Labor's Loot - Follow the money in the latest union scandal ~ WSJ.

This Labor Day we took note of a recent Federal Elections Commission report that concluded that such is organized labor's financial muscle within the Democratic Party that the AFL-CIO and other unions enjoyed the "authority to approve or disapprove plans, projects and needs of the [Democratic National Committee] and its state parties" in the 1996 elections. If the unions want to support the Democrats, we wrote, that's fine by us, though we have repeatedly aired our objections to their doing so in ways that violate the Supreme Court's Beck decision against the use of compulsory union dues for political purposes. This week, as the prosecution wraps up its case in the perjury trial of former Teamsters President Ron Carey, it's becoming ever more clear that the status of Democratic power-brokers may have tempted some union officials to divert their organizations' funds for internal union politics as well.

Mr. Carey is charged with seven counts of perjury and false statements for allegedly lying to federal investigators and a grand jury about his role in schemes designed to embezzle Teamsters funds to aid his 1996 re-election campaign, and an illegal plan to raise money from other union leaders. His lawyers say he is innocent, the dupe of crooked underlings. But while the defense has yet to be heard from, testimony and evidence presented by the government so far has built a strong case that Mr. Carey was aware of the illegal movement of money at the center of the fraud schemes.

Trial testimony also has added new pieces to the puzzle of the degree of involvement of powerful labor movement figures in the schemes, including AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka. With the statute of limitations set to run out in the coming weeks, the conclusion of the Carey trial may set the stage for further indictments.

In 1999, prosecutors under U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White convicted a top Carey aide, William Hamilton, for his role in the scheme; the former political director of the Teamsters was convicted of fraud and conspiracy in the embezzlement of $885,000 in union funds to aid the Carey re-election effort. Five other lower-level figures also have pleaded guilty to related charges.

Mr. Hamilton was one of the surprises at the trial last week, transferred from jail under a government subpoena. He testified that on November 1, 1996, he received a letter from Mr. Trumka requesting "a $150,000 contribution" from the Teamsters to the AFL. Mr. Hamilton prepared a memo for Mr. Carey informing him of the request. A check was cut to the AFL. The check, the Trumka letter and the Hamilton memo all were entered into evidence at the trial. Conspiracy, mail- and wire-fraud statutes generally have a five-year statute of limitations.

During Mr. Hamilton's own trial, it was established that the $150,000 "contribution" was in fact part of an elaborate and illegal swap scheme designed to launder money from the Teamster treasury through the AFL and back to Mr. Carey's electoral benefit. By pre-arrangement with cohorts, allegedly including Mr. Trumka, after receiving the $150,000 from the Teamster treasury, the AFL then sent $150,000 to a liberal activist group, Citizen Action; Citizen Action then sent $100,000 to a consulting group to which the Carey campaign owed money, reducing Mr. Carey's debt. Mr. Hamilton was convicted in this scheme.

Also at the Hamilton trial, an AFL employee testified that Mr. Trumka was at a meeting where the $150,000 was discussed. AFL Controller Sue Mackie said that she came away from the meeting with the understanding that if $150,000 came in from the Teamsters, then $150,000 should be sent to Citizen Action.

According to another government witness at the Carey trial, Mr. Trumka was under some pressure to help Mr. Carey. Jere Nash, one of the conspirators and Mr. Carey's former campaign manager, testified that Mr. Carey was "upset that Rich Trumka had not fulfilled the commitment that he said he would make" in raising money for the re-election campaign. Mr. Nash said that the Teamster boss was angry because "he, Ron Carey, had done a lot of work the previous year to help Richard Trumka get elected to his position at the AFL-CIO and it upset him that Rich Trumka was not helping him now that he needed help." Mr. Nash earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy, false statements and mail fraud in the Teamster case; he testified under a cooperation agreement with the government.

Mr. Trumka also allegedly participated in a second illegal scheme, along with two other senior labor-movement figures: American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees head Gerald McEntee and Service Employees International Union chief Andy Stern. Testimony by Mr. Nash at the Hamilton trial implicated the three union bosses in a scheme to channel $50,000 each to Mr. Carey -- illegal under labor law.

During his testimony at the Carey trial, Mr. Nash returned to the three union leaders, detailing donations by checks and cash. Mr. Nash testified that he picked up "$10,000 or $15,000" in cash from an aide to Mr. McEntee and $16,000 in checks from a lawyer for Mr. Stern. A courier sent to Mr. Trumka's office returned with "a package which contained $5,000 in cash," Mr. Nash said.

Mr. Carey aside, none of the labor leaders have been charged with any crime and all have denied any wrongdoing. When questioned by federal investigators, Mr. Trumka invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege. Our reading of the AFL's code of conduct seems to make it clear that any officer of the union invoking the Fifth cannot hold office, but the AFL's general counsel tells us that expulsion is only warranted when the privilege is asserted as a shield to avoid discovery of corruption. "The AFL-CIO, through outside counsel, conducted an investigation when allegations first surfaced," the AFL's Jonathan Hiatt wrote us earlier this year. "Based on that inquiry, the AFL-CIO found no basis for concluding that Mr. Trumka had engaged in criminal conduct."

Yet reports by the federal monitors who overturned the 1996 Teamster election, a Congressional probe and evidence presented in two cases in federal court seem to indicate otherwise. The Teamster affair is not about arcane rules of campaign finance, but the looting of union funds to benefit union leaders. It's time to let a grand jury decide whether Mr. Trumka and the others should have their day in court. Under our reading of the statute of limitations, U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White has until November 1 to do so.

A High Stakes Teamsters Trial - More than Carey's future hangs in the balance ~ Micah Morrison - WSJ

The trial of Ron Carey ~ TWT

Deliver Us From Labor Day - A holiday whose time has passed ~ RICHARD MINITER ~ WSJ.

America's Labor Party - The party of government integrates with the unions of government ~ WSJ.

Stealing to prevent corruption??

Mary Jo White[wash] & the DOJ Can't bring themselves to say their chosen emperor has no clothes

Former Teamsters President Ron Carey carries some of his legal documents out of federal court, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2001, in New York. Carey went on trial on perjury charges Tuesday, with a prosecutor saying he lied about the diversion of union funds to his 1996 re-election campaign to protect his image as a crusader against corruption. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)

Look who's still laughing --->>>

As Bush Replaces Prosecutors, a Formidable One Stays On ~ NY Times begins the Mary Jo 'White'-wash

>>>>> Hired by Mr. Fiske [ 1st Independent Clinton Prosecutor White~~wash~~water & Vince Foster ] in 1978 when he was the United States attorney, she spent about three years as a young assistant in the Southern District, helping prosecute the Omega 7 anti- Castro terrorist group, among others. She also befriended Louis J. Freeh, then also a young prosecutor. <<<<<<<

Can it get ANY more incestuous ???

Looks like a Whitewash [Mary Jo] ~ Bob Novak

I belonged to the labors union back in the late seventies. I managed to get a job with a masonry company building the Tropicana hotel on the strip.The second day there the sec.tre. came out. I was 19 ,small and very intimidated by him. He got fairly angry,told me to have my three hundred dollar fee at his office today or I would be off the job tomorrow.

I asked him to let me make two installments on payday. He would not hear it so I had to borrow the money from relatives. Anyway as I grew up he and I had a few disagreements with him and I was thrown out of his office one day. He was sitting there with gold and diamonds all over his body,made me want to puke.He was under indictment for laundering money and was running for office again. I went there to get the union to send me out to a job I had secured. It was a common pratice but he did not like my white butt and would not give me a slip so I brought up the indictment and him running and he had some goons throw me out.

All that leads up to why I wrote this and he was relected while under indictment.Thats when I quit the union. He was later found guilty and got the boot.I will never forget him with all that jewelery on sneering down on me like I was trash. I guess that is how blacks feel when they have a white ahole in power above them.

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