Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- April 9, 1998
Teamsters stonewalling, House probe chief says
By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The chairman of a House panel investigating the Teamsters has accused the union of refusing to turn over subpoenaed documents and telling its accounting and polling firms to withhold records from the panel.
A lawyer for the Teamsters said yesterday the union has turned over 40,000 pages of documents and is willing to provide even more, but it objects to what it called partisan, overly broad requests for records that have nothing to do with the investigation.
Meanwhile, staffers on the House panel are debating whether to seek testimony from the leaders of other unions implicated in the Teamsters money-laundering scandal, including John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, and Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
Rep. Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House subcommittee probing the Teamsters, fired off letters Tuesday to Attorney General Janet Reno and other officials, complaining about the union's refusal to turn over subpoenaed records. The Michigan Republican said the union "has instructed third parties not to produce materials sought by this subcommittee."
"They're sticking their thumb in our nose," said Victoria Toensing, a lawyer for the subcommittee. "And so we're saying: 'Justice Department, we thought you were overseeing them.'"
Mrs. Toensing was referring to government oversight of the union that has been in place since a "consent agreement" was hammered out between the Justice Department and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) in 1989.
"I trust you will use your powers under the consent decree to ensure that no IBT funds are used to obstruct this subcommittee's investigation," Mr. Hoekstra said in his letter to Miss Reno.
Leslie B. Kiernan, a lawyer for the Teamsters, insisted yesterday that the union "has cooperated and is cooperating with the subcommittee. Unfortunately, it appears that partisan political goals of the majority have made it difficult for the subcommittee to resolve, as we wish to do, subpoena disputes."
In a letter to Chris Donesa, counsel for the subcommittee, Miss Kiernan said: "We have produced over 40,000 pages of documents and continue to produce documents. ... It may well be that there are continuing discussions about other documents, but a suggestion that the IBT is not producing documents does not seem calculated to accomplish anything productive."
Mr. Hoekstra complained that the union's polling firm, Peter Hart Research Associates, refuses to turn over subpoenaed records unless instructed to do so by the Teamsters. The union retorted that the subcommittee keeps enlarging the scope of the documents it seeks.
At first, "the subcommittee only sought Peter Hart's records relating to the Carey campaign, which you already have," wrote Mrs. Kiernan, referring to the 1996 re-election campaign of Teamsters President Ron Carey. Now, "the subcommittee wants all of Peter Hart's records, even though we advised you ... these documents relate to the 1997 [United Parcel Service] strike and other matters with no conceivable relation to the subcommittee's inquiry."
Mr. Hoekstra also complained that the union's accounting firm, Grant Thornton, refuses to turn over subpoenaed records unless instructed to do so by the Teamsters. The union replied that it had already turned over some Grant Thornton records and is willing to turn over more.
Meanwhile, lawyers and investigators for the subcommittee are debating whether to subpoena Mr. Sweeney and Mr. McEntee to testify about the Teamsters scandal. Mr. Sweeney's second-in-command at the AFL-CIO, Secretary-Treasurer Richard L. Trumka, has been accused of misappropriating $200,000 for the Carey campaign.
Mr. Trumka has invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions from federal investigators. Mr. Sweeney, who has been interviewed by the FBI in the case, has refused to enforce an AFL-CIO rule requiring expulsion of union officers who take the Fifth.
Mr. McEntee improperly solicited $20,000 in cash from an AFSCME printing vendor for the Carey campaign, according to Kenneth Conboy, a former federal judge who investigated the case for the government. In December, Mr. McEntee persuaded AFSCME's executive board to pay his legal bills until he is indicted or forced to invoke the Fifth Amendment.
One of Mr. McEntee's top lieutenants, Paul Booth, told Judge Conboy he improperly raised tens of thousands of dollars in cash and checks for the Carey campaign.
Mr. McEntee, president of AFSCME, is one of the most powerful labor leaders implicated in the scandal. As chairman of the AFL-CIO's Political Committee, this tenacious and savvy supporter of President Clinton oversaw the federation's $35 million effort to reverse Republican control of Congress in 1996.
Mr. Carey has been implicated in schemes to launder Teamster funds into his re-election campaign. His 1996 victory has been nullified and he has been barred from participating in a rerun to be held later this year.
The front-runner in that election is James P. Hoffa, whom Mr. Carey narrowly defeated in 1996. Mr. Hoffa is now being challenged by Ken Hall, a Teamster who was endorsed yesterday by Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a group that once backed Mr. Carey.Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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