-By Warner Todd Huston
The ex-girlfried of Governor John Corzine (D- NJ), Carla Katz, found herself in a spot of bother this week. It seems she was removed from the presidency of the largest state-worker union in New Jersey because an internal investigation revealed she had “misappropriated” union funds and violated Federal labor laws.
“An extensive internal review revealed probable cause to believe that the local is engaged in ongoing financial malpractice, the misappropriation of union funds, a failure to comply with state and federal law, as well as the CWA constitution, and the suppression of dissent,” CWA’s national board said in a news release. “The CWA national executive board has determined that it has no choice but to take this action to protect the rights and resources of the members of Local 1034.”
Naturally, Governor Corzine refused to comment on the news, but Katz is putting on the faux outrage in her statement.
“This action by the national union is appalling and the charges against our local’s leadership are completely false. It is a travesty that the retaliation against me, and my fellow union leaders, for our opposition to the bad state worker deal, continues in full force,” Katz said. “The national’s baseless and extreme action, done without any notice, tramples the democratic rights of the members of our union under the deceptive guise of protecting democracy.”
The guv and this union member have been in trouble before when gifts from Corzine to Katz were revealed raising the question of the propriety of the gifts.
Here is what the guv’s luv thug is accused of:
- Misappropriated union funds to support her own personal interests and her own union election campaign by using local dues to pay for travel and lodging and other expenses for people recruited to campaign for her.
- Authorized — with little or no oversight — the use of more than $700,000 in union funds to be used for political donations, some of which went to candidates in areas where the local has few members.
- Threatened the employment of an internal critic and retaliated against union members in violation of federal law and the CWA constitution.
- Failed to maintain mandated time records to establish what she has been doing as the top official of her local.
Looks like Katz is finally getting her comeuppance.
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-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