American Arbitration Ass. - AA Consultant - Conflict of Interest?

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On 4/20/2003 8:44:12 AM mojo13 wrote:

There are also members from the AFL-CIO on it. Checks and Balances.
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Whew, I feel safer already. Shall I post the list of AFL-CIO corruptions in the past 10 years now?

Here is just one example that also relates to pension fund scandals:

PLUMBERS (UA) / CARPENTERS (UBC) / COMMUNICATION WORKERS (CWA) / AFL-CIO / IRON WORKERS (BSORIW) / ASBESTOS WORKERS (HFIA) / OPERATING ENGINEERS (IUOE) / LABORERS (LIUNA) / RETAIL UNION (RWDSU) / MACHINISTS (IAM)

ULLICO Scandal Grows: Maddaloni, McCarron, Bahr Sold Shares

As reported in the last issue, a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., is probing stock transactions by directors of a union-dominated insurance firm ULLICO linked to the now bankrupt firm, Global Crossing. The Wall St. Journal reports that internal documents reveal that ULLICO officers and board members cashed in on some 71,000 ULLICO shares between Jan. 2000 and Sept. 2001, possibly at the expense of the very union pension funds to which they owed a fiduciary duty. The profits were potentially huge. For example, Martin J. Maddaloni, president of the United Ass'n of Plumbers & Pipe Fitters, allegedly reaped a $184,000 profit from timely selling of a mere 2,000 shares of his ULLICO stock back to ULLICO in 2000.
The list of union bosses who did sell and who did not sell is growing. ULLICO board chairman and ex-AFL-CIO Building & Construction Trades Dep't president Robert A. Georgine allegedly sold 4,000 ULLICO shares. William G. Bernard, a ULLICO director and ex-president Int'l Ass'n of Heat & Frost Insulators & Asbestos Workers, allegedly sold 8,664 shares. Indicted Int'l Ass'n of Iron Workers' ex-president, Jacob "Jake" West, a ULLICO board member, allegedly sold 5,250 shares. Douglas J. McCarron, ULLICO board member and president of the United Bhd. of Carpenters, sold 3,000 shares. Finally, Morton Bahr, ULLICO board member and president of the Communications Workers of Am., sold 300 shares for a $27,000 profit in 2001.
Increasing the pressure on other bosses to come forward are four who have claimed that they did not sell any ULLICO stock: AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney; Int'l Union of Operating Eng'rs president Frank Hanley; Laborers' Int'l Union of N. Am. president Terence M. O'Sullivan, and Retail, Wholesale & Dep't Store Union ex-president Lenore Miller. [WSJ 4/5/02]
The ULLICO scandal is already hurting Big Labor. The AFL-CIO was gearing up to push for corporate-governance reforms and had launched a campaign with the Int'l Ass'n of Machinists to pressure Lockheed Martin not to renominate Enron director Frank Savage to its board. The day the AFL-CIO started getting nasty media calls on ULLICO, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard L. Trumka (who has pled the Fifth in another union scandal) pulled the plug. "He didn't want us to look like hypocrites," says one union official involved. [Business Week 4/8/02]
 
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On 4/20/2003 12:38:25 PM AOA wrote:

Somebody needs to forward this info on McNamara to APFA asap! I would but I don''t belong, and can''t get into the website.

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Maybe FAMikey has already done so?
 
Somebody needs to forward this info on McNamara to APFA asap! I would but I don''t belong, and can''t get into the website.
 
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On 4/20/2003 4:44:47 PM eolesen wrote:

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On 4/19/2003 10:31:42 AM RV4 wrote:

Hired consultant between Feb. 1st, 2003 thru April 30, 2003...

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Outrage? Please... It''s only fodder for a conspiracy theory to people without facts.

The consulting agreement was to provide a 90 day turnover with her replacement. Do you think you could assume taking over something as huge as being as the head lawyer for AMR with less than that much time to figure things out?

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Well perhaps this helps explain why the unions had so little time to vote, not to mention the SEC filings. See you in the unemployment line!
 
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On 4/20/2003 5:17:45 PM eolesen wrote:

The unions had so little time to vote because McNamara retired?

Had there been tentative agreements on March 1, there would have been a lot more time to vote.

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No, we had so "Little" time to vote because the TWU is in bed with the company, ignored our constitution of having 30 days to review a contract before voting, and the TWU (Jim Little) probably knew about the SEC report, yet due to his signing a confidentiality report, along with his being in bed with Don, couldn''t tell us of his knowledge. The company knew the SEC report would come out, yet took everyone in the unions as fools, figuring he could get away with it. Flight attendants asked for an extension of voting because of PIN problems, AMR''s response? NO....oops the vote didn''t turn out right....voting extension? Sure! Hurray , we got a YES!...ooops SEC report comes out, Carty is exposed! revote? absolutely not, we got our YES..."the contracts have been ratified" cries the crook! See you in the unemployment line!

By the way...has management ever come up with a new contract agreement in as short of time as this whole abortion has taken? March 1st? Funny, July 2, 2002 Carty said we need a new business plan. Didn''t hear anything about Ch. 11 then, but yet I haven''t heard a new business plan either.

And what happened to taking your "Holiday" off, I already worked, I can be here, go be with your family...."Yes Mr. Carty, Yes Mr. Carty!"
 
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On 4/19/2003 10:31:42 AM RV4 wrote:

Hired consultant between Feb. 1st, 2003 thru April 30, 2003...

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Outrage? Please... It''s only fodder for a conspiracy theory to people without facts.

The consulting agreement was to provide a 90 day turnover with her replacement. Do you think you could assume taking over something as huge as being as the head lawyer for AMR with less than that much time to figure things out?
 
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On 4/20/2003 4:44:47 PM eolesen wrote:


Outrage? Please... It''s only fodder for a conspiracy theory to people without facts.
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Hmmm, that''s the same arguement Holley made in a letter to O.V.Delle-Femine about the shut down of the plane business bulletin board.

It is was all just a conspiracy that she did consulting work for AA?
 
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On 4/20/2003 5:17:45 PM eolesen wrote:

The unions had so little time to vote because McNamara retired?

Had there been tentative agreements on March 1, there would have been a lot more time to vote.

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Hogwash, that is just conspiracy fodder to deflect attention from the facts.
 
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On 4/20/2003 6:07:41 PM RV4 wrote:

It is was all just a conspiracy that she did consulting work for AA?

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In your mind it is. For the record, she was a contract consultant to Crandall, and not paid by AMR. A fine line of distinction, perhaps, but a distinction nevertheless.

Besides, if you think there's any love between Holly and AMR, you obviously haven't read any of her columns lately.


.....


Regarding McNamara's association with both AAA and AMR... Yes, she sits on their board. So do about 60 other people from some pretty diverse backgrounds. Most if not all of them are lawyers.

Do you really believe that any member of the American Bar Association would risk the embarassment of being disbarred over something like this, or allow it to happen?

Whatever your opinion of management's role in day to day operations, a lawyer is still a lawyer first, and an employee or retiree of a particular company second. Regardless of the situation, the code of ethics for an officer of the court will always prevail. We have at least one attorney on these boards. I'd be interested in some of your opinions on that.

Being a lawyer is a lot like being a FAA licensed pilot, dispatcher or AMT. Regardless of how the company may want a particular situation to go, there are lines which are never crossed. Inspectors who sign off on work that isn't done as stated, a pilot who accepts a flight plan that isn't legal, and a dispatcher who issues a flight plan that isn't legal are all subject to a lot worse than termination.

In McNamara's case, being disbarred would be the ultimate humiliation for an attorney of her experience and reputation. There are few things worth more than your name, and I wouldn't expect her to even put herself in the position of compromising her name, let alone risk disbarrment.


So, Dave, keep building your conspiracy theories. Be sure to get some of that funky wallpaper they used in the Mel Gibson/Julia Roberts movie from a few years back, and be sure to install it in your home office, just in case the black helicopters (piloted by American Connection, of course) start surrounding your house......
 
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On 4/20/2003 10:22:50 PM eolesen wrote:

We have at least one attorney on these boards. I'd be interested in some of your opinions on that.

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I am not sure where Ms. McNamara is licensed to practice law and which body may be responsible for imposing any professional discipline, if she were to be found to have violated the rules of professional conduct. The State bar of California is very strict about policing its membership. An educated guess is that ignoring conflicts of interest is the second most common reason for imposing attorney discipline. The most common reason being the mishandling of clients’ funds and commingling of assets in trust accounts. I am of the opinion that there was a conflict of interest in this instance, however, it may be too trivial to warrant any sanction greater than a simple private admonition. On the other hand, when you have such an emotionally charged election, which is rife with procedural irregularities and company interference and intimidation, it is hard for the union membership to accept the legitimacy of the results under such circumstances.
I have known some very famous and well reputed lawyers who have gotten into trouble with the California State Bar due to negligent oversight and omissions. Being well reputed and experienced does not make one immune from making stupid mistakes.
 
Eolesen writes:

Do you really believe that any member of the American Bar Association would risk the embarassment of being disbarred over something like this, or allow it to happen?

Art responds:
You are kidding, right? I can think of numerous members of the ABA with much greater status than McNamara who got disbarred for unethical shenanigans (F.Lee Bailey is one that jumps to mind). What makes you think lawyers are above that type of behaviour?!? At any rate, thanks for the laugh.
 
It is really a simple solution.

Use a service other than the American Arbitration Association.

It surely wasn''t McNamara''s fault that there were so many problems with the voting process.

Maybe they just suck as whole organization.
 
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On 4/20/2003 9:06:34 AM RV4 wrote:




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On 4/20/2003 8:44:12 AM mojo13 wrote:

There are also members from the AFL-CIO on it. Checks and Balances.
----------------​
Whew, I feel safer already. Shall I post the list of AFL-CIO corruptions in the past 10 years now?
 
Here is just one example that also relates to pension fund scandals:

PLUMBERS (UA) / CARPENTERS (UBC) / COMMUNICATION WORKERS (CWA) / AFL-CIO / IRON WORKERS (BSORIW) / ASBESTOS WORKERS (HFIA) / OPERATING ENGINEERS (IUOE) / LABORERS (LIUNA) / RETAIL UNION (RWDSU) / MACHINISTS (IAM)
 
ULLICO Scandal Grows: Maddaloni, McCarron, Bahr Sold Shares

As reported in the last issue, a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., is probing stock transactions by directors of a union-dominated insurance firm ULLICO linked to the now bankrupt firm, Global Crossing. The Wall St. Journal reports that internal documents reveal that ULLICO officers and board members cashed in on some 71,000 ULLICO shares between Jan. 2000 and Sept. 2001, possibly at the expense of the very union pension funds to which they owed a fiduciary duty. The profits were potentially huge. For example, Martin J. Maddaloni, president of the United Ass''n of Plumbers & Pipe Fitters, allegedly reaped a $184,000 profit from timely selling of a mere 2,000 shares of his ULLICO stock back to ULLICO in 2000.
The list of union bosses who did sell and who did not sell is growing. ULLICO board chairman and ex-AFL-CIO Building & Construction Trades Dep''t president Robert A. Georgine allegedly sold 4,000 ULLICO shares. William G. Bernard, a ULLICO director and ex-president Int''l Ass''n of Heat & Frost Insulators & Asbestos Workers, allegedly sold 8,664 shares. Indicted Int''l Ass''n of Iron Workers'' ex-president, Jacob "Jake" West, a ULLICO board member, allegedly sold 5,250 shares. Douglas J. McCarron, ULLICO board member and president of the United Bhd. of Carpenters, sold 3,000 shares. Finally, Morton Bahr, ULLICO board member and president of the Communications Workers of Am., sold 300 shares for a $27,000 profit in 2001.
Increasing the pressure on other bosses to come forward are four who have claimed that they did not sell any ULLICO stock: AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney; Int''l Union of Operating Eng''rs president Frank Hanley; Laborers'' Int''l Union of N. Am. president Terence M. O''Sullivan, and Retail, Wholesale & Dep''t Store Union ex-president Lenore Miller. [WSJ 4/5/02]
The ULLICO scandal is already hurting Big Labor. The AFL-CIO was gearing up to push for corporate-governance reforms and had launched a campaign with the Int''l Ass''n of Machinists to pressure Lockheed Martin not to renominate Enron director Frank Savage to its board. The day the AFL-CIO started getting nasty media calls on ULLICO, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard L. Trumka (who has pled the Fifth in another union scandal) pulled the plug. "He didn''t want us to look like hypocrites," says one union official involved. [Business Week 4/8/02]

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I really had a good laugh with your response. I should have known better!
 
I really think this thread is being ''buried'' by people who want to hide another ''scAAndal.'' This thread shed a lot of light to me and if I''m going down I want full accountability for those involved in this mess!