National Assopciation of Government Employees (NAGE)

Ex-National Boss Gives up Fight to Recapture Union

Submitted by David Kendrick on Mon, 12/23/2002 - 01:00

Former union president Kenneth Lyons has given up  his effort to wrest back control of the national union he was ousted from for ignoring Mass. ethics rules. In Aug., U.S. Dist. Judge Morris Lasker (D. Mass., Johnson) upheld the takeover of the Natl. Assn. of Govt. Employees (NAGE) by its intl. parent, the Service Employees Intl. Union (SEIU).

Lyons founded the NAGE 40 years ago. But SEIU officials concluded in Nov. 2001 that Lyons had spent hundreds of dollars on meals for the state's chief labor negotiator. Lyons sued to overturn the SEIU ruling, but Judge Lasker entered a summary judgment for the SEIU, ruling that no NAGE officials were pressured into agreeing with the SEIU takeover. Lyons recently withdrew his appeal of Lasker's ruling. [Quincy, MA, Patriot Ledger  12/5/02]

National Boss Ousted after Probe

Submitted by Michael Nelson on Mon, 11/12/2001 - 01:00

Kenneth T. Lyons, the president of the Nat'l Ass'n of Gov't Employees, was removed from office Nov. 5 and permanently barred from participating in union activities after a union hearing on charges that he attempted to obstruct a state ethics probe by falsifying union records. Lyons, who served as NAGE president for 40 years, denied any wrongdoing after being charged in July with altering and destroying union records relating to a dozen or so meals he had with James Hartnett, undersecretary of the Mass. Div. of Admin. & Fin. Lyons was also accused of trying to "involve other union officers in a scheme to thwart an investigation of Hartnett and of attempting to mislead state investigators."

Indicted Rhode Island Man Denied Benefits

Submitted by Michael Nelson on Mon, 09/13/1999 - 00:00

Cranston, R.I., Mayor John O'Leary has dismissed indicted city official Raymond DeLuca and is refusing to pay him for nearly $24,000 worth of unused vacation and sick days that he accrued since his hiring in 1985. DeLuca, formerly the director of computer services, was suspended without pay by O'Leary's predecessor, Michael A. Traficante (who had corruption trouble of his own and is now a LIUNA boss), upon being charged two years ago with racketeering and bribery. O'Leary, who took office in January, eliminated DeLuca's position as part of his restructuring of City Hall. Kathleen DeLuca, who was indicted on the same charges as her husband, remains suspended without pay from the position of city treasurer. The couple is awaiting trial.

Top Cranston Officials' Trial Set

Submitted by Michael Nelson on Mon, 08/10/1998 - 00:00

On Aug. 4, nine months after two union members of the National Association of Government Employees Local 198 in Rhode Island were indicted on racketeering and bribery charges and suspended from Cranston city jobs, City Treasurer Kathleen DeLuca and her husband, Raymond, director of the city's computer services had their criminal trial date set for Nov. 16. According to the Attorney General, the DeLucas are accused of accepting $188,771 in kickbacks in return for securing about $564,000 in city computer contracts for a company. The DeLuca case was another black eye for Mayor Michael A. Traficante's administration that has been rocked by the kickback-and-bribery convictions of a Public Works Director and a Parks and Recreation Director. Traficante, who is not seeking reelection this year after 14 years in office, pleaded guilty himself in 1994 to nine campaign-finance misdemeanors. [Providence Journal-Bulletin 08/04/98 & 08/05/98]

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