Nassau OTB reprimands worker who criticized union chief Kevin McCaffrey
The betting agency reprimanded union activist Jackson Leeds for criticizing McCaffrey, who is head of Teamsters Local 707 and also a Suffolk County legislator.
Nassau OTB has reprimanded a union activist for criticizing his union leader, Teamsters Local 707 chief Kevin McCaffrey, seen in 2016. Photo Credit: John Roca
Nassau OTB has reprimanded cashier and union activist Jackson Leeds for
criticizing his own union leader, Teamsters Local 707 Kevin McCaffrey, who also
is a Suffolk County legislator.
criticizing his own union leader, Teamsters Local 707 Kevin McCaffrey, who also
is a Suffolk County legislator.
Without mentioning McCaffrey by name, Arthur Walsh, Nassau OTB general counsel and corporate secretary, said in an April 22 letter that Leeds was “insubordinate” for presenting “verbal objections to the staff and public about the current union leadership.”
Walsh said OTB policies bar workers from setting up information tables or engaging in similar conduct without written OTB consent. Her also said workers are not allowed to enter branches while off-duty except to make a bet or collect a paycheck.
https://nypost.com/2018/06/10/nassau-gop-chair-intends-to-collect-fat-paychecks-for-3-jobs/
https://nypost.com/2018/06/10/nassau-gop-chair-intends-to-collect-fat-paychecks-for-3-jobs/
Suffolk, Nassau OTB probe ethics conflict
by David Winzelberg
Published: November 24th, 2013
At least one employee of Nassau County Off-Track Betting is questioning whether the head of his employee union, a member-elect of the Suffolk County Legislature, should have a say in Suffolk OTB business.
Teamsters Local 707 President Kevin McCaffery, whose union represents about 200 Nassau OTB workers, was elected earlier this month to serve as a Suffolk legislator representing the 14th District. In a letter last week, Nassau OTB cashier Jackson Leeds alerted the Suffolk County Ethics Board to McCaffery’s possible conflict of interest.
“As a Suffolk County legislator, his duties are to the people of Suffolk County,” Leeds wrote. “He cannot simultaneously represent the interests of employees of Nassau OTB, a Nassau County public benefit
corporation.”
corporation.”
McCaffery told LIBN he doesn’t think the two counties’ OTBs are in competition with each other and he
doesn’t see his role as union leader for Nassau OTB workers as a conflict with issues surrounding Suffolk OTB.
doesn’t see his role as union leader for Nassau OTB workers as a conflict with issues surrounding Suffolk OTB.
“If anything, I have the background of dealing with Nassau OTB, which gives me more insight on the subject than any other legislator out there,” McCaffery said.
When asked if the legislator-elect’s union job appeared to be a conflict of interest, Nassau OTB chief Joseph Cairo said, “If you really want to stretch it. But I don’t see anything that’s apparent to me.”
Cairo added that he’ll instruct the Nassau agency’s counsel to review the situation.
Leeds, a 10-year veteran of Nassau OTB, complained that both union officials and county OTB management have been too focused on the 1,000 video lottery terminals planned for each county’s OTB and they’re not paying enough attention to current operations.
“They never worked behind a window,” Leeds told LIBN. “They’re out of touch with the bettors of Nassau County.”
Internet wagering and dwindling handles – the overall money being wagered – have prompted a consolidation in Nassau OTB’s operations in recent years; there were 15 betting offices in Nassau in 2003, and now there are eight. Suffolk OTB, which has seven branch offices, filed for bankruptcy last year.
These days, according to some analysts, OTB offices exist largely for political patronage – another reason, according to Leeds, that the Nassau union chief shouldn’t mix one business with the other.
“Union leaders should not be politicians,” he said. “OTBs are run by politicians. Being political and doing public good aren’t always incompatible, but they often are.”
This isn’t the first time a Long Island legislator’s OTB ties have become an issue.
In May 2000, Gregory Peterson, then-president of the Nassau OTB, sued to prevent Nassau County Leg. Roger Corbin from voting on appointments to the Nassau OTB’s board of directors. Because Corbin was employed as a branch manager for New York City OTB and a member of Teamsters Local 858, which then represented all employees of Nassau OTB, Peterson alleged Corbin’s legislative role posed a conflict of interest.
A New York Supreme Court judge issued an injunction preventing Corbin from voting on OTB appointments, but Corbin appealed and the lower court’s decision was reversed. The Nassau County Board of Ethics also chimed in, determining by a 3-2 vote that voting on OTB appointments didn’t create a conflict because Corbin didn’t influence policy or engage in labor negotiations.
With McCaffery, some observers say it’s best to proceed with caution.
Anthony Figliola, vice president of Uniondale-based government relations firm Empire Government Strategies, said the legislator-elect may want to recuse himself from any votes concerning Suffolk OTB until the Suffolk County Ethics Board offers an opinion.
“OTB is a political football,” Figliola said. “It’s better to stay out of it, especially if you want to get things done in the Legislature.”
Walsh said the reprimand will be placed in Leeds personnel file and if uncorrected, “future discipline may be imposed up to and including firing.” Leeds can file a grievance if he is “unsatisfied with this letter,” Walsh said.
Leeds concedes he criticized McCaffrey but said the OTB policy is improper because “people have an absolute right to talk about labor matters among themselves whether at work or not.”
McCaffrey, a Lindenhurst Republican who represents the Suffolk Legislature's
14th District, said Nassau OTB put the policy in place because Leeds not only criticized him and the agency but was disrupting employees’ work.
14th District, said Nassau OTB put the policy in place because Leeds not only criticized him and the agency but was disrupting employees’ work.
“Some people are never happy,” said McCaffrey. “If he wants to pursue a grievance, we will follow the proper procedures and represent him properly.”
Enter News, Quotes, Companies or
The cozy arrangements come at a time when Long Island Republican Party politicians have been rocked by corruption scandals. Those ensnared for shady dealing include former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, former Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano and ex-Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto.
Nassau GOP chair intends to collect fat paychecks for 3 jobs
On the heels of pay-to-play corruption scandals that have tarnished the Long Island GOP, the Nassau County Republic Party has elected a one-time disbarred lawyer to be its new leader — and the retirement-age politico intends to collect fat paychecks from three different jobs simultaneously.
Joseph Cairo, 72, the new chairman of the Nassau County Republican Party, is also head of the Nassau County Off-Track Betting Corporation. He’s paid $198,000 at OTB.
The long-time No. 2 to former Nassau GOP boss Joe Mondello had his law license yanked in the 1990s for misusing client funds. His license was reinstated and the politically-connected lawyer now has an established law practice, GOP sources said.
He also has not ruled out collecting a third paycheck from the Nassau GOP.
Mondello, his predecessor, made more than $250,000 last year as GOP boss, and pulled in $1.5 million from his private law practice and real estate investments, records filed with the government show.
At one time, Mondello also simultaneously headed the Nassau GOP and OTB.
Cairo’s law office is in Valley Stream, his OTB’s corporate office is in Mineola and Nassau GOP headquarters is in Westbury.
A Post reporter found him at GOP headquarters.
Cairo said he was not relinquishing his OTB executive job or suspending his law practice after taking the reins of the GOP.
“I’ve been at OTB. This is a crucial time at OTB with possibly sports gambling coming so we’re deeply involved with that there now,” Cairo said.
“This is a political position. My attorneys tell me there is no conflict and I think having a position in a political party is such that it’s been done in the past by people on both sides of the aisle. And I think it’s currently done, too, in some other counties — their elected officials are also party chairmen,” he said.
But watchdogs have long complained that allowing people to simultaneously hold top positions in government and party leadership opens the door to conflicts of interests and potential corruption.
“It’s business as usual. This is an example of the rotten political system in Nassau County,” said George Marlin, who formerly served on the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, a state agency set up to monitor the county’s shaky finances.
Marlin said the multiple paid gigs for Cairo is remarkable, especially after the Nassau Republicans lost the county executive’s race and the Town of Hempstead supervisor’s race last year amid concerns over corruption.
“They’ve learned nothing,” Marlin said. “They don’t care.”
Cairo chalked up the suspension of his law license to a mistake from the distant past.
“I think that’s something that happened — it was earlier than ‘95, that’s 25 years ago, and I think people who know me know the type of person I am,” he said.
With that, Cairo grabbed a suit jacket from a parked black Cadillac before jumping into the passenger seat of a Jaguar driven by a friend.
Cairo is right about one thing. On Long Island particularly, politicians simultaneously collecting hefty paychecks from top government and political party posts is a time-honored tradition.
The Post reported last week that Rich Schaffer is drawing down a combined $350,000 from three paychecks as head of the Suffolk County Democratic Party, as the full-time Town of Babylon Supervisor and from a law practice that includes representing plumbing contractors.
But Long Island Democrats have their scandals, too.
Gerard Terry, the former North Hempstead Democratic Party chairman, was convicted of tax evasion for failing to report his income that included payments from legal services provided to eight different local government agencies.
New Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat who won the election on anti-corruption platform last year, passed executive orders barring county government officials from holding party positions or from accepting gifts.
New York City has a law that bars top government officials from serving as party bosses, following the municipal corruption scandals of the 1980s.
Why Unions Keep Losing
The UAW isn’t offering workers a better deal, and there’s corruption.
An American flag flies in front of the United Auto Workers union logo on the front of the UAW Solidarity House in Detroit, Michigan, September 8, 2011. PHOTO: REBECCA COOK/REUTERS
The United Auto Workers lost another vote to organize a southern American auto plant late last week, and maybe some introspection is in order. Workers with good jobs and wages aren’t buying what the union is selling.
Bernie Sanders and Democratic Socialism
00:00 / 25:09
SUBSCRIBE
The UAW lost 833-776 in its second attempt to organize Volkswagen AG’splant in Chattanooga, Tenn., that builds Passat sedans and Atlas SUVs. The defeat is especially notable because the union devoted enormous resources to this effort after a narrow defeat in 2014. The union blamed Tennessee Republicans for the 2014 loss, but this time GOP Governor Bill Lee preached labor-management cooperation rather than opposition to the union.
The UAW couldn’t overcome Volkswagen’s pitch that workers are better off without a union dunning their paychecks for dues and perhaps making the plant less competitive. Wages and benefits for production workers can add up to $23.50 an hour, which is well above the median in Chattanooga.
The union was also hurt by federal corruption charges against prominent UAW officials, including misuse of union dues for lavish personal spending—which isn’t a good look when you’re trying to convince workers to commit a chunk of their hard-earned wages for union purposes. Former UAW Vice President Norwood Jewell, who represented the union with Fiat Chrysler, pleaded guilty in April to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in meals and golf trips from Fiat Chrysler.
The UAW ignored all this and blamed its defeat on national labor laws it claims are “broken” because workers had to “endure threats and intimidation,” according to union spokesman Brian Rothenberg. Sorry, but this isn’t 1910. Union organizing is protected by law, and the UAW had years to make its case to the Chattanooga workforce. Companies that lose sales re-examine what or how they’re selling. Unions that keep losing would be wise to do the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment