[COMMENT: If it did not have such potentially disasterous consequences for the labor movement, the series of denials reported here would be almost comical. According to these reports, no one did anything and no one knew anything, except those three actually indicted. So....If this were happening to Clinton not Carey, or the GOP not the Dems, or the leadership of the National Association of Mfgs. not the AFL-CIO, what would you think? More to the point, I suspect that most folks already believe, "That's just how politics works and everyone does it. These schmucks just got caught." How do you mount a national campaign for leadership of a union as large as the IBT without raising tons of money; and if you do, how do you raise it without losing your principles, scruples, and civic morality in the process?] ============================================ U.S. Says Carey Aides Used DNC, AFL-CIO Consultants Plead Guilty to Funneling Money To Teamsters President's Reelection Campaign By Frank Swoboda and Sharon Walsh Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, September 19, 1997; Page A01 The Washington Post Federal prosecutors yesterday outlined a series of schemes in which three political consultants allegedly used various groups, including the Democratic National Committee and the AFL-CIO, to illegally funnel money to help finance Teamsters President Ron Carey's reelection campaign. The three Carey consultants pleaded guilty to charges they laundered Teamsters money for the campaign. They also agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors investigating the possible involvement of the DNC and other union leaders, the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York announced. In documents filed in federal court in Manhattan, the U.S. attorney's office said DNC and AFL-CIO officials participated in the schemes. DNC officials have said they did not. ************************************************** Steve Langdon, a DNC spokesman, said last night: "No plan to receive Teamster contributions in exchange for donations to the Carey campaign was approved by the DNC. If any action was taken, it was without the authorization of the DNC leadership." ************************************************** AFL-CIO spokeswoman Denise Mitchell said the federation is aware of the transaction in question but can't find anything in it that suggests wrongdoing. "We can't rule out the possibility that we were used as part of the scheme, but according to the U.S. attorney nobody at the AFL-CIO is a target of the investigation, and I think that says something," she said. *************************************************** White House special counsel Lanny J. Davis said, "As we have previously stated, as far as we can determine no one in the White House participated in or had anything to do with the alleged plan." *************************************************** Prosecutors did not allege any wrongdoing by Carey, whose narrow reelection victory over rival James P. Hoffa was thrown out earlier this month by federal election officials. Carey, who was first elected to the job in 1992 on a pledge to reform the union, has insisted that he had no knowledge of the illegal financing operations and said he is cooperating with the criminal investigation. Pleading guilty yesterday were Carey campaign manager Jere Nash, political consultant Martin Davis and Michael Ansara, a telemarketing official involved in the campaign. As part of their plea agreement the three men also agreed to pay a total of nearly $1 million in fines, which will be used to help pay the cost of a new Teamsters election. U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White said all three had waived indictment, had pleaded guilty and were cooperating with the government in its continuing investigation of last year's Teamsters election. Their sentencing has been postponed while they cooperate with authorities. Davis faces up to 15 years in prison; Nash, up to 10 years; and Ansara, up to five years. White said at a news conference, "The defendants have victimized both the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the election process." Referring to the Teamsters' past, she said, "This is not organized crime, but the crimes are very serious and galling ones." The list of people involved in the case could be lengthy, according to a 10-page statement issued by White outlining the case against the three men. In the document, prosecutors said Davis and Nash, along with the union's director of government affairs, were involved in a scheme to try to help finance the Carey campaign through the DNC. She said an unnamed official of both the DNC and the Clinton-Gore reelection committee agreed to seek contributors to the Carey campaign in exchange for Teamsters donations to the DNC. The DNC identified at least one foreign donor who agreed to give $100,000 to the Carey campaign, according to prosecutors. But the Carey campaign rejected the money because the donor was an employer and federal law prohibits employers from contributing to union elections. The prosecutors also said Davis and Nash told them "large sums of money, including cash, were raised by officials of various labor unions for the Carey campaign." It is illegal for union officials of one union to make contributions in the election campaign of another union. AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and Richard Trumka, the federation's secretary-treasurer, have both appeared before the federal grand jury investigating the Teamsters election, the AFL-CIO has confirmed. Although not named, Trumka is mentioned by title in another alleged scheme outlined by prosecutors. According to the document, Davis and Nash said they and the union's director of government affairs had arranged for the Teamsters to contribute $150,000 to the AFL-CIO. They said "the secretary-treasurer of the AFL agreed with Davis to transfer the $150,000 to Citizen Action [a labor-backed lobbying group] which then gave Davis $100,000 which he used to pay for the Carey campaign's direct mail fees." ************************************************** Attorneys for Citizen Action could not be reached for comment. ************************************************** Another scheme outlined by the prosecutors involved the National Council of Senior Citizens. According to prosecutors, Davis and Nash arranged through the union's director of government affairs for the Teamsters to make a contribution to the National Council for Senior Citizens and then arranged to have the council hire the November Group, a direct-mail firm, headed by Davis. Davis then applied a portion of the money he received from the council to the Carey campaign. **************************************************** Attorneys for the seniors council could not be reached for comment. The prosecutors did not **************************************************** name the Teamsters' director of government affairs, but the job was held by William H. Hamilton Jr., who resigned from the union in July. Hamilton said at the time that he didn't "knowingly" do anything wrong. He also said then that he would not cooperate further with the grand jury investigation. Neither Hamilton nor his attorney could be reached late yesterday. Nash and Davis are expected to be interviewed in the next few days by Barbara Zack Quindel, the federal election officer who overturned Carey's election. Quindel is now deciding whether Carey should be disqualified from running in the new election. Government sources described Davis as the "hub" in the investigation. In a statement, Carey congratulated prosecutors for their action against the three political aides. "Today's Teamsters union has no quarter for illegal schemes like these. We will continue to assist authorities in exposing corruption and wrongdoing no matter who is involved," he said. Reid H. Weingarten, Carey's attorney, said Carey has cooperated with the investigation and has been told by the government that he is not a target of the probe. "Ron Carey is not implicated in any way by today's charges," Weingarten said. "Indeed, he and the union are the victims of the wrongdoing described by the government. . . . Today's events will not deter Mr. Carey's continuing efforts to reform the Teamsters and improve the lot of working men and women." Hoffa, in a statement from his Detroit headquarters, said that as a result of today's actions "Ron Carey should finally do the right thing and step down rather than bring further embarrassment to himself and the Teamsters union." "If he's unwilling to do so," Hoffa added, "he should be involuntarily removed from office." Prosecutors said the Carey campaign became concerned in July 1996, the time of the Teamsters convention in Philadelphia, "that Carey's lead over Hoffa was narrowing" and that Hoffa was raising substantially more money than Carey for the election. As a result, they said, Davis and Nash decided they needed a $700,000 direct-mail effort. The two men, according to prosecutors, agreed that the Carey campaign would raise $300,000 and Nash, whose November Group would be doing the mailings, would raise the other $400,000. Prosecutors said Davis and Ansara "devised a scheme whereby wealthy nonemployers would donate money to the Carey campaign, and, in exchange, the [Teamsters] would contribute money to `get-out-the-vote' efforts that would assist the political candidates and causes supported by those wealthy individuals." "Nash agreed to participate in this scheme and the [Teamsters] government affairs director agreed to make the appropriate contributions . . .. so long as the contributions were sufficiently consistent with the [Teamsters'] objectives that they could be justified if scrutinized," prosecutors said. Contributions from the wealthy benefactors were made to an organization set up by the campaign known as Teamsters for a Corruption Free Union, according to the prosecutors. They said the Teamsters would contribute "several dollars" for each dollar received from one of these wealthy contributors. Prosecutors said Citizen Action, a consumer and environmental advocacy group, helped a wealthy individual recruited by Ansara to obtain $185,000 from donors to the Carey campaign. In return, the prosecutors said, the Teamsters donated $475,000 from the union's general treasury to Citizen Action and $175,000 to another organization that was not named. The money donated to the Carey campaign was then used to help pay for the direct mailings, according to prosecutors. Swoboda reported from Washington; Walsh reported from New York City. © Copyright 1997 The Washington Post =============================== Business Leaders Gear Up Lobbying and Ad Campaign for `Fast-Track' Bill By Terry M. Neal Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, September 19, 1997; Page A04 The Washington Post To counter a fierce lobbying effort by organized labor, business leaders are planning to spend at least $2 million on an air and land war to persuade Congress to broaden President Clinton's trade negotiating powers. But even as the advertising campaign began yesterday, coalition members acknowledged they were playing catch-up to the union forces that vehemently oppose the measure. Some members of Congress who support "fast-track" authority for the president expressed concern yesterday that the business lobby had fallen dangerously behind the curve on an issue that could be decided by a handful of votes. "Most of the members are saying they haven't heard anything from business," said Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-Calif.), a fast-track supporter and ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, where the bill has been assigned for markup. "Then you wonder: How much does the business community want fast track? How important is it to them?" Fast track empowers the president to negotiate international trade agreements that Congress cannot amend, only vote up or down. The battle is largely between organized labor on one side and Clinton and big business on the other. America Leads on Trade, a coalition formed to lobby for the authority, insists the issue is a top priority for business. The group plans a television campaign in about 30 targeted markets across the country as well as a grass-roots effort. At a news conference Wednesday, James T. Christie, chairman of the 543-member coalition, refused to divulge how much it is spending and which congressional districts it is targeting. But yesterday a coalition official revealed the $2 million figure and said more resources would be readily available if necessary. "The philosophy of America Leads on Trade is, we're going to match dollar for dollar what the opposition spends," said the official, who requested anonymity. "We are keeping close tabs on the opposition and are monitoring what they do. And we are flexible to respond to their advertising buys." On Tuesday, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney announced a multimillion-dollar television and radio campaign, initially aimed at 13 congressional districts and the entire state of California. The targeted members are undecided on the issue, and most won their seats by small margins and come from areas with a strong labor presence. The ads provide a toll-free number for constituents to call their lawmakers. AFL-CIO officials said the media campaign would cost $1 million in the first week alone. Legislative director Peggy Taylor said: "The dollar for dollar doesn't matter. We have the ability to mobilize tens of thousands of working families in states and congressional districts all over the country." Unlike big business, organized labor has been active for months, personally lobbying members and coordinating grass-roots efforts in members' districts. The business lobby has been particularly deficient in making personal contacts on Capitol Hill, sources there said. "They need to get out of their offices downtown, go to the Hill and wear down some shoe leather," said a Democratic staff member who specializes in trade issues. Johanna Schneider, a spokeswoman for the Business Roundtable, said there is a good explanation: Business leaders decided to hold off intense lobbying until they could see Clinton's bill. That bill was released Tuesday after several delays. She noted that the Roundtable -- a key member of America Leads on Trade -- sent two dozen CEOs of large companies to lobby on the Hill earlier this month. Thomas J. Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, acknowledged that labor is riding high from the successful strike against UPS, but vowed that big business will not be a patsy. "These guys [labor] play political hardball, and they have staked their political reputation on it [fast track]," Donohue said. "So you are going to get one hell of a fight here." The America Leads on Trade source said the television campaign is targeted at 103 congressional districts -- 35 Democrats and 68 Republicans. Television ads started running in the D.C. area yesterday. They will begin today in markets including Seattle, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas, Los Angeles, Tampa and Jackson, Miss. Forty-eight other Democrats have been targeted for grass-roots lobbying. Business officials, elected leaders and others from their districts will be calling members to urge support for fast track. Some members of Congress have been caught in the cross-fire. Among those with opposing television ads running in their districts: Reps. David E. Skaggs (D-Colo.), Phil English (R-Pa.) and Thomas C. Sawyer (D-Ohio). Skaggs said his office had received 57 phone calls from both sides on the issue in the last two days. He said he will announce his position today at a news conference in his district. "I don't know that this is the heaviest lobbying I've seen in my 11 years here," Skaggs said. "But I think it would be fair to say this is the heaviest full-court press this year." Staff writer Steven Pearlstein contributed to this report. © Copyright 1997 The Washington Post
