By William A. Mayer
Having gone largely unreported by the captive press, lies a little fable of incestuous relationships between DNC operatives Terry McAuliffe, Michael Steed, organized criminal labor unions and various Democrat spin-monkeys.
The story gets more complicated the deeper and deeper one goes but a few facts stand out.
Way back when, ULLICO was a staid insurance company. It was set up in the mid 1920’s, purportedly to help the relatively unsophisticated union employees of the time get the insurance products they needed, but often had trouble acquiring.
It apparently served its purpose, without much fanfare for 70 odd years, that is until the Democrat flim-flam gang became involved.
In 1991, ULLICO was essentially taken over by Michael R. Steed [who currently also sits on the board of the left-wing National Democratic Institute – along with Mario Cuomo, Michael Dukakis, Chris Dodd and Geraldine Ferraro – herself no stranger to organized crime accusations] a former official of the DNC and buddy of Terry Mac.
Steed, as Director of Investments, convinced ULLICO to throw off the “shackles” of conservatism and roll the dice with the big boys.
Out of this came a deal in which he, Terry McAuliffe and Global Crossings would figure prominently...but first a brief look at the board of ULLICO, which seems to be drawn from the most controversial unions in America, those repeatedly alleged to be involved in organized criminal activity.
Arthur Coia sits on the board despite being the target of a 1995 212-page civil racketeering complaint that sought to oust Coia and take over his corrupt union, the Laborer’s Union Of America, on the grounds that it was dominated by organized crime.
It’s impossible in the scope of this article to show just how corrupt the unions, whose leadership comprises ULLICO’s board, are. But just to give a hint - the Laborer’s Union Of America has hundreds of recent legal transgressions attributed to it.
Coia, a prominent Clinton campaign donor - over 2 million given to Democrat party since 1998 - was convicted of mail fraud in Rhode Island, has been accused of retaliation against witnesses, is currently being investigated in Canada and has a curious relationship with Representative Patrick Kennedy who cautioned the judge in the mail fraud case that "In his dealings with people in the public realm, [Coia] conducts himself with an impressive level of integrity…a credit to the Rhode Island Bar” – from which Coia was summarily suspended.
A few more of these maggots, just to round the picture out a bit.
John W. Wilhelm sits on the board, he the president of the corrupt Hotel Employees & Restaurant International Union. The union has been under the “guidance” of a “monitor” appointed by US District Court because of its history of wrongdoing.
John J. Barry, president emeritus of the IBEW, sits on the board despite the fact that its National Electric Benefit fund has, as characterized by the National Legal & Policy Center’s Union Corruption Project:
“trustees imprudently loaned pension plan assets to a corporation for certain real estate purchases linked to tainted Clinton family fundraiser and Democratic Nat'l Committee Chairman Terence McAuliffe…The fund subsequently loaned $10 million to the general partner of the partnership, McAuliffe, enabling him, through another company, to acquire and develop additional property. The trustees then took McAuliffe up on his offer to sell the fund shares in the partnership at a 15% discount, increasing the fund's interest to more than 88%. The partnership subsequently repurchased the fund's shares for more than $30 million.”
This takes us to the heart of ULLICO’s woes, but also characterizes the bigger picture – shady glad-handing financial deals rigged to enrich Democrat fat cats at the expense of working class stiffs.
Steed and McAuliffe approached the union with the idea of it investing in Global Crossings, the now bankrupt fiber optic communications company, before it went public.
Global, for the sake of credibility, needed the money and the prestige such an investor might bring.
Upon issuance, Global Crossing was a high flyer and ULLICO harvested what most Democrats would term “windfall” profits from the arrangement, at least for a while.
A scheme was worked out that allowed board members of ULLICO to sell shares back to the company, at an artificial profit guaranteed by the fact that, under company by-laws, the stock price was arbitrarily fixed each year - for the entire year - and was only adjusted up or down at the end of that time period.
Even though the dramatically falling price of Global Crossings affected the real current value of ULLICO's shares, board members were allowed to sell it back at the year’s inflated price.
It is the same type of transaction as being allowed to go back two years and sell, now worthless, Enron stock back to other shareholders for millions.
It's blatant sleight of hand at best and the type of chicanery upon which Tom Daschle, Dick Gephardt and the rest of the Democrat leadership daily try to lynch the innocent, in furtherance of their grand plan.
Yet here is the real thing, actual, unadulterated fraudulent manipulation and it involves current players, including the current chief of the DNC who personally benefited to the tune of $17,900,000.
Lest we forget, let us be reminded that T. McAuliffe has also served as the Clinton's personal real estate guru, par excellence.
There is much more buried here, screaming for investigation.
As we have stated previously, there are no dearth of good stories rife for investigation - stories with Pulitzer written all over them - that because of the press' intentional avoidance of things Democrat, go largely unreported.
Why the Justice Department isn't all over this is unfathomable - yes the demands required to fight the war on terror are Herculean - but so is the necessity to end, once and for all, the sham claim to populism by the Democrat party.
In case after case it is Democrats who have accepted illegal gratuities, bounced checks, suborned perjury, bought votes, sold pardons to drug dealers, bombed aspirin factories to deflect salacious tales of fellatio in high places, ad infinitum.
The appearance of impropriety here is simply because impropriety exist in spades - there is no other explanation.
It is former Clinton administration officials like, doe-eyed Robert Rubin, who engage in brazen efforts to manipulate the price of stocks like Enron and diminutive liars like Joseph Lieberman whose campaign coffers are jacked with Ken Lay's stolen bucks.
It has been Republicans who by and large have resisted these efforts.
And now we are subjected to a loony spectacle - the wailing and gnashing of teeth by the press, clothed in sackcloth and ashes beating their collective breast over corporate scandals which obviously originated in the genuine decade of greed, the Clinton '90s.
But of course he is their guy, always was, always will be.
What to be done?
Who knows for sure, the instinct of the Bush administration is to get along, to compromise; that was his style in Texas and it remains so today - by necessity now, since control of Congress is precariously balanced on the head of a district or two.
Possibly after November 5 - against all odds - if Republicans once again can genuinely control the Senate, change may happen - but don't expect anything faster than slow, glacial progress,
GW is not a bomb thrower by nature.
Perhaps it is an acquired taste?
Regardless, during the watch of FDR's party America has become corrupt.
Given sufficient investigative effort, the majority of our labor unions could, and most likely should, be put under federal receivership - just like SEIU local 250 was during my own short membership while I studied for my BA.
Government has gotten so huge, so all encompassing, that crooked politicians and public officials have such leverage that turning $1,000 ala Hillary into $100,000 or $100,000 ala McAuliffe into $18,000,000 is duck soup.
Hell, you or I could do it...and to peel the onion back a little further - unless you see the actual records, which of course do not exist - you can't really tell which came first, the purchase or the pitch, underlining how these "investments" by Rodham and McAuliffe take on the appearance of, dare we say, bribes?
The bottom line is that the Democrat party, who is countenancing these crooked deals, must not be allowed to turn the natural antipathy, that such obviously fraudulent behavior engenders in the public, against those who have had nothing to do with it.
This is why it is such a crime that the California press has crucified Bill Simon on the cross of corporate malfeasance - using as its mallet a Bizarro World judgment on behalf of a convicted federal drug kingpin.
There can be no justice unless we insist upon it, when good citizens do nothing - evil triumphs.
Let's roll!