The Nat’l Legal & Pol’y Ctr. filed a formal complaint with the Disciplinary Bd. of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania requesting that AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard L. Trumka be disbarred from the practice of law. The complaint details several money-laundering schemes that Trumka allegedly participated in to aid in the 1996 reelection of then Teamsters president Ron Carey. Six individuals have been criminally charged in these schemes, five have pled guilty and one has been convicted. Trumka has invoked the Fifth Amendment on at least two occasions to avoid federal investigators’ questions in the matter. The complaint is available at <www.nlpc.org>.
“In order to protect the public, the legal profession and the courts, Trumka should be disbarred from the practice of law,” said NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm. “Disbarring Trumka would be a nice first step in bringing accountability to a corrupt union boss.”
In his report that disqualified Ron Carey, Teamsters Election Officer Kenneth Conboy founded that Trumka laundered $150,000 from the Teamsters through the AFL-CIO to a liberal political group called Citizen Action, which routed $100,000 of that amount to the Carey campaign. Conboy’s report also found that Trumka participated in a second scheme in which he wrongfully contributed and/or solicited $50,000 to/for the Carey campaign.
Wisconsin Boss Allegedly Embezzled $28,000
Pamela L. Schultz, ex-secretary-treasurer of United Auto Workers Local 553 in Racine, Wis., was indicted Sept. 12 for embezzling $28,088. From July 1996 to Feb. 1999, she allegedly wrote unauthorized union checks to herself and to others for her own benefit. She also was charged with making a false statement in the local’s annual report to the Dep’t of Labor. [Milwaukee J. Sent. 9/13/00]