-By Warner Todd Huston
Someone at the Waterbury Republican American newspaper is a bit perturbed with a new union ad campaign against the idea of privatizing public services. The new campaign seems to imagine that privatizing public services will result in “corruption” yet the unions seem blissfully ignorant of the corruption endemic in their own operations!
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At the height of the Rowland scandal, Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and a host of union locals chipped in for the “Privatization Equals Corruption” ad campaign highlighting “the pitfalls and perils of privatizing public services.”
Union officials, of course, are pure as the driven snow. Take Jorge Aponte-Figueroa, who until he was sentenced last month to five years in prison was president of the International Longshoreman’s Association Local 1740 in San Juan, P.R. His crime? He embezzled $1.9 million from the rank and file, falsified records and laundered money. And Council 4 was distressed about gutters, drywall and a hot tub?
Mr. Aponte-Figueroa is hardly alone. In August, 11 union officials were indicted and eight convicted on corruption charges, mostly for stealing retirement money from their members. As of Sept. 1, the Department of Labor has bagged 84 indictments and 108 convictions this year. One of the worst cases was a nearly $5 million embezzlement involving the Washington, D.C., teachers union. The DoL said it is “as committed as ever to protecting union members from criminal activity by those entrusted to represent them, and we will maintain efforts to uncover wrongdoing against the rank-and-file.”
As deeply concerned as unions are about government fraud and corruption, when their own members are caught with their hands in the till, it’s no big deal. “Unless you look at the entire universe of (pension) funds, what does 11 indictments mean? It really doesn’t mean anything,” Leslie Miller of the Teamsters told an interviewer.
The Democratic Party, a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Corrupt Labor, apparently agrees. Typically profligate congressional Democrats are downright miserly when it comes to the DoL investigative division’s budget. They want to reduce it by $47.7 million in 2008, as Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., put it, to curb its harassment of “people who are trying to make a living.”
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, throughout his career, 13 of the top 20 contributors to Rep. Kennedy’s campaigns have been unions, to the tune of $1.4 million in all. Since 1990, 90 percent of union donations ($540 million) have gone to Democratic candidates. Quid pro quo, anyone?
Right on, Sir!
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Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, men’snewsdaily.com and americandaily.com among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a guest on several radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston