Copyright 1996 The Weekly Standard  
The Weekly Standard
November 4, 1996
SECTION: CORRESPONDENCE; Vol. 2, No. 8; Pg. 6

LENGTH: 281 words

HEADLINE: DEBATING THE FACTS OF LABOR

BYLINE: CARL E. BOOKER, LIUNA VICE-PRESIDENT, WASHINGTON, DC

BODY:
In "John Sweeney and the State of His Union" (Oct. 21), Matt Labash attacks both the old guard and the new at the AFL-CIO: the moderate Left, the near- Left, the far-Left, the Left Bank (given his disdain for an AFLCIO-owned Paris apartment), feminists, civil-rights leaders, young activists, and . . . well, just about anyone and everyone else slightly more liberal than Genghis Khan.

But with all seriousness, Labash has written a scathing article, and he must be held to certain standards of truthfulness. Let me take this opportunity to set the record straight about Arthur Coia and the Laborers' International Union of North America.

First, Labash suggests that General President Coia has amassed a great personal fortune as the head of the nation's largest construction-trades union, including a mansion in Rhode Island. Mr. Coia worked his way through college and law school, as a laborer and as a musician, to become a successful attorney in private practice. He purchased his house thirty years ago at a low cost and a high mortgage, and can hardly be held personally responsible for the appreciation of Rhode Island real estate. The salary he receives is set by the union's constitution for whoever holds the office of general president -- not for Mr. Coia personally.

Second, Labash reports that in 1994 the Justice Department characterized Mr. Coia as a "mob puppet," but he fails to mention that the department now questions that view of Mr. Coia. Paul Coffey, chief of the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering section, testified that "[Mr. Coia] did what you normally don't see puppets do, he said, "I can kick [the mob] out too.'"

EDITOR-NOTE:
MATT LABASH RESPONDS: Glad to hear Mr. Coia's youthful investment has paid off so handsomely. I suppose the red Ferrari, the home in Delray Beach, and the expensive dog-breeding business that saw him try to mate his stud with the bitch of a New England mob boss were also the result of Rhode Island real-estate appreciation. Mr. Booker would surely deny such prosperity had anything to do with a real estate partnership, as reported by the Washington Monthly, that saw Coia illegally act as a landlord for his own union offices and sell a souring real estate investment to a LIUNA legal fund for $ 2.3 million. (The magazine reported that this outside income augmented Coia's salary by $ 218,959 in 1994.)

As the Washington Monthly also reported, it should be remembered that Coia's successful law practice saw him indicted in 1981 along with his father, Arthur Coia, Sr., and crime boss Raymond Patriarca "for racketeering and taking bribes from an insurance swindler" who had been Coia's client. The case didn't go to a jury since a judge ruled that the statute of limitations had expired.

While Mr. Booker portrays Paul Coffey as exonerating Honest Arthur, Coffey actually said at the hearings, "I think Mr. Coia has elected to turn . . . on La Cosa Nostra because he has no choice." Coffey also said that while Coia's lawyers insisted he was going along voluntarily, "I don't know anything about that -- we're skeptical. But the way this agreement works, he's got to do it."