W. Douglas Gow, LIUNA Inspector­General

R0. Box 27416

Washington, D.C. 20038­7416

First of all, thank you for responding to my letter dated January 28, 2000. I wrote to you on December 23, 1999 and asked if the General Executive Board obtained your approval for the expenditures to be paid to Arthur Coia prior to the December 5, 1999 meeting. You never responded. After reading your letter dated February 11, 2000, I assume they had your permission.

In your February 11, letter, you said I substantially misstated the action of the General Executive Board. I do not feel I misstated any facts concerning the amount money to be paid to Arthur Coia. So bear with me while I try to get all the facts and figures correct.

No previous notice of this plea bargain arrangement with Arthur Coia, or the amount of union members' money to be paid to him for the rest of his life, were made available to the local unions or the rank­and­file members of LIUNA. Most of us read about it in the newspapers. The figure in most papers ranged from $250,000 to $320,000. This is an outrageous amount of money to pay to an officer stepping down under a felony plea bargaining agreement with the Government.

I called LIUNA and was told by David Roscoe, "Mr. Coia will be paid $250,000 a year as President Emeritus." That is where I got the $250,000 figure. He said some of that amount would be pension and some would be salary. He did not know the exact figures.

For the record, I would not be misstating the facts if I said, (1) The General Executive Board of LIUNA voted to supplement Arthur Coia's current pension of $166,000 a year with a salary of $84,000 a year, for a total of $250,000 a year; (2) This action was done with the full knowledge and consent of the Government and did not go beyond the parameters of the plea agreement the Government negotiated with former General President Arthur Coia; (3) This action was also pre­approved by the LIUNA Inspector General, W. Douglas Gow; (4) According to LIUNA Inspector General, W. Douglas Gow, this action is allowed under Article VIII, Section 2 (h) of the LIUNA constitution, which reads, "It [the GEB] may for good cause, illness or disability, make such financial provision for an officer or employee of the International Union as it deems is warranted by the length and character of service rendered to the International Union by the Individual."

What part of this section does Arthur Coia come under? A "mob puppet" (according to the FBI) who conspired with a union vender to "defraud the State of Rhode Island and the Town of Barrington of taxes owed on automobiles" (according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts). The fraud was committed with a union vender, Viking Leasing, and involved three Ferrari sports cars with a value totaling more than $1,715,000. The tax owed was $92,015.

Your letter says the General Executive Board has granted similar status and compensation in the past and this is an honorary position. Could you please send me a list of all LIUNA emeritus positions filled by felons, the dollar amount of the compensation they receive from the working members of LIUNA, as well as the charges they plea bargained out on, and publish such list in the Laborers Magazine. That way we will have all the facts out in the open without any misstatements.

Sincerely yours,

Alex Corns
Business Manager..