City officials acknowledged yesterday that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
James Estrin/The New York Timess
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Brian M. McLaughlin at a news conference in November.
City officials acknowledged yesterday that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Brian M. McLaughlin at a news conference in November.
The officials said Mr. Bloomberg had learned early in his first term that Mr. McLaughlin and several electrical contractors were being investigated as part of an alleged scheme to rig bids for millions of dollars worth of city streetlight contracts.
The City Department of Investigation stressed that Mr. Bloomberg did not know specific details of the department's inquiry into Mr. McLaughlin.
Last year, Mr. McLaughlin, president of the New York City Central Labor Council, worked intensely with officials from more than a dozen unions to line up the council's endorsement of Mr. Bloomberg. A mayoral aide stressed that the endorsement came from the labor group itself, not Mr. McLaughlin personally.
The inquiry into Mr. McLaughlin, who is also a state assemblyman representing Queens, came to light on Thursday, when F.B.I. agents raided the labor council's offices as well as his assembly district office. On Thursday, city officials acknowledged that the city's own Department of Investigation had also been involved in the inquiry, raising questions about the mayor's political alliance with someone being investigated by a city agency. Mr. McLaughlin has insisted that he is not guilty.
Mr. McLaughlin, 53, is a formidable power as leader of a labor federation that includes 400 union locals and more than one million workers.
In recent years, he has been courted by not just the mayor, but also bishops, corporate C.E.O.'s and real estate magnates. He has also emerged as a major player in some of the biggest municipal battles of the last year, including the transit strike and the West Side stadium fight.
Law enforcement officials assert that Mr. McLaughlin is tied to allegations of rigged bids for street-lighting contracts. These officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, also said that they had evidence showing that electrical contractors had given him an American Express card and paid the card's bills.
"He fully denies any wrongdoing," said Carolyn Daly, a spokeswoman for Mr. McLaughlin. "He hasn't been charged with anything. He believes he will be fully vindicated.
"And remember," she continued, "this is a man who has a 20-year history of accomplishments."
As president of the largest municipal labor council in the country, Mr. McLaughlin leads the annual Labor Day Parade and has spearheaded the union campaign to keep Wal-Mart out of New York City. Not only did he line up his labor group's endorsement of Mayor Bloomberg, he has also worked closely with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York on programs to help immigrant workers.
Labor leaders credited him yesterday with reinvigorating the Central Labor Council in a city where unions were once far more powerful.
The F.B.I. raid casts an unwelcome spotlight on Mr. McLaughlin, who has made a remarkable rise from his start as an apprentice electrician. His father and grandfather were electricians before him. His grandfather was an immigrant from County Cavan, Ireland, and his father worked for years as chief electrician at The New York Times.
As an apprentice, Mr. McLaughlin stood out immediately — he was a burly 6-foot-4, and he often took unofficial charge of other young workers.
His second apprenticeship was with Harry Van Arsdale Jr., widely viewed as New York City's greatest local labor leader. Mr. Van Arsdale, president of the Central Labor Council in the 1960's and 70's, tutored Mr. McLaughlin on the ins and outs of labor politics and electoral politics.
In 1981, Mr. Van Arsdale gave the ambitious young electrician a huge responsibility — to organize the first Labor Day Parade in the city in decades.