"If I were advising a candidate, I would advise him or her very strongly that this is not someone you want to embrace."
Former federal prosecutor Charles LaBella's warning about AFL-CIO union boss Richard Trumka before the Democrats' national convention in 2000 fell on deaf ears -- and not much has changed a dozen years later.
You see, in 1999 Trumka was implicated in a money laundering scheme during his tenure as treasurer of the AFL-CIO.
As the Wall Street Journal explained, "Trumka has taken the Fifth Amendment both before a Congressional committee and court-appointed election monitor, but remains in office despite a 40-year old AFL-CIO rule calling for removing of officials taking such refuge."
A few years earlier, Trumka and other United Mineworkers union bosses were charged in a $27 million wrongful death suit by the widow of Eddie York, a nonunion contractor who was shot in the back of the head and killed while leaving a worksite near a UMW strike.
After fighting the suit intensely for four years, UMW lawyers settled suddenly in 1997 -- just two days after the judge in the case ruled evidence in the criminal trial would be admitted.
Despite this ugly history of violence and corruption, Trumka is now top dog at the nation's largest union umbrella organization.
And on Tuesday night, Trumka watched this year's DNC in Vice President Joe Biden's private suite.
A day later, Trumka spoke to the entire convention.
It's no wonder Big Labor is betting big on Barack Obama once again this year.
Obama Labor Board rulings, executive orders, and even Obamacare have all expanded union-boss power over American workers.
And the Democrats' 2012 platform is chock-full of promises to oppose Right to Work laws, government-sector monopoly bargaining reforms, and laws to protect workers' right to a secret ballot in unionization campaigns.
Of course, while Richard Trumka and the Obama Administration continue to embrace each other, rank-and-file workers forced to pay union fees don't always feel the same way.
Take Dylan McHenry, a Ford technician in Minnesota who found out that Teamster Local 974 union officials funneled some of his forced fees into the Teamster hierarchy's political action committee –- a clear violation of federal law.
Even worse, the NLRB regional office in Minneapolis is allowing them to get away with it. With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, McHenry has filed an appeal.
As union bosses unleash another Billion Dollar political spending blitz, I expect our offices to be flooded with calls from victimized workers in cases just like this one.
No other nationwide organization is poised to spring into action immediately to stop Big Labor's illegal use of forced-dues cash to advance its political agenda.
That's why I hope you'll consider chipping in with a tax-deductible contribution of $10 or more right away.
Sincerely,
Mark Mix
P.S. The Foundation relies completely on voluntary contributions from its supporters to provide free legal aid.
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