Clinton boldly lied about ethics office opinion concerning McAuliffe's house loan gift. Clinton bald faced lie #540230 If anything, Clinton's rate if lying is accelerating.
November 22, 1999
Ms. White's Conviction On Friday the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Mary Jo White, did what Attorney General Janet Reno has so conspicuously failed to do for the past three years: bring home a significant conviction in a campaign-finance case. While "reformers" clamor for more campaign finance laws, the ones on the books are not enforced. Worse, the flag of "campaign finance" is offered as a cover for all sorts of otherwise illegal activity, such as stealing money from your fiduciaries.
This defense did not work in the trial of William Hamilton, former political director of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. A Federal jury convicted him on all counts in a conspiracy to embezzle $885,000 in union funds to aid the 1996 re-election effort of then-Teamster President Ron Carey. Testimony at the trial included accounts of illegal money-laundering schemes involving the AFL-CIO, the Democratic National Committee and liberal activist groups. Having won this stunning conviction, Ms. White must now decide whether to pursue higher-ups--notably Mr. Carey and Richard Trumka, the treasurer of the AFL-CIO--who were implicated by evidence offered at the trial.
"Trial testimony revealed that several other individuals participated in the conspiracy that looted the Teamster treasury," current Teamster President James P. Hoffa said in a statement issued after the convictions. "We urge U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White and the Justice Department to pursue these individuals to the fullest extent of the law." Mr. Hoffa further noted that the funds in question have not been returned to the Teamster treasury, saying he has directed the union's attorneys to prepare "appropriate legal action" to recover them. So the Teamsters may bring a triple-damages suit against the AFL-CIO, or at least its treasurer. Trial testimony also included references to roles played by other prominent unions in parts of the conspiracy, most notably Gerald McEntee's American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees and Andy Stern's Service Employees International Union.
Also implicated by trial testimony is Terry McAuliffe, all-purpose Clinton-Gore fundraiser. Just last week, Mr. McAuliffe hosted a $200,000 fundraiser for the Gore campaign at the home of Tony Coelho, the Gore campaign chief. Last week we also learned, though a Freedom of Information Act action by ABC News, that Stephen Potts, director of the Office of Government Ethics, wrote a letter to the White House complaining about its statements on his office's view of the now-cancelled arrangements under which Mr. McAuliffe would back the Clinton's home purchase. It seems the President LIED in saying the ethics office had ruled this was not a gift under government rules. The crowd now at the top of the vice president's 2000 campaign suggests that a Gore administration would continue the law-enforcement practices of the Clinton administration.
Mr. McAuliffe's efforts to aid Mr. Carey--finding a donor for his campaign in return for larger Teamster contributions to the Democratic Party--did not succeed in moving money. Richard Ben-Veniste , his lawyer, says his client did no wrong. But it would be instructive to learn if a jury agrees; the conspiracy laws can be broadly construed.
The Hamilton verdict establishes that money definitely did move from the Teamster Treasury to the Carey campaign. In his opening statement, lead prosecutor Robert Rice detailed the involvement of Mr. Carey and Mr. Trumka. Mr. Hamilton asked Mr. Carey to approve a $150,000 contribution to the AFL, which had not then requested the money. The next day Mr. Trumka submitted a request for the $150,000 and told an accountant that some money might be coming in, which should be sent to the activist group Citizen Action. Carey approved the $150,000, which ended up at Citizen Action. Then $100,000 was sent to another body, the November Group, where it was used to reduce fees owed by the Carey re-election campaign.
The prosecution presented a parade of witnesses testifying to various aspects of the elaborate swap schemes and ruses that generated the illegal donations for Mr. Carey. Phone messages, faxes, phony invoices and a cascade of hefty checks formed the basis of the paper trail. As Mr. Rice said, "Money poured out of the Teamsters' General Treasury Fund like water from an open faucet."
Ms. White has to determine whether the leaders of organized labor can be allowed to play this way with their members' money. By the way, in the Beck decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that union members that do not agree with political contributions by their leaders are entitled to refunds on their dues; as one of its first acts, the Clinton administration reversed a Bush administration executive order setting up procedures to enforce this rule. Beck, like campaign finance, is a law Clinton Justice has simply decided to ignore.
Mr. Hamilton's attorneys have pledged to appeal, but he might be wiser to cooperate. He faces as much as 30 years in prison and over $1 million in fines and restitution when he comes for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa.
The burden of deciding how far to carry this case, though, now rests with Ms. White. Will she proceed with a broad criminal conspiracy case against some of the most powerful figures in both organized labor and the Democratic Party? Her resounding victory in the Hamilton case is reason to press on, and it would be reassuring to learn that even in the Clinton administration there are prosecutors professional enough to go where the evidence leads them.
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