David Feeback’s sybaritic ways as president of Local 69 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees ended several years ago. This August 23 he got the final bill: a year and a day in federal prison, and mandatory restitution of almost $90,000.
Feeback, 43, headed the Secaucus, N.J.-based local during December 1997-September 2001. But his primary duties during that time seemed to be using union funds to support spending sprees at expensive eating and entertainment establishments, and logging them as “business expenses.” The true tally of Feeback’s partying may have been a good deal higher than the restitution. Authorities believe he may have illegally spent as much as $250,000. That’s not an unreasonable claim, considering that the local’s health and welfare fund under his reign managed to rack up $1.5 million in unpaid claims.
Feeback, currently a resident of Charlotte, N.C., had pleaded guilty on May 3 to two counts of embezzlement, one count of theft of union funds, and one count of theft from a union welfare fund. Local 69 represents close to 3,000 members, about half of whom work in food service jobs at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J. (Associated Press, 8/23).