IAFF: The House, Ten Years On
Caroline Baumann, director of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in Manhattan, was abruptly forced to resign last week; it’s a shame she wasn’t a leader of our union — she’d still have her job.
Baumann’s indiscretion?
An “investigation had turned up evidence of an appearance of a conflict of interest.”
Some will recall that ten years ago, IAFF president-for-life Harold Schaitberger was cited by the United States Department of Labor (DOL) for a conflict of interest after he purchased a $1,000,000 house from James Franzoni, a close Schaitberger crony who also does millions of dollars of business with the IAFF.
Out of all of the houses for sale, Schaitberger just happened to buy the one for sale by his “best buddy” who sups (deeply) from the IAFF trough.
When Schaitberger was rung up by the DOL, he called the IAFF Executive Board together and boohooed about how mean it all was as he concocted a plan to smooth over his (quite literal) nest-feathering; the Board meekly went along, once again.
To this day, Shady Schaitberger controls the Board with a combination of treats, threats and bullying.
The question is what would the IAFF look like if we followed the Smithsonian inspector general’s standard for ethics?
Answer?
Schaitberger and his cronies would be a faded memory; as it should be.
