Posted on 03/08/2010 2:19:15 PM PST by STARWISE
A former president of a Chicago union local was charged today with violating federal labor law by demanding livestock feeders for his Maryland farm from a company that employed union workers.
Bill Dugan, who retired in 2008 as president of Operating Engineers Local 150 amid allegations he misused union resources, was charged with a single misdemeanor count, federal prosecutors in Chicago said.
Prosecutors said Dugan, 76, who has a buffalo farm in Maryland, demanded concrete "buffalo feeders" valued at more than $900 in 2005.
*snip*
"For 45 years, Mr. Dugan was committed to advancing the interests of working, middle-class families by fighting for jobs, decent wages, quality healthcare and pensions," Duffy said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagobreakingnews.com ...
SHOCKING! (is a sarcasm tag necessary?)
Ping.
Got a 404 on that link.
Your link.
No workie.
add “tml” on the end of it and it works...
Concrete Bunk Feeder
LOL ..
Thanks ... my pasting dropped 1 letter. Here it is.
The article reads puzzlingly.
I suppose this wasn’t one of the things in which he “misused union funds” but if this farm was a private affair why can’t he order the union label if he’s so bent on paying that premium. What exactly would the crime be?
Oh... he didn’t buy them. He insisted on a freebie as a kick back. How chintzy can you GET?
Got it ... no reach too far .. it’s the Chicago Way .. ;)
Chicago Way! (Chris Kelly ... RIP)
(no link)
Gaming Board member testifies of bullying by Blagojevich aide
Chicago Sun-Times (IL) - Friday, February 25, 2005
Author: Ben Fischer Chris Fusco
SPRINGFIELD — An Illinois Gaming Board member Thursday implied strongly a former gambling adviser for Gov. Blagojevich threatened to remove members of the casino regulation body if they didn’t go along with the governor’s strategy to get the state’s 10th casino license up and running in 2003.
The governor’s office denied that Chris Kelly, who also is Blagojevich’s political fund-raising chief, ever exerted pressure regarding the license, which remains dormant as state and federal judges sort out several issues entangling it.
But Gaming Board members testifying at a House Gaming Committee hearing also accused Blagojevich of big-footing them on other matters, saying state contracts they didn’t want were paid out of their budget, and employees were hired without their knowledge.
‘Then he’ll go to Phase II’
While Blagojevich has stressed he has never attempted to influence the board’s decision on the 10th license, Kelly’s involvement raised questions because of his business relationship with a casino investor who potentially stands to gain if the issues surrounding it can be resolved.
Kelly also is a business associate of Antoin “Tony” Rezko , another top Blagojevich fund-raiser who held an option to buy land from the Village of Rosemont next to the prime casino site there. That land would be ideal for a hotel, but Rezko said he let the option lapse to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Illinois Gaming Board member William Dugan took aim at Kelly on Thursday, raising a new allegation that Kelly was trying to bully the board when he was serving as Blagojevich’s unpaid adviser on gambling policy in 2003.
“Mr. Kelly said the governor wants this, this and this, and if the governor don’t get this, this and this, then he’ll go to Phase II,” Dugan said.
“I looked over at [then-Gaming Board Chairman] Elzie Higginbottom and said, ‘What the hell is Phase II?’ He said, ‘I guess that means they’re going to replace everybody on the board.’”
(snip)
Dugan ‘s words riled state lawmakers at the hearing to assess how Blagojevich’s failure to fill Gaming Board vacancies has hurt the state’s economic well-being. The five-member panel needs at least three members to take votes, but it has had only two members since summer.
Members differ on Rosemont
Blagojevich spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson said Kelly was acting as a facilitator between the governor and the board on the 10th license, which would pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the state’s cash-strapped Treasury if it were up and running.
“It’s not true, this ‘Phase II’ stuff. It’s ridiculous,” Jackson said.
Dugan , who says the 10th license should land in Rosemont, joined board member Gary Peterlin in testifying before the House panel. Peterlin is against the 10th license heading to Rosemont, but he agreed with Dugan that Blagojevich has been doing taxpayers a disservice by failing to appoint one new member.
He also cited three state contracts totaling more than $200,000 paid out of the Gaming Board’s budget but not approved beforehand by the board. Peterlin contends that the quasi-independent board still has total control over its own spending despite being folded into the Department of Revenue.
Corruption .. thy name is Chicago.
5 miles wide, 10 miles deep.
Good digging, Maggie.
I don’t understand. Why should his desire to get buffalo feeders for his farm from anywhere he wants be an issue for the courts?
And to think he (and similar people) pose as helpers of the poor downtrodden union folks. When he’s one of the downtreaders! If there was anything like a democracy in the union he would be out on his keister.
Same thing I thought first. The ugly fact is that he demanded freebies because he was a union bigwig.
Labor chief Bill Dugan makes deal on U.S. charge
A man who for many years was one of Chicago’s top labor leaders on Monday agreed to make a deal on charges that he accepted a gift worth more than $900 from a company that employed members of his union.
In a statement, Joseph Duffy, the attorney for William Dugan, the retired president and business manager of Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, said Mr. Dugan has “acknowledged receiving a thing of value from a contractor worth less than $1,000, specifically concrete piping,” and will plead to misdemeanor charges as part of a deal with federal prosecutors.
Sources close to the matter said further charges are likely in the case. But the one charge alone of violating federal labor law carries a potential penalty of up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
You’d think they’d make that clear in the story. Do the newspapers employ editors for any reason other than to enforce political correctness these days?
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