Terry McAuliffe, Alleged Union-Boss Bagman

According to sworn testimony, Terry McAuliffe once conspired to embezzle workers’ forced-dues money on behalf of a Teamster boss’ re-election campaign. Now, with Virginians’ Right to Work at risk, Mr. McAuliffe is running for governor. (Credit: Lee District Democratic Committee, Wikimedia Commons)

‘You Help Me, I’ll Help You’ Is How Candidate Sees Politics

As he traverses Virginia in what appears to be a neck-and-neck gubernatorial contest this year, the last thing Terry McAuliffe wants to be talking about is his on-the-record support for destruction of the Old Dominion’s cherished Right to Work law.

Savvy politician that he is, Mr. McAuliffe knows that flaunting one’s support for forced union dues and fees as a job condition is no way to get elected governor in Virginia or any other state.

But Mr. McAuliffe also knows he needs the full-fledged support of Big Labor’s political machine if he is to have any chance of winning on November 2.

Four Witnesses Testified Terry McAuliffe Was Involved In Embezzlement Scheme

And judging by his decades-long record in politics, he is evidently willing to do anything he needs to do to get it.

“Even before he began running for public office himself, Terry McAuliffe was cozy with corrupt union bosses and contemptuous of the rights of the individual employee,” recalled National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix.

“Back in 1996, he was finance director for the Democratic National Committee [DNC], and obviously determined to rake in as much Big Labor money and ‘in-kind’ support to help reelect the Bill Clinton-Al Gore ticket as he possibly could. 

“Meanwhile, unscrupulous operatives for embattled union bigwig Ron Carey, then the president of the notorious International Brotherhood of Teamsters, were looking for ways to launder workers’ forced dues and fees so they could spend this loot to get their boss reelected.

“And according to sworn testimony by former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee [DCCC] Executive Director Martin Davis, Mr. McAuliffe took an active part in a never-completed scheme to help Carey operatives embezzle workers’ money. 

“According to Mr. Davis’ account, Mr. McAuliffe told him that ‘if the DCCC could help [Mr.] Carey, then we could get [larger] contributions back to the DCCC.’”

In November 1999, former Teamster Political Director William Hamilton was convicted by a federal jury on six counts of fraud, perjury, and conspiracy to embezzle $885,000 to aid Mr. Carey’s 1996 re-election effort. 

By then, five other Carey cronies, including his former lawyer, Nathaniel Charney, had already pleaded guilty in connection with the complex embezzlement scheme.

But Mr. McAuliffe somehow escaped prosecution, despite testimony by a total of four Democrat Party officials and Carey campaign workers involved in the scheme who stated under oath that he had been a key coconspirator.

In a public comment about the Carey campaign and the DNC, Mr. McAuliffe purported not to understand what the problem was:  “You help me, I’ll help you: That’s politics.”

‘If It [Right to Work Repeal] Came to My Desk, Sure, I’d Sign It’

Mr. Mix commented:

“The cynicism displayed by Terry McAuliffe in the late 1990’s is all too common among politicians, but now is an extraordinarily dangerous time for a man of his apparent character to be elected governor of Right to Work Virginia.

“In recent years, Virginia Democrat elected officials, who now control both chambers of the state’s General Assembly as well as the governorship, have come under more and more pressure from militant activists and campaign strategists in their party to back destruction of Right to Work protections for employees.

“The anti-Right to Work tide among Democrat politicians keeps rising, despite the fact there is no credible evidence that ordinary Virginians support any tampering whatsoever with their three-quarters-of-a-century old ban on forced unionism.

“This April, Terry McAuliffe made it clear in a videotaped exchange he was siding with Big Labor by declaring, with regard to Right to Work destruction: ‘If it came to my desk, sure, I’d sign it.’ Since then, he has raked in $2.2 million in cash alone from Big Labor.”

In the weeks leading up to Virginia’s elections on November 3, the Committee will repeatedly be contacting tens of thousands of identified Right to Work supporters throughout the state, informing them about Mr. McAuliffe’s pro-forced unionism stance and urging them to try to turn him around.

The Committee will also be letting freedom-loving Virginians know that Mr. McAuliffe’s GOP opponent in the gubernatorial race, Glenn Youngkin, has already pledged to support Right to Work 100%.

“With our Right to Work law in greater jeopardy than ever before, it’s absolutely critical freedom-loving Virginians know where their candidates stand on forced unionism,” said Mr. Mix. “The Committee is determined to ensure that they do.”


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