On Jan. 6, National Legal & Policy Center President Peter Flaherty criticized Al Gore for accepting the endorsement of the “one of country’s most corrupt unions” and planning to appear with a central figure in the Ron Carey-Teamsters money laundering scandal.
On Jan. 5, Gore accepted the endorsement of the Laborers’ Int’l Union of N. Am. He praised LIUNA and said he was honored by the endorsement. The Dep’t of Justice has charged that LIUNA is controlled by organized crime. Since 1995, LIUNA has operated under a DOJ agreement. Last month, LIUNA president Arthur A. Coia resigned under pressure, and DOJ took over the Local 210 in Buffalo.
On Jan. 8, Gore appeared at an Iowa ‘post-debate party’ with Richard L. Trumka, the AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer. Trumka has taken the Fifth Amendment in the Ron Carey-Teamsters money laundering scandal. Last month, a Carey aide, William W. Hamilton, was convicted of six counts of corruption. Many media sources reported that Trumka may soon be indicted for his central role in the Teamsters scandal.
“LIUNA is arguably the country’s most corrupt union. Al Gore should repudiate this endorsement,” said NLPC President Peter Flaherty. “Gore should also cancel his appearance with Trumka.”
“It is hard to see how Gore makes a break with Clinton scandals by appearing with the likes of Trumka,” added Flaherty. “According to court records, Trumka laundered $150,000 to Carey’s Teamsters campaign.”
RNC Posts Hamilton Trial Testimony
Jan. 8, the same day that Richard L. Trumka and Gerald W. McEntee, held a post-debate rally for Al Gore, Republican Nat’l Comm. Chair. Jim Nicholson announced that the entire 3,000-page trial transcript of ex-Teamsters political director William W. Hamilton is on RNC’s website, http://www.rnc.org. The testimony implicates both Trumka and McEntee, as well as Gore fundraiser Terry McAuliffe, as participants in the illegal money-laundering scheme.
“With Al Gore claiming there were ‘no legal violations’ in the 1996 election cycle, Americans can now judge for themselves whether he’s telling the truth — or whether this is another case of the Vice President’s imagination getting away with him,” Nicholson said.
The transcript is searchable by witness, word and date. [RNC Media Release 1/8/00]