Dear Uncle Bob: (Ullico -- Union Boss corruption -- BARF)

Wall Street Journal ^ | 3 June 2004 | Editorail -- Wall Street Journal

[Stagerite]

'Dear Uncle Bob'
June 3, 2004; Page A14

Where's Eliot Spitzer when you really need him? New York's Attorney General considers himself the scourge of corporate bad behavior. And if a new report from the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs is right, one of the worst examples of corporate self-dealing and abuse of power still awaits his untender mercies: Ullico.

The closely held union insurance company gained some small notoriety in 2002 when it came out that its board -- an A-list of American labor leaders -- had profited from a stock-selling scheme. Insiders were able to buy Ullico shares at a guaranteed low price and then sell them back to the company at a guaranteed higher price, even as Ullico's underlying value plummeted. Ullico's real shareholders -- union pension funds -- were excluded from the deal.

These revelations led to an investigation by former Illinois Governor Jim Thompson and to the dismissal of Ullico President and CEO Robert Georgine and other directors. But as yesterday's report from Maine Senator Susan Collins's committee shows, that's just the tip of the garbage heap.

[Stagerite]

Today's Wall Street Journal presents numerous gory details about Union-bosses raiding the Ullico Union pension fund.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Time to see what candidate these people donated money to.