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Federal Agents Search Home of United Auto Workers President
Agents execute search warrants at the home of Gary Jones and the home of Dennis Williams, the union’s previous president
Federal agents searched the homes of the United Auto Workers’ current and former presidents and a Northern Michigan conference center used by union leaders, widening a multiyear criminal investigation into alleged corruption in the UAW’s top ranks.
The FBI executed search warrants Wednesday at the Michigan home of Gary Jones, who took over as UAW president last year, and the California residence of his predecessor, Dennis Williams, according to a bureau spokeswoman. Neither man has been charged with any crime.
The searches mark a significant elevation in the federal probe, which has already led to convictions for eight of nine individuals charged in the investigation. They also come as the union negotiates new four-year labor contracts with the Detroit car companies.
Federal prosecutors are investigating allegations of bribes, kickbacks and other financial misconduct by union officials in their dealings with the car makers, including the bargaining process going as far back as 2009.
The Justice Department investigation poses a challenge for Mr. Jones and other UAW leaders, as any labor agreement they strike with the U.S. car companies this year would require ratification by rank-and-file members.
“This is a big heavy storm cloud hanging over them,” said Kristin Dziczek, a labor expert at the Center for Automotive Research. She said the probe, which isn’t likely to be resolved before labor talks conclude, erodes the trust of workers
already concerned about factory closures and a slowing U.S. car market.
already concerned about factory closures and a slowing U.S. car market.
In addition to Mr. Jones’s home in Canton, Mich., FBI agents searched the UAW’s regional office in Missouri, where he worked before being elected the union’s president. The UAW conference center that was searched is in Black Lake, Mich. Mr. Williams’s home is in Corona, Calif.
Mr. Jones, 62 years old, first joined the UAW as a worker at a Ford Motor Co. glass plant in Oklahoma. He rose through the union’s ranks, serving as a regional director in Missouri and a chief accountant for the UAW’s international operations.
The UAW in a statement said Mr. Jones has cooperated fully in the federal investigation and said the use of search warrants was unnecessary.
“The UAW has voluntarily responded to every request the government has made throughout the course of its investigation, produced literally hundreds of thousands of documents and other materials to the government, and most importantly, when wrongdoing has been discovered, we have taken strong action to address it,” the union said.
The wide-ranging criminal probe first became public in 2017 and has led to a prison term for a former labor-relations executive at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV after he entered a guilty plea.
Mr. Jones, at a UAW convention in March, pledged to enact reforms aimed at providing more oversight of financial transactions involving union officials. His proposals mirror those presented by Mr. Williams in 2017.
Mr. Williams was union president during the prior round of contract talks with Ford, Fiat Chrysler and General Motor Co. in 2015. He had previously served as the UAW’s secretary treasurer and was a regional director in Chicago, negotiating with heavy-equipment makers, such as Caterpillar Inc. and Deere & Co. Mr. Williams couldn’t be
reached for comment.
reached for comment.
The UAW represents nearly 150,000 factory workers at Ford, Fiat Chrysler and GM. Last month, the union officially began bargaining with the Detroit car companies to replace labor deals expiring on Sept. 14, a process that is largely conducted in private.
The federal investigation has gained momentum after the conviction of Norwood Jewell, who as a top-ranking UAW official led bargaining with Fiat Chrysler. Mr. Jewell was sentenced to 15
months in federal prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to violating the Labor Management Relations Act.
months in federal prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to violating the Labor Management Relations Act.
Charges were recently entered against Michael Grimes, a former administrative assistant in the union’s GM department who stands accused of fraud and money laundering. He is the first official in the UAW’s GM department to be named in the investigation, which had largely focused on alleged misconduct between union officials and executives at Fiat Chrysler.
Alphons Iacobelli, a former head of labor relations at Fiat Chrysler, was sentenced to 5½ years in prison last year after pleading guilty to allegations that he made illegal payments to UAW leaders and filed a false tax return that failed to include income illegally siphoned from the company.
In Mr. Iacobelli’s 42-page indictment, federal prosecutors detailed a multiyear scheme to divert $1.2 million in payments and other gifts from a fund set up to train workers. The money went instead to union employees, including now-deceased UAW Vice President General Holiefield, who was the union’s top negotiator for bargaining with Chrysler.
Fiat Chrysler has said the misconduct involved a small group of individuals acting on their own and had no impact on the collective bargaining process.
The Italian-American auto maker disclosed in a securities filing in May it was negotiating a settlement with the Justice Department to resolve the investigation. These negotiations include the possibility of federal oversight of Fiat Chrysler and payments of less than $50 million, according to a person familiar with the talks.
In charges filed earlier this year, Mr. Jewell was accused of using a Fiat Chrysler-funded credit card to purchase a $7,570 dinner at a steakhouse in Palm Springs, Calif., and to make a $1,268 charge at a California golf resort.
In a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gardey described Mr. Jewell’s actions as eroding public confidence in the country’s collective bargaining system.
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.
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