Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- April 28, 1998
Ex-Teamsters official indicted
By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A
federal grand jury indicted the Teamsters' former political director yesterday on charges of giving $1.1 million in union funds to the Democratic Party, the AFL-CIO and liberal advocacy groups so they would launder portions into the re-election campaign of Teamsters President Ron Carey.
The indictment was handed up just hours after James P. Hoffa --who blames the money-laundering scheme for his 1996 loss to Mr. Carey -- was cleared by a federal election officer to seek the presidency in a rerun election.
William W. Hamilton Jr., who controlled the union's powerful political action committee until his resignation in July, was charged with embezzlement, conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, perjury and making false statements to a federal election officer. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.
"Bill is innocent of all charges and we look forward to his day in court," said his attorney, Robert Gage.
Mr. Hamilton -- a former Planned Parenthood spokesman who once ridiculed Mother Teresa's opposition to abortion in a letter published by The Washington Post -- joined the Teamsters in early 1995, bringing with him a commitment to liberal activism that contrasted sharply with the union's previous support of Presidents Reagan and Bush.
"Mr. Hamilton had an expansive and pro-active view of the [Teamsters'] role in politics and in mobilizing its membership for political action, a view shared by Mr. Carey," Barbara Zack Quindel, a former federal election officer, wrote last year.
Mr. Hamilton's own records show that he emptied the coffers of the Teamsters' political action committee, known as DRIVE, tapped the general treasury and even secured a $500,000 bank loan so the union could keep giving money to Democrats in the 1996 elections.
"We have to recommend to our members, semantics aside, that they vote for Bill Clinton, not Bob Dole," Mr. Hamilton told Teamsters Communications Director Matt Witt in a March 1996 memo. "We ask for and get, on almost a daily basis, help from the Clinton administration for one thing or another. In the absence of a better candidate, it doesn't make sense to complicate our ability to continue doing so."
The Clinton administration even agreed to "lean on" railroad executives who might ask union workers for concessions, Mr. Hamilton wrote in another memo.
Later in the year, Mr. Hamilton schemed with Carey campaign manager Jere Nash and campaign aides Martin Davis and Michael Ansara to launder union funds into Mr. Carey's re-election bid, the indictment says.
He diverted unprecedented sums to the AFL-CIO and liberal advocacy groups -- including Citizen Action, Project Vote and the National Council of Senior Citizens -- all of which kicked back portions of the money into the Carey campaign, prosecutors said.
Mr. Hamilton also directed $236,500 to various state Democratic parties in exchange for a $100,000 contribution to the Carey campaign that was to be arranged by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign. The Democrats lined up a donor who sent the check, but the Carey campaign sent it back because the donor was an employer and thus barred by election rules from contributing.
Last year, the money-laundering scandal was uncovered by Hoffa aides, including spokesman Richard Leebove, who fed evidence to FBI agents and federal prosecutors. A grand jury was convened and, on April 14, 1997, questioned Mr. Hamilton.
Mr. Hamilton made "29 false declarations when questioned concerning the [Teamsters'] contributions to Citizen Action and Project Vote, and Hamilton's and Nash's roles in those contributions," the office of U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White in New York said in a statement yesterday. Those declarations are the basis for the perjury charge.
On July 29, Mr. Hamilton resigned from the Teamsters, saying he would no longer cooperate with Mrs. White's investigation, which he called "a circus."
"I admit to doing everything I could do last year to try to re-elect the president and defeat Newt Gingrich's congressional majority," Mr. Hamilton wrote in his resignation letter to Mr. Carey. "I also did what I could to help you win re-election and continue to reform this union."
On Sept. 18, Nash, Davis and Ansara pleaded guilty in the money-laundering scheme and agreed to cooperate in Mrs. White's investigation. The results of the election were nullified and Mr. Carey, who also has been implicated in the scandal, was barred from participating in the rerun election.
Yesterday, federal election officer Michael Cherkasky cleared the way for Mr. Hoffa to seek the presidency but fined his campaign for minor fund-raising violations. Mr. Cherkasky also barred Mr. Leebove from working for Teamsters candidates until the rerun election is completed later this year.
Mr. Cherkasky said Mr. Leebove made an improper in-kind contribution to the Hoffa campaign by underbilling it by $167,675. Mr. Leebove called the ruling retaliation by the election office, which he said was embarrassed by its failure to detect the money-laundering scandal.
Mr. Leebove also said Mr. Cherkasky was seeking personal revenge against him for telling reporters earlier this year that the election officer once accepted questionable campaign donations when he sought unsuccessfully to become district attorney of Westchester County, N.Y. After news reports on the contributions, the New York State Board of Elections began an inquiry.
Mr. Cherkasky yesterday denied accepting improper contributions. He also said his punishment of Mr. Leebove was based on evidence, not revenge.Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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