New Independent Investigator Appointed as Former Leader Convicted in The New York Carpenters District Council

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Ace reporter Tom Robbins' Village Voice article (see next page) deftly sums up the sordid history of Michael Forde's corrupt career. While under the influence of cocaine, drugs, and booze, he brazenly avoided ouster as the top officer of the huge Carpenters union until he pled guilty in July 2010. Back in 1998 and again in 2002, Forde was fined for violating the union's job referral rules. Designed to give first priority to out of work members, Federal Judge Charles S. Haight wrote that Forde's conduct "was dishonorable and revealed his personal contempt" for the job referral system.

Court Appoints Independent Investigators

In 2002 the original consent decree was amended to empower Attorney Walter Mack as an independent investigator to oversee hiring hall practices and other contract violations. Forde was able to end Walter Mack's two year term, up for renewal, despite the U.S. Attorney's strong objections. Mack and his staff had made too many waves for Forde.

Walter Mack was succeeded by William Callahan, Forde's choice for investigator. Callahan in turn was replaced and Attorney Dennis Walsh appointed by Judge Haight as the investigator and monitor in July 2010. Walsh, while with the New York State Organized Crime Task Force, was the lead attorney in convicting Plumbers Local 1 business agents and contractors.

It will be interesting to see how international President McCarron interacts with Monitor Walsh. McCarron's powers include removing from the union's payroll any union officer and Forde - appointed staff. Dennis Walsh must first go through more time-consuming review procedures before removing any holdovers from Forde's regime.

RICO Case

The RICO case was settled in March 1994 when Assistant US Attorney Marla Alhadeff and the Carpenters settled the 1990 case. The consent decree has the specific purpose of ensuring a democratic union by purging corruption and promoting union democracy.

Kenneth Conboy, while investigating officer, had discovered that job referrals to the Jacob Javits Convention Center came from a list kept at a Mafia boss gathering place. Members and friends of the Genovese crime family were given approximately 100 of these highly desirable jobs at the expense of 25,000 Carpenters Union members.

DA Morgenthau's Case

In 2008, a conviction of Michael Forde and his bagman Martin Deveraux, by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's Labor Racketeering Unit, was thrown out when State Court Judge Jeffrey Atlas learned that the jury had improperly discussed a Tom Robbins article about Forde before deliberations had even started. A costly legal "no-no" that allowed Forde to stay in office until the FBI arrest in 2010.

AUD's Position

AUD has consistently advocated for many years that honestly run union hiring halls are essential to fostering union democracy. Blacklisting of dissidents and buying jobs from business agents and shop stewards would surely decline. I have attended federal and state trials for twenty-six years and am convinced of the need for major reforms in job referral systems.

The wheels of justice have ground very slowly since the RICO case in 1990, but there is hope that members can get representation free of mafia influence and will then advance towards union democracy.