AMO ELECTIONS, TRIALS AND INFORMANTS

AMO ELECTIONS, TRIALS AND INFORMANTS

In an effort to keep concerned parties informed of on going issues that directly effect the AMO and in the end will materially effect the contentions between the MEBA and AMO we submit the following article.

From Tradewinds

By Bob Rust

Published: 31 March 2006

US federal prosecutors have revealed a key informant in their case against union leaders.

Gordon Spencer, the long-time top lobbyist for shipowners associated with the American Maritime Officers (AMO) union, has emerged as a key secret informant in a Florida federal prosecution of AMO leaders.

Four other AMO leaders, employees or former employees including president Michael McKay and treasurer Robert McKay were indicted last summer on varying sets of charges including embezzlement of union funds, rigging of union elections, illegal political contributions, mail fraud and conspiracy.

But by that time Spencer, a prominent figure in Washington maritime circles, had already agreed to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor count of making illegal campaign contributions "through conduits or strawmen", pursuant to a June 2005 plea bargain. TradeWinds previously revealed that republican congressmen Bud Shuster and Don Young were the recipients of contributions allegedly funnelled from AMO controlled accounts.

The Spencer deal, recently disclosed in documents filed by prosecutors, brings the total of guilty pleas in the case to four, all but Spencer's involving felony counts. The three remaining defendants, who maintain their innocence, are the McKay brothers and James Lynch, who formerly captained the Amos , the eponymous yacht of the American Maritime Officers Services (AMOS), an association of shipowners whose crews are organised by the AMO.

Spencer's role as prosecution witness is disclosed in prosecutors' filings in response to an unsuccessful motion by Lynch to sever his case from those of the McKays.

Another recent setback for the remaining defendants was a change of plea from not guilty on all counts to guilty on one felony count of embezzlement by Phillip Ciccarelli, the building manager at the AMO's Dania Beach, Florida headquarters.
TradeWinds reported in February that two other defendants not originally named, AMO defectors Thomas Kelly and Jerry Joseph, had pleaded guilty to single felony counts and agreed to co-operate with government prosecutors.

The long-time AMO officials left after losing a 2001 election battle against the McKays. For a time they served rival Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association (Meba) as consultants, leading to a series of lawsuits.

The McKay brothers, who have expressed confidence to the membership that they will be vindicated, continue in their leadership roles at the union but are under travel restrictions and may not sign cheques or do other financial business for the union pending their trial.

Meanwhile, the trial, expected to take three to four weeks, has been rescheduled to 11 September, reportedly because of illness of a defence lawyer. This entails that the trial will overlap the AMO's next elections, in which balloting will begin in October and a final count will be held in December. Observers expect that daily reports from the trial could have a marked effect on voting for AMO leadership candidates.