The New York Times has reported that last winter, a lawyer for the Teamsters union asked the Justice Department to have the federal government stop monitoring the union. “The talks paved the way for a motion filed last week by the Teamsters and federal prosecutors in Manhattan that would dismantle what remains of external disciplinary structures established in 1989 to rid the union of organized crime,” The Times said.
You can probably guess who facilitated the lack of oversight.
“Brian T. Kelly, a lawyer working for the Teamsters, had asked Todd Blanche, then the deputy attorney general, to negotiate an end to the government’s oversight of the union, according to people involved in the case,” The Times reported. The matter was quickly in the hands of federal prosecutors in the Southern District, under the leadership of the U.S. attorney Jay Clayton.”
Clayton, you probably recall, is Trump’s slightly less unqualified loyalist who was nominated to become Director of National Intelligence and replace the more unqualified loyalist Bill Pulte, the acting DNI. That is, until Trump backed out and kept the dangerous-to-America Pulte in place.
“The outside monitoring of the Teamsters has its roots in a 1988 racketeering case brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan,” The Times explained. “They found that organized crime had taken control of the union, engaging in mail fraud, embezzlement, bribery and murder. Union members were intimidated through violence and threats, while corrupt union officers enriched themselves.”
Although mob influence supposedly no longer exists, two Teamsters leaders resigned last year and paid $50,000 each in restitution after an investigation found they had “enriched themselves through embezzlement, abuse of the union credit card and shorting local union dues, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars,” The Times noted. The outside investigator, Robert D. Luskin, “chided the union’s executive board for letting the men off easy, an ‘unacceptable resolution’ for their ‘egregious misconduct,’ The Times said. Luskin was not re-appointed when his contract expired.
Meanwhile, more than 20 Teamsters have expressed concerns to the court about removing oversight of O’Brien. According to The Times, the Teamsters wrote that “There are ongoing cases and investigations involving alleged improper dealings, including concerns regarding election-related conduct within our union,” they wrote. Some Teamsters who spoke to reporter Rebecca Davis O’Brien, described him as effective but a bully. “And while many believe the union should police itself, they fear that without meaningful opposition or independent monitoring, Mr. O’Brien will run the union like an autocrat.”
If there’s one thing the Trump administration loves, it’s corrupt autocrats.
