"Nationally, the carpenters union is under federal scrutiny"
ALLEGATIONS OF FINANCIAL MALFEASANCE IN ST LOUIS SPURRED MOVE,CARPENTERS PRESIDENT SAYS
ST. LOUIS — The head of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters said representatives of the national union were investigating “allegations of financial malfeasance” when he decided to suddenly dissolve the union’s powerful St. Louis-based branch in late September.
General President Douglas McCarron, in a signed declaration filed Nov. 3 in a federal court case, said it had become apparent the St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council was “not functioning properly” when he decided to oust its leaders and put the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters in charge.
His statement is the first public acknowledgement by union leadership that they were looking into financial irregularities at the once-influential St. Louis Council. Except for a Sept. 24 letter from McCarron obtained by the Post-Dispatch ordering the dissolution, which references an internal “report” from three union officials, there has been no explanation of why McCarron made the move.
McCarron’s declaration was entered as part of a case brought by longtime St. Louis Regional Council critic Jonathan Gould, a union floor layer from Edwardsville. Gould filed the case in U.S. District Court in early October against the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and McCarron in an attempt to stop the move to put Chicago in charge of St. Louis.
The Chicago branch is now known as the Mid-America Regional Carpenters Council.
McCarron’s statement said the national office “recently” received an anonymous complaint from a “purported former employee” of the St. Louis Council. In addition, a St. Louis Council employee approached Mike Kwiatkowski, a United Brotherhood of Carpenters international representative, “with information regarding concerns about the St. Louis Council’s operations.”
“Three UBC representatives (Daniel Sivertson, Mike Kwiatkowski and Anthony Pena) were assigned to look into the allegations concerning the St. Louis Council’s operations, including allegations of financial malfeasance,” McCarron’s declaration states.
On Sept. 22, McCarron said he issued a directive so that Terrence Mooney, an accountant in the Atlantic City, New Jersey, area, “could take possession of the records of the St. Louis Council to do a review,” according to the court filing.
“Pena, Kwiatkowski and Sivertson issued preliminary findings,” McCarron’s filing says. “Mr. Mooney’s firm also provided information to UBC officials about his initial findings. The investigations remain ongoing.”
After discussing the matter with Mark McGriff, a union vice president for the Midwest, McCarron wrote “it became apparent that the St. Louis Council was not functioning properly and in the best interests of membership.”
The declaration also provided the first public admission from union leadership that former St. Louis Council chief Al Bond had been removed.
McCarron said he decided to dissolve the St. Louis Council, and “as a consequence” of the dissolution, “the position of executive secretary-treasurer, which was held by Albert Bond, was eliminated.”
Spokespeople for the local and national carpenters union offices continue to stay silent. They did not reply to a request for comment Wednesday. It’s unclear if the internal investigations remain underway.
A Post-Dispatch review of union financial records in October found major changes in payroll were made in the local union’s fiscal year ending June 30, with many employees previously paid out of benefit funds added to regular union payroll. A former top national union regulator also told the newspaper that the union’s practice of paying some employees out of benefit funds would likely “raise questions.”
Nationally, the carpenters union is under federal scrutiny following the 2019 indictment of George Laufenberg, who led the New Jersey Carpenter’s Pension, Annuity, Health and Training/Apprenticeship funds and was a former commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Following Laufenberg’s indictment on charges he embezzled pension funds and helped another person steal via a “low-show” job, a federal grand jury in late 2019 issued subpoenas to other entities tied to the national union.
Gould’s lawsuit here is the latest of many he has filed against the carpenter’s union. In lawsuits filed in St. Louis Circuit Court, he has accused local union leaders of improperly using member funds, though the union has thus far fended off the litigation.
In his most recent lawsuit, the one in which McCarron filed the declaration, Gould does not have a lawyer and is representing himself. Even so, the union and McCarron are represented by two of the biggest legal names in town: Bob Blitz, who has represented the union in the past, and Jim Martin of Dowd Bennett, who defended former Gov. Eric Greitens in his invasion of privacy case. Both attorneys’ law firms were part of the legal team that just won the $790 million settlement against the NFL and Rams football team.
HOW CAN MCCARRON CONTINUE TO LIE,STEAL, CHEAT AND RUN A CORRUPT CRIMINAL SYNDICATE
