Email (2005-02-01) to DOL-OLMS Washington office

Thanks for publishing on a timely basis the recent Criminal and Civil Enforcement actions by DOl-OLMS. The reporting of civil action could be a little more timely so that union members know what is going on while they still have time to mobilize reformers to elect honest union officers.

On January 4, 2005, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Chris Byron, former office clerk of Local 78, Laborers, was arrested for embezzling $20,928 in union funds between March and October 2003. Byron was released on his own recognizance. He had previously made full restitution and been removed from his position. Byron provided a signed statement to OLMS investigators prior to his arrest in which he admitted to embezzling the Local's funds. The arrest follows an investigation by the OLMS New York District Office.

Offer Labor unions the opportunity to invite as guest speakers the DOL-OLMS investigators or FBI agents who investigated the corruption to explain to members what happened, what members have to do to assure it doesn't happen again, questions members should ask at union meetings to detect how their money is spent and accounted for.

Web publish plea agreements and indictments or send them to me for free web publication. I will scan and convert to searchable text indictments so Google users can later locate and hopefully decide not to associate with or elect these bums to union office.

Congratulations on improving your internet capabilities on providing Labor Management reports. Please add LM-15 reports and provide a list, updated periodically on a timely basis, of labor unions filing LM-15s, 16 etc so reformers can make sure cronies and friends of corrupt union leaders are not appointed to provisional office as business agents, giving them the advantage of incumbency and political exposure for the next election which they are virtually guaranteed to win. Let's stop playing revolving chairs similar to organized crime families appointing the underboss to replace the convicted LCN Boss. Make sure Massino (Genovese Crime boss now cooperating with DOJ with Teamster Investigator Edward McDonald as his counsel ) tells how organized crime controls the teamsters and the Laborers union. Have Massino identify all the mob-lawyers in these unions and others.