LETS WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE
"At a January 2009 dinner at the Old Homestead Restaurant in Manhattan, Mr. Spencer was present with Mr. Forde and seven other district council officials and staff members to swear in new officers, according to expense reports filed as exhibits with Mr. Walsh’s report. The bill for the meal, which took place five months before Mr. Forde’s indictment, was $2,233.59, or nearly $250 a person"
"Most financial improprieties, occurred before Mr. Spencer’s supervision began.
But some troubling spending practices continued under his watch, according to the report."
"But the 71-page document, the First Interim Report of the Review Officer, which was filed in federal court in Manhattan, accompanied by hundreds of pages of exhibits, includes evidence and troubling allegations that some of the same kinds of misconduct that led to the 2009 charges have continued under Mr. Spencer’s supervision."
Review of Carpenters’ Union Shows Corruption Persists
William Rashbaum
NY TIMES
Jan. 9, 2011
Frank Spencer, was installed by the parent union in August 2009, days after the federal racketeering indictment was unsealed charging the district council’s leader, Michael J. Forde, and nine others, including union officials, contractors and the head of an industry association.
But the 71-page document, the First Interim Report of the Review Officer, which was filed in federal court in Manhattan, accompanied by hundreds of pages of exhibits, includes evidence and troubling allegations that some of the same kinds of misconduct that led to the 2009 charges have continued under Mr. Spencer’s supervision.
“My office has deep historical knowledge and is developing current information about actual and attempted influence of organized crime over the affairs of the district council and the funds,” the review officer, Dennis M. Walsh, wrote in the report. “We have developed sufficient information to reasonably suspect that there are certain district council employees who have been and are currently under the influence of La Cosa Nostra figures.”
The report said individuals involved in running some of the local unions were under scrutiny for similar ties, something Mr. Walsh said was “a matter of grave import” that remained under investigation.
Mr. Walsh was appointed in June by a federal judge presiding over a two-decade-old civil racketeering lawsuit brought by the federal government against the district council charging corruption and mob control. That case resulted in a 1994 consent decree meant to clean up the union, a task that, based on the 2009 criminal case and Mr. Walsh’s report, remains far from complete.
Mr. Forde and eight union officials and contractors have pleaded guilty in the criminal case. Joseph Olivieri, the former head of the Association of Wall-Ceiling and Carpentry Industries of New York, went to trial and was convicted in late October of perjury for lying about his ties to organized crime figures. Mr. Forde was sentenced in November to 11 years in prison, and a union shop steward, Michael Brennan, was sentenced to five years. The other eight men are to be sentenced this year.
Since the consent decree was signed, Mr. Walsh, who says in the report that his staff is made up of former law prosecutors and investigators with experience in organized crime cases and unions, is the fourth outsider assigned either to investigate allegations of corruption or to monitor the district council.The report provides a detailed review of excessive spending by senior officials of the district council and the local unions, and a range of other financial improprieties, most of which occurred before Mr. Spencer’s supervision began.
But some troubling spending practices continued under his watch, according to the report. Among them was a retirement party for Denis Sheil, a longtime officer and business manager of Local 1536 and the District Council vice president since 2002.
Upon his retirement in 2009, Mr. Sheil was given a $15,064 all-terrain vehicle by the local and an $8,328 gold Rolex watch by the district council. He was initially allowed to keep about $30,000 in cash that remained in a fund set up for his retirement dinner after the $14,176 bill was paid, according to the report. Mr. Sheil later returned the money.
And at a January 2009 dinner at the Old Homestead Restaurant in Manhattan, Mr. Spencer was present with Mr. Forde and seven other district council officials and staff members to swear in new officers, according to expense reports filed as exhibits with Mr. Walsh’s report. The bill for the meal, which took place five months before Mr. Forde’s indictment, was $2,233.59, or nearly $250 a person.
A spokesman for the parent union, Scott Widmeyer, defended Mr. Spencer’s tenure. And while Mr. Widmeyer did not respond to a question about Mr. Sheil’s retirement gifts, he said Mr. Spencer recalled that he presided over the swearing-in ceremony and stopped by a restaurant afterward, but that he did not stay for dinner
“We view this as a work in progress,” Mr. Widmeyer wrote in an e-mail late last month. “Frank Spencer characterizes this as peeling an onion. Each time you peel, you find another problem. So we keep peeling away.”
Mr. Widmeyer said that under the emergency supervision, 17 employees had been terminated for issues like misusing funds, excessive spending, drug use and manipulating the out-of-work lists.
“We are making progress, and more needs to be made and will be made,” he said, adding, “Today there is far greater transparency, and organizing efforts are succeeding.”
He said the parent union’s recent closing of Local 608, one of the district council’s more troubled units, indicated that the effort was continuing and aggressive.
But, as Mr. Walsh points out in his report, the challenge facing the District Council is not insignificant. It has been for decades, he noted, “a fiefdom for brutes, thieves, con men and other species of racketeers who have subjugated and robbed its members and vitiated its democratic and benevolent purpose.”
“The record also demonstrates,” he wrote, “that efforts to achieve systemic reform have been trampled by the seemingly limitless capacity of racketeers to blithely disregard the orders of this court and the risk of criminal prosecution as they pursue wealth, political power and satisfy their sybaritic yearnings.”
In an e-mail, Mr. Walsh said his goal was “to build a strong institution that can police itself, is ethical, uses technology to surmount ancient racketeering methods, hires people on merit, reviews their performance objectively and spends money prudently and with close internal oversight and provides a fair justice system for its members.”
MORE FRANKY SPENCER FRAUD ALLEGATIONS
THOMAS CANTO JR
HEY FBI YOU LISTENING
BART MUELLER
Republicans had tried to stop Mueller from joining the SJTA in any capacity. They charged that Mueller wasn't qualified for the job and was picked because of his ties to two prominent Camden County Democrats — Frank Spencer, a union leader and SJTA chairman, and political power broker George Norcross III.
AMD LETS NOT FORGET BART MUELLER IS THE DADDY OF FRANKYS "VOICE" TRISH MUELLER
HOW ARE THE FEDS ALLOWING A WELL DOCUMENTED CROOK TO CONTINUE TO TO BE PART OF THE UBC CRIMINAL SYNDICATE AND ROB UBC MEMBERS
FUNNELING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF UBC MEMBERS MONEY TO NEW JERSEY SCUM BAGS
ASSOCIATION WITH KNOWN CRIMINALS
BULL SHYTE CONSULTING FEES
NO SHOW JOBS
RETALIATION AGAINST THOSE WHO EXPOSED HIS CORRUPT ACTS WHICH COST THE UBC MEMBERS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS TO SETTLE LEGAL CASES.
HIDING WAGES IN AN ANNUITY TO AVOID PAYING TAXES
NEED WE GO ON
WHEN DOES IT STOP??
To the person who post these pieces can you shed some light on the Reps from Jersey I can assure you their is a whole under belly that needs to be exposed
ReplyDeleteIt all starts and stops with Doug McCarron. DIRTY DOUG
ReplyDeleteto the members in philly with the mups. thank you. and rember jon ballintine. showed you the way any talk of retallation from the scumbag leadership. you go right to the law firm of smith mullin with documents. emails any percived threats. you only have to prove percived threats you could go to the lanorboard but look how long it takes. im sure smith and mullin would be happy to take the union on again good luck and keep your eyesopen sprolles can not be trusted !!!!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as one of the people involved with that mups case.
DeleteI assure you that " retaliation" will be the last thing on their minds.
Mups was part 1.
To determine that yes indeed we were being extorted and coerced.
That is now settled but there is a couple questions that ANOTHER agency will be asking.
Where did the money in this fund go... And about 20 other related questions to the actual fund.
This is far from over.
Curious besides having several fake titles with the NJ UBC Council and a high 6 figure salary did Troy Singleton ever do anything for us besides putting a bill together against the declawing of cats.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYou betcha. In return for his $224,000 a year payoff from the Carpenters for which he did no UBC work he introduced a load of BS legislation funneling money to the Carpenters Union. He was a political whore for Unions who worked to eliminate all but Unions from jobs,force workers to give Union criminal syndicates a chunk of their paychecks and force BS apprenticeship requirements as a condition of employment with the stipulations that only BS UNION apprenticeships were acceptable. Just to name a few things of the many.Singleton was a Union financed plant who screwed the workers of NJ for his Union payoffs..
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that they are moving all of NJ funds and shell companies to Philly. Are they get better political favors from their pals as the investigations go on.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Carpenters Contractor Trust the shell organization that Kevin McCabe was the head of. Who are these woman that are the public figure heads
Now that Verrelli has a lawsuit does that mean his brother doesn’t get all those fluff jobs?
ReplyDeleteSprolles how much damage can one idiot due. Did you get fired yet ?
ReplyDeleteThey going to keep him and when it all goes down they will play him like Shawn Clark. Say it was operating rouge and with no consent. All expenses dinners, go go, bars, trips and His usage of credit cards.....credit cards that was also McKay’s (training center director) downfall what a great miserable fixture he was. Wonder if Kevin Leary gets to keep all the mongo scrap money and if he has his pals dusting inside of closets for a paycheck.
DeleteNow that they don’t have cocaine felony convicted steroid taking superpump drinking Bobby Satriano To be a loud mouth they need Sproule and Christie to tell you all how it’s going down. Remember Dan Christie is a elected official people love to hear how they serve. Let it all start here do what they taught you organize agitate educate
DeleteDoes anyone think arse face is working out longer or working on his labor law Longer. Just wondering
ReplyDeleteProbably getting sloppy drunk with his pal goos
ReplyDeleteBig anocement Coming. Please fill in the date for the members. Dan christy. Remember at delegates election in Pittsburgh when you and billy told all of the delegates. We were going to win all these charges So wtf. Gives we settled all without going to court. Waiting for your response. I guess you will say it’s cheaper Then what’s having krill working two years on this. How much money did this cost. Failure of true leadership. Fool me once no more
ReplyDeleteDaniel Christie is a Democrat politician of Gloucester county NJ feel free to go to them. Don’t forget to tell them how he behaves and how we struggle with no voting voice!
DeleteHere reach out to his peers......Daniel Christie please take a moment to CYA
DeleteGloucester County
Contact Us
Gloucester County Administration Building
2 South Broad Street
PO Box 337
Woodbury, NJ 08096
Phone: 856-853-3200
Hahaha that’s funny and correct. Dan and Handjob both. Same as fat assface Sproule
DeleteSTOP ALEX LOPEZ HE IS NOT A VICTIM
ReplyDeleteLopez black balled and starved many he is not leading anyone anywhere. Never had never will
DeleteFrankie the Chimps boyz Frankie the Chimp
ReplyDeleteFrank, head for hills, this mess you made is going to get worse!!! Wait you can’t run?? Why not?? Your in too deep..... Well that’s unfortunate because the end is going to be far worse than the beginning....... I’d wish you good luck but luck won’t help you or your friends!!!
ReplyDeleteHey Mafioso Face Jamie Seratella local 253 president you going to make the meeting or will you be working on your spaghetti. Heard nail salons are open in Jersey bring Ray!
ReplyDeletePOS!!!
Never been in a meeting were the President transfers all power to the Vice President for the whole meeting?
DeleteWell not since The Godfather when Michael had Tom Hagen as Consigliere
Perhaps there’s a loophole for felons on executive boards again Ballantyne was aware of Robert Satrianos past (and whole membership) right Rayπ
Once again.
DeleteThis all falls back on frankie the chimp spencer.
A mafioso wannabe.
Local 253 meeting today will keep you posted
ReplyDeleteHey Gino253 you going to go after any work in Passaic county or just mention Railroad Construction isn’t going to go union on carpenter package.
ReplyDeleteHope you go hard that guy will bury you and the other clowns
UNITED BROTHERHOOD CRUMBLING
ReplyDeleteWay to go you guys are doing great π
The great collapse of the UBC.
ReplyDeleteA pack of greedy slobs.
ReplyDeleteDear Blog Creation,
ReplyDeleteare you going to research and report on how 253 & 254 of NJ are going to let the leadership go in what ever direction Doug and Frank tell them yes this includes Delegates and Trustees as they also get perks
No offence, but that’s what this whole blog is dedicated to......
DeleteI agree. This entire blog site has done nothing but expose issue after issue.
DeletePerhaps the poster is new.
In that case ...welcome... Glad you are awake and finally seeing the lies.
Im happy that new jersey guys are posting and slowly starting to pay attention.
We watched your disintegration for the last 20 years.
We wanted nooo part of the corrupt jersey mafia leadership.
But. Here we are.
Keep posting. And spread the word!! The more that wake up... There is power in " collective bargaining" wait til we turn that loose back on these scumbag theives.
Don’t let any reps from NJ tell you they are working with us they are puppets they are not here as a resistance “Tommy Hurley” sold out his own to look like a hero he’s not for the membership or his failed campaign to run in North Arlington Politics so he can be considered more of an asset to the council and securing a position.
DeleteUBC wants to have Reps and council members and if possible rank and file membership to get involved in politics to advance the Brotherhood and if you believe that well you’re a dummy. I’ve seen them get behind guys buy tickets for events then when they figured their horse wasn’t going to win the race they abandoned him.
Look at all the 124 Passaic county scum suckers that don’t have Elmo they have seats in Passaic county community and it did nothing for us just themselves.
God Bless
So let me understand some random facts mike is Doug’s brother he headed up a council they had a falling out.
ReplyDeleteMike then tried to expose inside trading ok that was proven and he got a slap. Doug gives gf a job mike goes at him with that as well and tries to expose hidden embezzled monies in their moms account. Doug then ruins mike.
Mike you can’t go to court and get anything done about this?
Nope. You missed about 90% of it.
DeleteClose. Except you missed like all the details.
Then do tell
DeleteWell if you know so much why don’t you explain it to us
DeleteI have for over 4 years on here.
DeleteAlso. The site moderator silence dogood... Has laid this out over and over.
Im not doing the work for you.
It is all archived. Read it.
AGAIN VERRELLI YOU GOING TO HELP THE MEMBERSHIP OR JUST YOUR BANK ACCOUNT???
ReplyDeleteAnswer: Bank Account
DeleteBallantyne and Lopez not here to help the Brotherhood just their bank accounts not leading any authorities to a room full of bodies, well because they were in the rooms with them
ReplyDeleteJustin Ballantyne doing nothing but taking care of his bank account along with Alex Lopez
ReplyDeleteJustin has a great case but it depends what he wants money or change. If he settles then you know what’s he about.
DeleteName one thing they accomplished while in position
DeleteGeorge is allegedly close settling his civil case with the NJ Pension Fund he robbed, no word on his Federal criminal case.
DeleteJohnny Doc, pending any delays is supposed to go to Trial this month. But don’t hold your breath on Johnny Docs case the courts are still jammed up.
He’s not changing anything but his career
ReplyDeleteπ
DeleteWhats going on with Lauffenberger
ReplyDeleteand Johnny Doc
You think Joe Elmo (253 president) would have a few words for the membership.just a reminder when it was announced that laughenberg was out. His answer to a member was “it’s currently under investigation” now here’s a guy who was given more details than the membership and by him answering in that fashion made it sound like Ballantyne took it to far.
ReplyDeleteI get it you were retiring anyway when you got your email.
But why not help you know what’s to come and all those you left behind I mean Mike Dejohn can’t even help but at least Wiz is a made guy.....deal or no deal it’s all up to superstar Kevin Goodsir I guess....
You need a job jump the list and call Gino 253 (732) 336-1379 don’t worry he’ll get you on even if you’re not a steward
ReplyDeleteWill Loffenburgers case incriminate anybody else
ReplyDeleteMaybe maybe not. If the NJ Pension Fund and Georgie Boy have reached a settlement then I would say Spencer and Co. are safe on that front.
DeleteAs for the Federal charges Georgie is facing he might take those charges on the chin and plead guilty and accept what ever sentence he gets because he got a good settlement from the NJ Fund.
So will Georgie Boy get away with stealing from the NJ Pension Fund participants and retirees?? Most likely. He may take a hair cut but that’s about it.
So what’s a working member to do??? Of all the options out there I think the best one is to sue for the right to make dues payments optional at the discretion of the member. This option doesn’t require anyone out side the UBC, and is most likely to succeed based on the precedent established by the Janus decision, which puts a members first amendment rights ahead of any Union Security Clause. One member, one law suit filed in the right Federal Court and the payment of dues will optional. That will be the end of McCarron and Co.