Labor Leader Coia Shows Party
Clout With Ferraro Bash
Geraldine Ferraro discounts the hearings
into corruption in the Laborers' union headed by Arthur A. Coia.
August 28, 1996
CHICAGO --- Labor leader Arthur A. Coia co-hosted
an elegant birthday party for Geraldine Ferraro at the Democratic National Convention
Monday night, one month after the Republican-led Congress held hearings into his alleged
ties to organized crime.
Coia, a major Democratic Party fund-raiser and
supporter of President Clinton, has been the target of a wide-ranging Justice Department
investigation into mob control of his Laborers' International Union of North America.
After initially calling for Coia's ouster and a government
takeover of the union, federal prosecutors agreed last year to allow Coia to implement
internal reforms, aided by former federal investigators hired by the union and monitored
by federal officials who could oust Coia if not satisfied with his cleanup.
On Monday, Coia presided over a 61st-birthday bash at the Field
Museum for Ferraro, Walter Mondale's running mate in 1984. As Coia smiled
and schmoozed with guests, Ferraro stood a few feet away, discounting last month's
hearings by the House Judiciary Committee' s subcommittee on crime. "It seems any
time there is an Italian-American in a position of prominence there are these
allegations," Ferraro said. "I'm delighted to see Arthur. This Republican
Congress, if they had anything they could use against him, they would."
While Coia's party in the City of Broad Shoulders showed that he
still has broad shoulders in the Democratic Party, one of his goals - a
speaking role at the convention - never materialized. In a handwritten note released by
congressional investigators, Democratic National Committee national chairman Donald L.
Fowler wrote Clinton adviser Harold Ickes last November that Coia would
like to speak at the convention. "He has been a very good supporter of the Pres and
the Demo Party, " Fowler wrote Ickes.
Coia is not on the schedule to speak. Democratic organizers could
not be reached to explain the exclusion.
On Monday night, no White House aides or top-ranking congressmen
were evident at Coia's party. The party drew hundreds of delegates, union
representatives and convention hangers-on who were treated to pastries and desserts, fresh
fruit, drinks from several open bars and music by the Ken Arlen Orchestra.
The logos of the Laborers' and the International Association of
Fire Fighters, the two unions which paid for the event, were flashed in a massive light
display on one of the museum's walls.
Taking a break from circulating among the guests, Coia
acknowledged that the union had "some pockets of corruption" in
the past, but asserted it is well on its way to cleaning itself up under its agreement
with the Clinton administration's Justice Department.
The congressional hearings, Coia said, were
purely political, motivated by the Republican Party's fear of a rejuvenated labor movement
nationally and the electoral clout the Laborers' wield on behalf of Democrats. "It is
a Republican fabrication to undermine the Bill Clinton effort in 1996," said a
relaxed Coia as the band played swing music in the background. "They pointed to the
Laborers' International Union and myself because we are strong advocates for the President
and the Democrats. We're the target because we are strong, we raise a lot of money and we
educate our members and we turn them out to vote . . . Newt Gingrich
understands our efforts."
Coia added that it's too early to judge the success of the Justice
Department agreement. "We had pockets of corruption, we admitted that. The government
gave us the opportunity to institute the process of reform and it is
effective, "Coia said." It is a difficult concept, but it is an effective
concept. Now we need the time to let it work. (This) is a good example of government and
the union working together, which is no different than labor and management working
together, which we do in many areas."
Several members of the Rhode Island delegation were on hand for
the party.
Sen. William V. Irons, D-East Providence, chairman of the Senate
Corporations Committee, said he attended because he was invited and
because he has forged a good working relationship with Laborers' union leaders in Rhode
Island.
The Laborers' union, Irons said, was particularly helpful in
drumming up support in the General Assembly for the package of tax
breaks that smoothed the way for the Providence Place Mall project. "I don't know
Arthur Coia, I've never met Arthur Coia," Irons said. "I can say that the
Laborers' in Rhode Island were very helpful during the mall legislation, we have a very
good relationship with them."
Sen. Charles Fogarty, D-Glocester, said he attended because his
district includes state-run Zambarano Hospital, which has 350 employees
represented by the Laborers' union.
Myrth York, the Democratic Party's 1994 candidate for governor,
said she was there because she wanted to honor Ferraro on her birthday.
As far as the Laborers' organized crime links and the deal with the Justice Department,
York said: "There are a lot of questions. I don' t know what the truth of any of the
allegations are." I know that we are not going to find out the truth from this
Congress."
Asked yesterday what he thought of the Judiciary Committee
hearings into the Laborers' union, White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta said he didn't
know enough about the issues to comment but because of the way
congressional Republicans have hammered away at the "character of the first lady and
President," he is skeptical about GOP hearings.
The only discordant note Monday was six protesters outside the
event holding placards saying "Mobsters for Clinton." Maureen K. Hogan, the
protesters' spokeswoman, said they were members of the Clinton Investigative Committee,
which pursues what she said were "ethical questions" surrounding the Clinton
administration.
Copyright © 1996 The Providence Journal Company