Copyright 1996 The Buffalo News  
Buffalo News (New York)
May 22, 1996, Wednesday, CITY EDITION
SECTION: VIEWPOINTS, Pg. 3B

LENGTH: 631 words

HEADLINE: GOP GETTING EVEN IN PROBE OF LABOR UNIONS

BYLINE: Robert Novak-Creators Syndicate

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

BODY:
Belatedly reacting to the newly awakened sleeping giant of organized labor, House Republicans are preparing a massive counteroffensive. Their intent is disclosed by the title of a May 8 staff memorandum to Rep. John Boehner, chairman of the House Republican Conference: "Washington Union Bosses/Alleged Affiliations With Organized Crime."

Boehner has been assigned by Speaker Newt Gingrich to lead a House GOP committee task force on the labor movement. The May 8 memo, based on published magazine articles and newspaper stories, begins preparation for a major assault that will lay allegations of criminal links at the door of the White House.

All this seems to echo the politics of 40 years ago, but in fact, it is vividly contemporary. Boehner's task force is the first clear Republican response to the unexpected challenge from the AFL-CIO's tough, new leadership. It is part of a broad strategy seeking to depict Democrats as a minority force typified by union "bosses" and trial lawyers.

The memo lists targets close to the Clintons or strongly supportive of the president: Deputy White House Chief of Staff Harold Ickes Jr., a former labor lawyer; Arthur Coia Jr., head of the Laborers International; Teamsters President Ron Carey; and the new AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who fired the first shot of the battle. All may soon be testifying under oath at "oversight hearings" by Rep. Bill McCollum's Judiciary subcommittee on crime.

Politically, not much had been heard in recent years from the sleepy AFL-CIO headquarters until Sweeney's insurgent campaign installed him there. Unaccustomed to political activism by labor, Republicans reacted slowly to $ 35 million worth of involuntary union dues being dedicated to "political education" to restore Democratic control of Congress.

Boehner, a 46-year-old businessman from Cincinnati who made a fast ascent in Congress after his election in 1990, was assigned to respond to the union threat. He had trouble enlisting business interests who would rather hedge their bets against a return to Democratic control. But the old mob issue has breathed new life into his efforts.

Republicans were delighted to note that ardent Clinton supporter Coia, long associated with crime figures, was a vice chairman of last week's Democratic black-tie gala in Washington yielding $ 12 million in campaign funds. He was seated with the event's star attractions, Robin Williams and Stevie Wonder. Republicans also chortled over a current Newsweek article called "The Mob, the Clintons and the Union Boss," with a photo showing Coia and Hillary Rodham Clinton together at the union's convention in Miami last year.

Ickes is an even bigger target. As the White House aide in charge of politics, he is not subject to Senate confirmation. Consequently, Republicans are eager to question him at oversight hearings about whether he was aware of dealings between organized crime and New York Local 100 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees when he represented the union as a lawyer.

The memo to Boehner also indicated interest in asking whether there was a "cover-up" of a Justice Department investigation of Teamster leader Carey. Sweeney would be questioned whether his campaign for the AFL-CIO presidency was partially financed by his home local of the Service Employees union in New York, which federal investigators have been told is connected to the Genovese crime family.

This endeavor does have its Republican critics. Rep. Peter King of Long Island, N.Y., who last week assailed his party's leadership for "a Southern, anti-union attitude that appeals to the mentality of hillbillies at revival meetings," told me this week: "I think it's a mistake if we zero in on labor. It looks as though we're into union-busting."