Union Accused of Violating Political Finance Rules

A major public employee union was accused this week of failing to report the receipt of more than $117,000 in political donations and the expenditure of $130,000 in contributions during the last six years.

The 131-count accusation was filed Tuesday by the state Fair Political Practices Commission against the political action committee of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, District Council No. 36, based in Los Angeles.

If all the charges leveled by the commission’s enforcement division are upheld by the full commission, the local could be subject to fines totaling $262,000, the agency said.

In a statement, the commission said that despite assurances of cooperation, the union local “continues to deliberately obstruct investigators, refuses to return FPPC telephone calls and ignores repeated requests for campaign records.”

But John Wyrough, executive director of the local and one of the 10 officers named in the complaint, insisted that “we are working with them to resolve some problems,” which he characterized as “bookkeeping and administrative.”

He said union officials were “unaware of the problem until the last several months.”

“There was never any intention of any wrongdoing,” Wyrough said.

The commission said the local, a major contributor to Democratic candidates in statewide, legislative and local elections, has failed to file required financial disclosure reports since February 1991. The union should have filed reports, for example, for the Los Angeles mayoral election in April and the general election last November, the commission said.

The commission calculated from other sources that during the last six years the government employees union local had collected more than $117,000 in political donations and spent at least $130,000, none of which it has accounted for.

The commission said Wyrough gave assurances in 1996 that the missing reports were complete and would be filed immediately, but added, “None have emerged.”