martin, and seven counts against Biernat of aiding Martin and making a false statement to the F.B.I., that were included in the May 21, 2002 superceding indictment.  The latest superceding indictment added one count of mail fraud against both Martin and Biernat involving an individual tax return mailed to the I.R.S. The charges were brought following a joint investigation by the OLMS Minneapolis Resident Investigator Office and the FBI. [U.S. Ofc. of Labor-Mgmt. Standards 10/25/02]

POLICE UNIONS (IUPA)
NC Policeman Charged with Embezzlement
A police officer featured in local news media for his role in finding a kidnapped infant has been charged with embezzling close to $10,000 from his union from Jan. 2001 to May of this year.

Jason E. Padgett has been technical director of the N. Carolina Coalition of Police (NCCops) for three years. NCCops was established by the Intl. Union of Police Assns. (IUPA), AFL-CIO in 1998, as a representative for police officers desiring such representation, although collective bargaining between governments and unions is illegal in NC.

In his position, Padgett is responsible for the group's web site, newsletter and bank accounts. David Spagnola, NCCops Exec. Dir., said that an initial review of the group's banking statements prompted suspicions, which were relayed to the Bd. of Directors, composed of several local police organization presidents. After a subsequent audit, the information was handed over the law enforcement, and the charges were filed earlier this month. [Greensboro News & Record  10/12/02]

PLASTERERS (OP&CMIA)
Ex-Ohio Treasurer Confesses to Embezzlement
On Oct. 18, 2002, in the U.S. Dist. CT. for the N. Dist. of Ohio, John Mylek II, frmr. treasurer of Plasterers & Cement Masons Local 886, pled guilty to an information charging him with embezzling $7,551.28 in union funds and $675 in employee benefit funds. The charges were brought following a joint investigation by the Cleveland branch of the U.S. Ofc. of Labor-Mgmt. Standards, the FBI, and the U.S. Dept. of Labor's Ofc. of the Inspector General. [DOL OLMS 10/25/02]

POSTAL WORKERS (APWU)
Ex-Secy.-Treas. Sentenced to Theft from Union, Postal Service Funds
On Oct. 4, 2002, in the U.S. Dist. Ct. for the N. Dist. of Ga., Dee Dee Gregory Lacy, frmr. secy.-treas. of Amer. Postal Workers Local 2695, was sentenced to six months home confinement, five years probation, and 150 hours community service. Lacy was ordered to make restitution of $2,200, pay a special court assessment of $300, and participate in both a mental health treatment program and financial counseling under probation guidance.

On July 25, 2002, Lacy pled guilty to embezzling union funds, theft of Postal Service funds, and access device fraud following a joint investigation by the Atlanta branch of the U.S. Ofc. of Labor-Mgmt. Standards, the U.S. Dept. of Labor's Ofc. of the Inspector General, and the Postal Inspection Service. [DOL OLMS 10/25/02]

UNION DEMOCRACY/ SERVICE EMPLOYEES
Boston Steward's Suit Raises Doubts about Strike's Legality
As a strike by Local 254 of the Service Employees' Intl. Union (SEIU) enters its 4th week, a shop steward's complaint with the U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL) raises doubts as to whether local officials legally authorized the strike. Rocio Saenz, John Ronches and Jill Hurst were installed as trustees of Local 254 by the Intl. hierarchy in Feb. 2001. Their terms expired in August, before the janitors in 254 voted to go on strike.

In a complaint that he filed with DOL, shop steward Mark Ferguson charged that the trustees had no more authority over the Local, and called for immediate democratic elections. While Union spokeswoman Renee Asher claimed that the union has already discussed the trusteeship with DOL, local labor lawyers question whether union officials with expired terms can validly call a strike, or negotiate a contract. [Boston Globe 10/18/02]

Union Corruption Update is made possible by the generous contributions from readers like you. NLPC, PO Box 6821, Falls Church, VA 22040. Thank you. Union Corruption Update is part of NLPC's Organized Labor Accountability Project which is investigating and exposing corruption 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.

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 (http://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.
 
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