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Sanders adviser was convicted of union embezzling
A consultant for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign was convicted of embezzling money from a labor union three years ago, after he was caught stealing funds from the United Steelworkers, according to court records.
Chuck Rocha, whose firm Solidarity Strategies has brought in $204,000 from the Sanders campaign, was hired to extend the Vermont senator's reach into the Latino community. Court and Labor Department records claim that he used the union's money to buy Stanley Cup Finals tickets and pay for golf trips to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Florida.
Rocha pleaded guilty in 2013 to one felony count of union embezzlement for stealing funds from the United Steelworkers union in 2008 and 2009, when he was its political director. He also “acknowledged responsibility for the other 17 counts,” according to the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. His plea deal barred him from working as an officer or agent at a labor organization until 2026.
Rocha wasn't a merely a rank-and-file member of the Steelworkers back then: Political directors are the main points of contact between union leadership and policymakers, and they often have unfettered access to union coffers. Rocha managed a $30 million budget in his position, according to an online biography.
The $204,349.86 directed to Rocha's firm is dwarfed by the $32 million the Sanders campaign disbursed in the same period, but Rocha's hiring is nonetheless significant because it illustrates the type of wrongdoing that the populist campaign, laser-focused on uprooting malfeasance in the political establishment, deems forgivable. Rocha's firm was among the highest-grossing Sanders clients providing political strategy
Chuck Rocha, whose firm Solidarity Strategies has brought in $204,000 from the Sanders campaign, was hired to extend the Vermont senator's reach into the Latino community. Court and Labor Department records claim that he used the union's money to buy Stanley Cup Finals tickets and pay for golf trips to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Florida.
Rocha pleaded guilty in 2013 to one felony count of union embezzlement for stealing funds from the United Steelworkers union in 2008 and 2009, when he was its political director. He also “acknowledged responsibility for the other 17 counts,” according to the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. His plea deal barred him from working as an officer or agent at a labor organization until 2026.
Rocha wasn't a merely a rank-and-file member of the Steelworkers back then: Political directors are the main points of contact between union leadership and policymakers, and they often have unfettered access to union coffers. Rocha managed a $30 million budget in his position, according to an online biography.
The $204,349.86 directed to Rocha's firm is dwarfed by the $32 million the Sanders campaign disbursed in the same period, but Rocha's hiring is nonetheless significant because it illustrates the type of wrongdoing that the populist campaign, laser-focused on uprooting malfeasance in the political establishment, deems forgivable. Rocha's firm was among the highest-grossing Sanders clients providing political strategy
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/bernie-sanders-union-embezzle-campaign-consultant-218567#ixzz3z9NBKi4i
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