----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com>
Nathan Newman wrote:
>Except you were mixing two different legal investigations and crimes.
>http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Jun/15/ln/ln07p.html
>"Wong's criminal case is separate from the federal prosecution that
>resulted
>in the conviction of former United Public Workers head Gary Rodrigues on
>charges of mail fraud, money laundering and embezzling union money."
Don't forget the next two paragraphs:
>One of the charges against Rodrigues was that a contract he
>negotiated with PGMA to provide coverage for UPW members allowed the
>company to transfer a portion of the premium payments to the union
>to hire a consultant to review the medical plan.
>Rodrigues
Yes, Wong was involved in two crimes, fraudulently covering up the insolvency of his fund and paying off Rodreques in order to land the contract with the UPW. Wong may have been involved in both crimes, but that doesn't mean that Rodriques was involved in both crimes.
But your pushing to lard up Rodriques with the broader crime for which he was not convicted illustrates my point that, while corruption does exist in parts of the union movement, it is blown up to be far more pervasive than even its reality by ideologues of right and left who add in crimes not committed by the union leaders.
Yes, you can argue that when you are a bit sleazy yourself, getting taken by fraud from people like Wong who you associate with is more inevitable, but it's not like lots of honest people aren't (and weren't) taken in by fraud perpetuated by folks like Wong, Ken Lay and the whole myriad of corporate fraudsters.
Nathan Newman