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GOP BOSS WON'T TAKE 91'S MONEY

By Mike Hudson

Peddling political influence to union officials either under federal investigation or indictment isn't something confined to Western New York. While the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) has had more than 80 officials convicted over the past two decades of crimes ranging from embezzlement to murder, for example, President Bill Clinton was proud to call union boss Arthur Coia a friend, give him lodgings at the White House and exchange expensive personal gifts.

Hillary Clinton even overrode the pleas of Justice Department prosecutors investigating the union to address a convention of the organization in Miami.

Coia had to step down as the international's head in December of 1999 after pleading guilty to charges of tax evasion and mail fraud. But, prior to that, he was one of the Democratic National Committee's top 20 fundraisers.

Here in Niagara County, LIUNA's neighborhood representatives -- Laborers Local 91 -- play both sides of the alley, shelling out cash in equal dollops to the Niagara County Republican Committee and the City of Niagara Falls Democratic Committee.

Hedging their bets, as it were.

Incomplete records filed by the local's political action fund show that the union has donated $3,695 to the city's Democratic committee since 1995, while giving just $100 to city Republicans. Conversely, the Niagara County Republican Committee pulled in $4,090 during the same period, while the county Democrats received only $200.

Interestingly, during the same period, the county Conservative Party refused to cash a $245 check written by the Local 91 fund to them.

Asked about accepting money from an organization currently under investigation by a federal grand jury, city Democratic Party Chairman Leo Alcuri pointed out that he has only been in office for a year and is not responsible for what went on in the past. He declined comment, however, when asked whether the party would continue to take Local 91's money in the future.

County Republican Chairman Henry Wojtaszek was more forthright. Taking money from the troubled union in the past was a mistake, he said.

"I can tell you right now that we will no longer accept contributions from Local 91," Wojtaszek said. "And that will be the case as long as I am chairman."

The half-baked nature of the records filed by the local have investigators working with the grand jury currently looking into Local 91 in Buffalo salivating. All of the Federal Elections Commission documents on file at the Niagara County Board of Elections are signed by longtime Local 91 lieutenant Dominick Dellaccio, who quietly retired from the union last summer.

No new documents have been filed since Dellaccio left, records show.

Furthermore, the $8,330 total given to Niagara County political parties over the past six years is dwarfed by a $15,828 tab run up by six top union officials to attend a single "legislative conference" in April, 1999. Sources close to the investigation have told the Reporter that such disparity between the rather paltry actual donations and hefty administrative expenses constitutes a "red flag" that has caused investigators to examine the fund more closely.

Also being looked at are the local's charitable, educational and benefits funds, sources said. Again, questionable bookkeeping practices and unusually high administrative costs are at the root of the investigations.

But expensive management is nothing new to the local. According to the Department of Labor the combined $192,473 pulled down by union boss Michael "Butch" Quarcini and his daughter, Cheryl Cicero, last year constitute the highest pay -- by far -- of any top two union local officials in Western New York, including those locals like the United Auto Workers that have nearly 10 times the membership as Local 91.

Local 91's political action fund was set up following a Feb. 28, 1985 ruling by the Federal Elections Commission that it constituted an "affiliated committee" with other such organizations set up by LIUNA and its locals. A number of those locals -- including Local 210 in Buffalo -- have since been taken over by the federal government because of criminal activity.