Another Union Thug Pleads Guilty to Corruption

October 11, 2008 | Filed Under Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Socialism, Society/Culture, Unions, Warner Todd Huston |

-By Warner Todd Huston

From time to time here on the blog we like to highlight the convictions, imprisonment and punishment of union thieves. It warms our heart here at the blog to see such criminal union thugs cut down by the law, to see them finally get their just deserts. We only wish that more of them found their proper ends sooner. But, when they are caught we rejoice at the justice done.

Today we have what, if we were in an HBO TV series, might have been a member of Tony Soprano’s bunch (is New Jersey sick of this allusion yet?) with the admission of guilt by one Kenneth Campbell, 57, of Basking Ridge, New Jersey. It seems that Kenny was a corrupt union boss that used union funds to buy his Dad a car, buy himself expensive TVs and the like and also took more than $250,000 in bribes.

Kenny boy was a union boss of Local 825 of the International Union of Operating Engineers but now faces up to 40 years in prison.

Federal authorities say Campbell conspired with several other Local 825 officials between 2001 and 2003 to accept $156,000 in payoffs from plumbing, backhoe, structural steel and window contractors during construction of the Goldman Sachs office tower in Jersey City.

Between May 2003 and May 2006, he and the local’s business agent accepted another $100,000 in bribes from George Coyne, whose company was building a golf course in Jersey City. Coyne pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges last month.

In exchange for the kickbacks, the contractors were allowed to circumvent their collective bargaining agreement obligations, including using non-union labor on some jobs and having fewer than the re quired number of operators on cer tain pieces of equipment.

Additionally, Campbell pleaded guilty to accepting with one of Local 825’s other officials some $6,000 in bribes from Coyne in 2004 to get three persons accepted into the local.

From September 2004 until October 2005, Campbell confirmed he used his Local 825 American Express card to spend more than $13,000 on four big-screen or flat- screen televisions, along with some home theater equipment and cell phone service.

Authorities still have two other union bosses of Local 825 under investigation.

So, we here at the blog salute the good folks in New Jersey prosecuting and winning convictions against these union thugs. We know that there is a list longer than that of Santa Claus’ kid’s list, but any win is a win for truth, justice and the American way. (Thank you Bob Kane)

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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston