Posted on 08/20/2002 3:54:16 AM PDT by Elle Bee
Edited on 04/22/2004 11:46:56 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
How some union insiders made a dubious killing in the telecom bubble.
AFL-CIO chief John Sweeney is having a high old time with business scandals, condemning "corporate greed" and capitalist "thieves." Yet his acute moral antennae have somehow missed the shenanigans at Union Labor Life Insurance Co., or Ullico, a labor-owned insurance company that looks like Big Labor's Enron.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
SECTION: EDITORIALS; Pg. A18
LENGTH: 718 words
HEADLINE: Terry 'Stonewall' McAuliffe
BYLINE: THE WASHINGTON TIMES
BODY:
Asked Sunday by Sam Donaldson of ABC News if he had done anything wrong when he turned a 1997 investment of $100,000 in Global Crossing into an $18 million windfall two years later, Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe defensively asserted, "Well, first of all, you have no idea if I made one penny, Sam." Well, first of all, that isn't what Mr. McAuliffe told the New York Times in December 1999. "For Mr. McAuliffe and all the other early investors, Global Crossing turned out to be a bonanza," Jeff Gerth of the New York Times reported then - when high-flying Global Crossing's stock sold for about $50 per share [it peaked at $64.25]. Mr. McAuliffe - ever the braggart - "says his initial $100,000 investment grew to be worth about $18 million," Mr. Gerth reported. Mr. McAuliffe also bragged to the Times in 1999 that he had made millions more trading Global options after the company went public in 1998. Well, do tell. Under what circumstances was Mr. McAuliffe given options by Global Crossing CEO Gary Winnick, who turned a $20 million investment into stock sales of nearly $750 million before Global collapsed, costing other investors $48 billion in market capitalization? Were the options a quid pro quo for the golf match Mr. McAuliffe arranged between Mr. Winnick and then-President Clinton? As Global Crossing's stock was plunging toward 7 cents a share, how does the DNC chairman explain the $400,000 in soft-money contributions made by Global Crossing in 2001 - just before it laid off 2,000 workers in January and canceled their health insurance?
As the 1994 architect of the notorious schemes to invite major donors to the White House for the infamous "coffees" and to rent the Lincoln Bedroom to Democratic contributors, Mr. McAuliffe has never been a stranger to ethical lapses. In fact, trial testimony shed light upon his involvement in the notorious Teamster fund-raising scandal, which resulted in the conviction of former Teamster political director William Hamilton on charges of fraud, conspiracy, embezzlement and perjury. At Hamilton's 1999 trial, former DNC Finance Director Richard Sullivan implicated Mr. McAuliffe in a convoluted money-laundering scheme involving Teamster treasury funds. The money eventually, and illegally, found its way into the political coffers of then-Teamster President Ron Carey, who was later expelled from the union for corruption.
This past weekend offered a telling reminder of the millions of dollars illegally funneled from Asia, including from Chinese military intelligence, to the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign while Mr. McAuliffe served as chief Democratic fund-raiser. The DNC chairman delivered a blistering political speech Saturday in Las Vegas, the day after a Hong Kong tycoon participated in the purchase of the Global Crossing carcass for a paltry $250 million. Of course, not a dime went to stockholders, some of whom undoubtedly bought the now-worthless shares that generated Mr. McAuliffe's $18 million bonanza.
In his role as chairman of the Democratic Party, Mr. McAuliffe has abundantly demonstrated that he has as little regard for the truth as he has had for business and fund-raising ethics throughout his checkered past. In fact, his association with Global Crossing has become so unbearable for some Democrats that Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak effectively called for a congressional investigation. Noting how "odd" it was that Mr. McAuliffe was able so quickly to turn a $100,000 investment into $18 million, Mr. Stupak told Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel on Tuesday that "Global Crossing," which is already being investigated by the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission, "should be investigated" by Congress. For his part, Mr. Stupak promised to give Mr. McAuliffe's relationship with Global Crossing "due diligence" before the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
It has become increasingly clear why Mr. McAuliffe was stonewalling Mr. Donaldson's straightforward question. With pressure for full disclosure now mounting within his own party, however, Mr. McAuliffe's stonewalling tactics may soon meet the irresistible force of the public's right to know.
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Boilerplate Whitewater ~right down tothe straw-man father-in -law
By September it was revealed that Terry had underwritten the Clinton Mortgage in NY ~ the case seems to have died
ELECTRICAL WORKERS (IBEW)
DOL Sues Union Fund Tied to Clinton-Crony McAuliffe
The U.S. Dep't of Labor filed suit May 5 against two trustees of the $8.3 billion Nat. Electrical Benefit Fund charging improper dealings between the fund and top Clinton-fundraiser Terence R. McAuliffe. According to DOL, NEBF trustee John Grau and ex-trustee Jack F. Moore imprudently lent over $6 million in pension assets. NEBF is operated jointly by the Int'l Bhd. of Electrical Workers, from which Moore retired as secretary in 1997, and the Nat. Electrical Contractors Ass'n, of which Grau is a vice president.
The scam involved a $6 million loan in 1992 to Columbia Land & Development Corp. of Orlando to buy a subdivision called Country Run which was to be developed into 545 lots. McAuliffe and his wife, Dorothy S. McAuliffe, own Columbia. The loan was in default from Dec. 1992 to Oct. 1997. DOL says NEBF should have known the loan couldn't be repaid in full with interest. The suit seeks the trustees to reimburse the fund for losses, including interest.
The McAuliffes also own Am. Capitol Management, a partner with NEBF in a separate investment called Am. Capitol Group I Assets LP, which guaranteed payment of the Columbia loan. In a separate 1991 investment, NEBF paid $38.7 million to buy five apartment complexes and a shopping center near St. Petersburg. The partnership bought the properties from the Resolution Trust Corp., which had taken control of them from a bank in receivership that had been owned by McAuliffe's father-in-law.
DOL alleges NEBF imprudently purchased a $2.45 million interests in ACGIA, a move that reduced the value of the ACM guarantee on the Columbia loan. McAuliffe's holdings in ACM had been collateral for the loan. The suit further alleges trustees made one of the purchases in the ACM partnership even though the Columbia loan was in default. The pension fund then reportedly sold its share of the partnership and the Columbia loan to ACM at a loss. [Pensions & Investments 5/17/99]
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This one's gettin' bookmarked fer sure, my FRiend...MUD
Now isn't that special that Senator Harkin would prefer that Mafia-style looting of the Union pension funds should be allowed to go undetected?!
SHEEEESH, when's that DOLT up fer re-election?!
FReegards...MUD
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