Daily paper trying to steer election, Copeland contends

After the Toledo Blade broke the story on Copeland using union funds to entertain International guests at a strip club, Copeland turned to a friendly newspaper to get favorable press coverage. Josh Boak of the Toledeo Blade will have a story on Sunday to expose further details of the extensive corruption being exposed in Laborers local 500. Laborers for JUSTICE is, of course, assisting him in his investigation and telling him where to look, i.e the funds, the kickbacks, the nepotism, cronyism, mutual backscratching, etc. See Whatsnew March 14, 2006 http://www.thelaborers.net/whatsnew.htm See Local 500

or the article http://www.thelaborers.net/LOCALS/Lu500/local_500_probe.htm The strip club serves Sloppy Joes and International reps and officers prefer lobster and steak so CrimeDawg does not believe Copeland's story that they went there for dinner. Stay tuned for the Sunday edition and the "funnies"

Daily paper trying to steer election, Copeland contends
By: Bob Stiegel
The Toledo Journal
Originally posted 3/21/2006

BY BOB STIEGEL
Journal Staff Writer

Labor union leader Phil Copeland says the Toledo Blade printed negative front-page stories about him this month because the newspaper’s publisher wants to punish him for seeking election to the Lucas County Board of Commissioners.
Mr. Copeland, secretary-treasurer of Laborers Local 500 and a city councilman, said the Blade knew about a federal investigation into union expenditures seven months ago but waited until it felt it could inflict the most political damage. He also said three straight days of Page 1 stories – the first headlined “Feds probe union led by councilman” – contained innuendo and lacked comments and information he provided to Blade reporters.
“He didn’t want me in the race,” Mr. Copeland said about Mr. Block. “They can come on with me. I’m definitely staying in the race.”
A secretary for Mr. Block, relaying his replies to Journal questions, said the publisher “is not inclined” to discuss the timing of the Blade’s stories and that “our reporting speaks for itself.”
Mr. Copeland and Steven Thomas, Local 500’s business manager, said the Blade was aware of the Department of Labor investigation last September, soon after agents visited the union’s Ashland Avenue headquarters and took several years of records. They said an official at the Laborers’ regional headquarters in Nashville notified the Toledo office then that a Blade reporter had called Nashville about the investigation.
“Why didn’t they go negative on me back then?” Mr. Copeland said. “Why just wait till now?”
“This wouldn’t have even been a story if Phil wasn’t running (for commissioner),” Mr. Thomas said. “I think they’re going to try the best they can ... to go after him.”
Mr. Thomas said he has complete confidence that Mr. Copeland will be vindicated by results of the investigation.
“I’ve worked with him for the past 14 years and I know his diligence and I know that as far as his stewardship of the finances and the records of Local 500, I have no doubt that everything is in its proper order.”
According to Mr. Copeland, Mr. Block has personally chosen Ben Konop as the newspaper’s choice for the May 2 Democratic primary election. He said the publisher used a relative of Mr. Konop to relay a warning that he, Mr. Copeland, was not to run for the commission seat and impede Mr. Konop’s path to election victory. Mr. Copeland would not identify that relative.
Mr. Konop, a nephew of former county commissioner Sandy Isenberg, accused Mr. Copeland was trying to “scapegoat” the Blade while hoping to deflect attention from the investigation. A large deferred salary payment to Mr. Copeland and “an extremely large expense account” are among the issues that his election opponent must answer for, he said.
“This issue is about the facts,” Mr. Konop said. “These are facts that have nothing to do with any relationship between a candidate and a newspaper. ... It just defies logic and it defies the fact that there is a criminal investigation going on surrounding his activities.”
The Blade said the investigation “bears the marks of a criminal investigation” but did not say it is a criminal matter. It said the Labor Department would neither confirm nor deny an investigation and said it got its confirmation from a spokesman for the Laborers International Union of North America..
Mr. Konop, meanwhile, said he is sure there is another federal agency involved in the investigation. “My guess is it has to be the FBI,” he said.
He said he has spoken to Mr. Block about his candidacy for county commissioner but denied Mr. Copeland’s claim that he is the anointed candidate and will be receiving the newspaper’s endorsement. “Nothing has ever been promised,” Mr. Konop said.
The Blade’s top story on March 12 reported that the Department of Labor had asked for expenditure records for the past five years for Local 500, whose top two officials are African American. In a story that emphasized “strip clubs,” the Blade suggested that Mr. Copeland not only approved of spending union money for a rafting trip and a visit to an adult entertainment spot, but may have been present at both.
Mr. Copeland said he told Blade reporters he was not at either event, but that they failed to mention that in their story.
“I told the Blade. I told them two or three times,” he said. “I’m not going to say that I’ve never been to a strip club in my life. But I have never been to a strip club where you used union funds.
“I wasn’t there. I’ve never spent any money of Local 500’s in a strip club.”
The rafting trip was part of an optional itinerary for union officials attending a regional conference in Nashville, Mr. Thomas said. Mr. Copeland said he did not participate.
Mr. Thomas objected to the Blade’s use of “confiscated” and said it implied federal agents had to force their way into Local 500 headquarters and confront uncooperative union officials.
“Everything that we’ve done, including giving records to the Department of Labor, all of that has been done voluntarily,” Mr. Thomas said.
Mr. Copeland said that soon after receiving Mr. Block’s warning not to run, he met with Mr. Konop to discuss the county commission race. He said Mr. Konop threatened to “go negative” if he got into the race. Mr. Konop said he told Mr. Copeland only to expect “a very aggressive primary campaign.” Mr. Konop said Mr. Copeland warned him that “the community would turn against me” if he mounted an aggressive campaign.
The Blade’s March 12 story included photos of a Lincoln SUV and a Cadillac, which are provided by the union for Mr. Thomas and Mr. Copeland, as well as their salary figures. In a separate interview, NAACP chapter President WilliAnn Moore questioned why the Blade has not printed salaries and photos of the cars of unions headed by Caucasians.
“I can’t imagine why the Blade would be interested in the type of cars they drive,” Mrs. Moore said. “They’ve never been known to scrutinize any other union officer about the kind of cars they drive. I know they’ve never put any other union officials’ salaries in the paper.”
While dismaying, the Blade’s reporting on the African American union officials wasn’t a surprise, the NAACP leader added. Toledo’s black community is accustomed to mistreatment by Mr. Block’s newspaper, she said.
“The Blade has always been biased against African Americans and they slant their stories on our community,” she said. “If it isn’t something that’s negative or sensational, if it’s not a killing or some crime, the Blade’s not interested. If it’s something positive about the African American community that should be shared with the general public, they don’t put it in there.”
Mrs. Moore said she also was aware that the Blade knew of the federal investigation seven months ago and questioned its integrity for waiting until shortly before the primary election before reporting on it.
“Why wasn’t it news then?” Mrs. Moore said. “It seems they want to frame the thinking and the thoughts of the public.”
Mr. Copeland said the Blade’s photo of his Cadillac was meant to convey to white readers – and white voters – that a black man had achieved success using questionable means.
“My thinking is that they want to show that here is an African American male making all this money, what they’re saying, driving this big Cadillac,” he said. “That’s sort of, to me, stereotyping. They never said that here is an African American man that has worked his way up, that he started working in the fields with shovels and jackhammers in 1966.
“That’s 40 years,” he said about his membership in Local 500. “That’s how long I’ve been at this. That’s how long I’ve been out there working. And believe me, I’ve worked for everything I’ve got.”
Mr. Thomas said he privately purchased the Lincoln SUV, then had it converted into a company car at no profit for him, he said.
The Blade’s March 12 story emphasized Mr. Copeland’s salary and Cadillac while noting Local 500 recently ended a holiday turkey distribution for members as a cost-saving move. Mr. Thomas noted that members vote to establish salaries for all offices far in advance of any leadership election.
The Blade also reported that Local 500 experienced a budget deficit last year. Mr. Thomas said he told Blade reporters that purchases of land for a planned apprenticeship center and a computer upgrade at headquarters contributed to the deficit but strengthened Local 500 for the long term.
“What we’ve done, as our accountant says, is make an investment in our members and in the future,” Mr. Thomas said.
The Blade’s mention of the rafting trip and adult lounge apparently resulted from a “disgruntled” member contacting the newspaper, the union leaders believe. They said the newspaper’s story indicates the Department of Labor has given it no details. Mr. Thomas said that while Blade reporting strongly implies that the rafting trip, the adult lounge and the investigation are all connected, federal officials have not informed the union of the purpose of their inquiry.
Local 500 last spring began a review of allowable expenditures of union funds, Mr. Thomas said. The new code was adopted in November, he said. It prohibits certain expenditures for entertaining regional or national Laborers Union officials who visit with Local 500 officials, either in Toledo or at conferences at other locations, he said.
Asked about the visit to the adult lounge, Mr. Thomas indicated, but was not specific, that higher-ups in the union chose it as a meeting venue. “Those are, you know, our superiors and whatever they want to do ...,” he said, without finishing his thought.
He said that if Local 500 funds were spent at an adult lounge, they were only for food and beverages and not any other purpose.