By John Mercurio, Roll Call 
Thursday, June 12, 1997

Less than a week before the Capitol Police union election, federal prosecutors are focusing on the Teamsters' chief congressional lobbyist as they investigate fund raising irregularities in the 1996 re-election campaign of Teamsters president Ron Carey.

The Fraternal Order of Police, which is running an underdog race against the Teamsters in the first-ever campaign to unionize Congress's police force, was quick to highlight new charges that veteran Hill lobbyist Bill Hamilton helped shift nearly $100,000 from the Teamsters' general fund to the Carey campaign. Federal law prohibits diverting money from a union treasury to the campaign of a union candidate.

"It's an issue we very much want to see discussed," said James Pasco, executive director of the national FOP and the union's chief Hill lobbyist. "It's another indication of the potential for embarrassment for law enforcement officers, who have to be very mindful of perception as well as reality."

Hamilton, who has been the lead Teamsters representative on the Hill since 1995, has not been charged with any crime, but has remained under intense scrutiny in part because he played such a high-profile role in campaign fundraising last year as treasurer of the union's PAC. The Democratic Republican Independent Voter Education Committee (DRIVE) gave $2.6 million last cycle to federal candidates, the second highest amount from a PAC, according to the Federal Election Commission. A spokesman said the union is cooperating fully with investigators and will continue to do so.

The criminal complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court in New York and unsealed Friday, accuses Martin Davis a partner in the direct-mail firm the November Group, of scheming to have the Teamsters and other groups illegally funnel $95,000 to the Carey campaign. Federal prosecutors say in the complaint that Davis acted at the request of top union officials in Washington.

The charges are part of an ongoing investigation into fundraising by Carey. Last November, Carey beat Detroit lawyer James Hoffa, Jr., the son of former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa, 52 to 48 percent, in a bitterly contested election.

According to the complaint, Davis arranged for the Teamsters to pay nearly $100,000 to Michael Ansara, an executive with the Massachusetts telemarketing firm the Share Group, Inc., who in turn asked his wife to contribute $95,000 to the Carey campaign.

Ansara has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges. He has admitted he used Teamsters money and other improperly received funds to reimburse his wife, Barbara Arnold, for her donations to a Carey campaign group called "Teamsters for Corruption-Free Union".

According to the documents, Ansara and a Share Group manager confirmed that Hamilton described in the documents only as the "director of government affairs of the (Teamsters)," contacted the manager about conducting a get-out-the-vote drive for federal elections. Ansara then allegedly negotiated the contract price with Hamilton.

In a 14-page affidavit dated March 11, Hamilton denied any involvement in illegal fundraising. "(I) have never spoken to Michael Ansara about Ron Carey's campaign or re-election,", he wrote in the document, which was obtained by Roll Call. "To the best of my knowledge, no one at Share had any discussions with my staff about Ron Carey's re-election."

In an interview, Hamilton confirmed that he signed the affidavit and described his critics as "unscrupulous allies" of Hoffa.

"The document makes perfectly clear that I had no role in any alleged improper interaction involving Martin Davis and the Share Group," he said. "It is clearly a confidential document circulated by unscrupulous allies of Jimmy Hoffa who are attempting to undermine the U.S. Attorney and the election officer and to bait Congress to involve itself between a guy who lost an election and the winner."

Teamsters sources hostile to Carey say Hamilton testified on March 31 before a New York grand jury investigating the charges.

Hamilton was once an aide to ex-Sen. Ralph Yarborough (D-Texas) who chaired the Labor Committee. Before joining the Teamsters, he was a Congressional lobbyist for Planned Parenthood.

The union spent about $4 million last year on its government affairs department, which lobbies Congress on such issues as trucking legislation, the minimum wage, and collective bargaining, according to a Teamsters spokesman.

While Hamilton would not serve as a direct representative of the Capitol Police if the Teamsters win the runoff on June 17 and 18, his high-profile role as the group's chief lobbyist would invariably link him to the 1,200-officer force. In an interview, Hamilton said he would be the chief representative of the union's demands, both legislative and financial, before Congress.