Labor leader Brian McLaughlin is target of probe into bid- rigging on contracts.

Under a plan fashioned by Denis Hughes, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, McLaughlin would continue to serve as president, but Ed Ott, a top staff person, would assume some of the public functions normally handled by the president.

At the same time, the labor council, whose headquarters was raided by more than 20 FBI agents last week, would create a small "rapid-response team" of about a dozen city labor leaders to handle the federal probe without any involvement from McLaughlin, a Queens assemblyman. The council also would hire its own independent attorney to deal with the feds.

"Brian hasn't been accused of any crime and we have to be careful about a presumption ofinnocence," Hughes told me yesterday. "But this is the beginning and I don't know where it [the investigation] is going to go."

Hughes' goal is to keep McLaughlin's legal problems separate from the day-to-day work of the council, the powerful umbrella group that represents the city's 1 million union members.

All day yesterday, Hughes feverishly worked the telephones to win support for his plan from key city labor leaders. He is expected to hold an emergency meeting of the council's leadership this week to win formal approval for the plan.

"I spoke with Brian today and he understands what has to be done," Hughes said, adding that he also consulted with top officials at the AFL-CIO in Washington this weekend.

Hughes is perhaps the only labor official with enough influence over all sectors of the city's normally fractious labor movement to secure quick agreement on a strategy.

He is well-regarded by both the big municipal and service sector union leaders as well as by the construction trades, the group that has historically controlled the Central Labor Council.

With the federal investigation of McLaughlin likely to take months, Hughes and other top union leaders have reluctantly concluded that the council can't risk being paralyzed until the results are known. "Denis has stepped in and taken charge and the national is onboard," a labor source said.

Several union leaders told me yesterday they were troubled by McLaughlin's failure to speak out or even to contact many of his fellow union leaders. He has not been seen in public since Thursday morning's FBI raid on the council's W. 15th St. headquarters. He did report to work at the headquarters yesterday, but did not return phone calls for comment.

Late Friday, his lawyer, Paul Driscoll, issued a short statement that McLaughlin "denies all allegations against him."

Many union leaders are furious at the FBI's high-profile raid on Central Labor Council headquarters, given that there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the council itself. "This is a fishing expedition by the feds," said Arthur Cheliotes, president of Local 1180. "Until anyone proves otherwise, I'm with Brian and supporting him completely."

"Brian's been with us in very tough fights and many of us on a personal level are rooting for him," said Randi Weingarten, president of the teachers union and one of McLaughlin's closest allies in the labor movement.

As for Ott, who may soon assume many of McLaughlin's functions, he is currently the director of public policy and worker education for the council and is known as a fiery orator. Before coming to the council, he was a staff member at both Local 1180 and the Public Employees Federation.

Originally published on March 7, 2006