IAFF: The Feds Arrive
Schaitberger Served with Subpoena
Today’s Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that Federal subpoenas have been delivered to IAFF headquarters and to Tom Miller, former IAFF secretary treasurer, and Ice Miller LLP, a law firm which advised the IAFF on pension matters.
The WSJ says, “The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington and the Labor Department issued subpoenas on Friday to the Washington-based union and its former treasurer.”
Harold Schaitberger, IAFF president-for-life, is said to be the target of the probe, with his improper pension and taxes being a focus.
The move coincides with the IAFF’s hiring of a criminal legal counsel, Wiley, last week.
The Pension and Taxes
Edward Kelly, the current IAFF secretary treasurer, published a raft of documents last winter revealing that Schaitberger has been taking a hefty pension while also receiving a $300,000 salary; multiple pension lawyers flagged the pension-taking as a blatant violation.
Schaitberger is said to have made unilateral and secret changes to a pension plan benefit structure in a series of moves which allowed the payout and then made it retroactive. Many of the documents related to the transactions have been difficult to locate leading Ed Kelly to suggest that that may have been the intention all along, to make the matter impossible to reconstruct.
Schaitberger apparently owes significant federal taxes stretching back many years connected with various deferred compensation and trust schemes.
Tom Miller
Miller was a former secretary treasurer in name only, but full blame still attaches.
Schaitberger personally engineered his election after browbeating Vinnie Bollon into retiring midterm in 2010, so that his replacement would be filled by a board vote and not the members at convention. It was a classic Schaitberger tactic to both deny democracy and usurp power.
Miller largely filled a seat when he did show up, making Schaitberger and Miller’s right-hand-man Jim Lee, the real money guys.
Miller got the same improper pension Schaitberger did and it appears that he also wants the IAFF to defend him as the investigation advances.
An “Ethical Practices Committee”
Members of the IAFF board established an internal “ethical practices committee” to investigate the pension and other matters.
To Harold Schaitberger’s chagrin, vice president Andrew Pantelis was made chair of that committee and he has failed to flinch under Schaitberger’s stare.
The committee hired Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, an investigative firm, to gather information relevant to the various charges, they have been working for months and reports are said to be due very soon.
Investigators have interviewed a variety of IAFF-related individuals as they seek to unearth information about the pension, tax payments and patterns of decision making.
A top priority for Schaitberger will be to hamstring the investigators and then use his diminishing majority on the board to bury the results, keeping IAFF members from seeing the truth.
The FBI and DOL would do well to subpoena Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP to obtain their raw investigative product before Schaitberger has a chance to quash or even destroy it.
The Feds should also know that Schaitberger has shown a willingness in the past to create false documents to cover his trail when caught in a lie, he will likely do so again, enlisting IAFF staff to help in that effort.
The IAFF Board
Over the past twenty years, most elected board members have compliantly agreed to Schaitberger’s corrupt endeavors.
He made it easy for them, plying them with raises, benefit enhancements and others perquisites.
If you did not play the Schaitberger game he moved to get rid of you.
Louie Wright, Joe Conway and Rick Walsh are examples of the latter though Walsh sprang back with the hearty support of his district’s members.
Along the way, Schaitberger has had a core of vice presidents who back his play no matter how strong the stench of corruption and decay: Sandy McGhee, Mark Woolbright, Tom Thornberg, Mark Sanders, Ray Rahne, Frank Lima, Walt Dix, David Burry and Jim Johnson are Schaitberger true believers, may they all receive a subpoena and sooner rather than later.
The Twenty Year Bubble
Think of it as one long party that just ended.
Many, including Schaitberger, remain trapped in their plush bubble and are unable to comprehend what has just befallen them.
The IAFF is laced with corruption and all tentacles lead to Schaitberger, his loyal lieutenants and cronies.
If you’re a member, as I am, and looking for a savior, it’s a tough proposition.
Many, if not most, large local and state/provincial leaders are tainted by association with Schaitberger.
Anyone vying to succeed Schaitberger should have a proven track record of speaking out against corruption and late comers need not apply.
Finding that person will be a ‘needle in the haystack” challenge.
#withholdyourdues
