Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- May 1, 1998
Labor boss denies he knew of spending
By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A
FL-CIO President John J. Sweeney said Thursday he did not know that his second-in-command, Richard L. Trumka, wrote a $150,000 check from the union's treasury until months later, when federal prosecutors began investigating the expenditure as part of the Teamsters money-laundering scandal.
Mr. Sweeney told a House panel that no one inside the giant labor federation questioned Mr. Trumka's unilateral decision in November 1996 to spend $150,000, because there were no mechanisms in place to scrutinize such large outlays. The AFL-CIO has since adopted a two-signature rule and other safeguards to make sure it does not happen again.
Mr. Sweeney said he learned of the expenditure when the AFL-CIO received a subpoena last summer from the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, which is conducting a grand jury probe of the Teamsters. He said he questioned Mr. Trumka, but the AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer declined to answer, citing advice from his attorney.
The AFL-CIO immediately hired a pair of outside lawyers to conduct an internal investigation, but Mr. Trumka refused to answer their questions as well, Mr. Sweeney said. Mr. Trumka also refused to testify before the grand jury in Manhattan, a federal election officer and the House subcommittee that wanted to question him Thursday.
In each case, Mr. Trumka invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
The AFL-CIO has a rule requiring expulsion of officers who invoke the Fifth Amendment to shield themselves from discovery of corruption. But Mr. Sweeney said the rule does not apply to Mr. Trumka because the federation's internal inquiry has turned up no evidence of wrongdoing.
"If Mr. Trumka is refusing to answer your questions, how can you conduct an effective investigation?" asked Rep. Peter Hoekstra, Michigan Republican and chairman of the subcommittee.
"I have had discussions with Mr. Trumka where I have pointed out how important it was that we get to the bottom of all this," Mr. Sweeney said. "He has assured me that he has done nothing wrong and that at the end of this investigation I will have that same conclusion.
"I've known Rich Trumka a long time," Mr. Sweeney said. "We've worked very closely as executive officers and I have never had any situation where I've found his integrity to be questioned."
Mr. Trumka's integrity was questioned in September by Martin Davis, campaign consultant for Teamsters President Ron Carey. Mr. Davis told a federal judge that Mr. Trumka funneled the $150,000 to Citizen Action, a liberal advocacy group that kept $50,000 and laundered the rest to the Carey campaign. The AFL-CIO was repaid by a $150,000 donation from the Teamsters treasury.
"I don't believe it," Mr. Sweeney testified Thursday, even after the subcommittee released canceled checks and memos tracing the transactions.
Mr. Trumka's integrity was questioned again in November by Kenneth Conboy, election appeals master for the Teamsters, who ruled that Mr. Trumka had improperly raised another $50,000 in cash for the Carey campaign. Officials from unions outside the Teamsters are barred from donating or soliciting funds for Teamsters elections.
The cash was "funneled into the Carey campaign through various members" of the Teamsters, Mr. Conboy wrote.
"I have no knowledge of that," Mr. Sweeney testified Thursday.
Mr. Hoekstra said: "I might have asked you to be a little more aggressive with Mr. Trumka."Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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