David C. Farmer vs. Harmon - Witness Peter Trask

David C. Farmer, Successor-Trustee vs. Harmon

(Formerly Woo vs. Harmon & Nicholson vs. Harmon)

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

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DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

PETER TRASK

Labor attorney; administrator for the United Public Workers Union in Hawaii; son of labor leader and former president of Alii Petroleum, a for-profit subsidiary of Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate.

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February 2, 2003

UPW going back to basics
under new administrator

By Walter Wright, Advertiser Staff Writer

With former leader Gary Rodrigues facing a prison sentence, one of Hawai'i's most powerful labor unions is digging in, the administrator in charge of the United Public Workers union says.

"There is absolutely a natural tendency for others to try to take advantage of what they may see as weakness," said labor lawyer Peter Liholiho Trask, who will run the union during a receivership which will last at least several months.

"I am letting them know that what the union stood for before hasn't changed," he said.

"The basic things in this union's life won't change in terms of enforcement of the contracts 110 percent, and opposing privatization of our jobs."

Trask, 53, son of David Trask, longtime leader of the Hawai'i Government Employees Association, was named administrator of the UPW on Dec. 5 by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He was appointed after Rodrigues was found guilty on federal charges of mail fraud, money laundering and embezzlement in connection with taking kickbacks from companies that did business with the union. His sentencing is scheduled May 12.

Rodrigues had been head of the union for 21 years.

"My main purpose is protecting the interests of the members and placing the union back in their hands," Trask said.

It could take a while. A receivership of a New York public employees union — six times larger than the UPW — took 3 1/2 years.

Trask said Rodrigues' conviction could not have come at a worse time for the union.

Two contracts, covering most of the employees, expire this year. The UPW is facing a new legislative session and Linda Lingle, the state's first Republican governor since 1962, who has expressed an interest in cutting costs and privatizing some state work.

The union's Unit 1, with close to 10,000 blue-collar nonsupervisory workers, includes trash collectors.

Unit 10 has about 2,000 members in the public sector, including institutional and other healthcare employees and the adult corrections officers who work at state prisons.

Only after contracts are settled and the session is over, Trask said, can he deal with how members can take control of their local again.

There is a lot of pressure for change, he said. "When someone of Gary's stature disappears from the scene, everybody comes out of the woodwork and has an opinion."

But it would be distracting to appoint temporary officers and an executive board, let alone offer a new board for an election, he said.

He also is reviewing the union's books.

"From the cursory review of the finances I have done so far, the union seems to be in good financial shape," he said.

That fact, and the strength of the contracts, Trask said, is a credit to Rodrigues and his administration over the years.

Trask said he will rely on the 30-plus staff, "people who have been around a lot longer than I have."

Four staffers have left. "I want to get everybody to sail in the same direction. If people don't desire the same goals, they are asked to leave," he said.

Trask said he sometimes feels like he is "putting out fires all over the place, managing by crisis."

He has been working six and seven days a week, with some days of 16 hours, but says he is taking the job "one brick at a time."

The international usually picks somebody from out of state, but recognized here they needed someone familiar with the Hawai'i scene, someone "close enough to the union but not too close," Trask said.

"They tugged at the heartstrings, and it was one of those things where your heart says go do it and your brain says you are crazy.

"But I was born in the labor movement, and I am not about to turn my back on the labor principles that fed me and educated me," he said.

Trask was a UPW staff member from 1992 to 1997, and then outside counsel to the UPW and the HGEA.

He was an aide to U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye from 1979 to 1982, and had worked in Wally Fujiyama's law firm.

Born on O'ahu and raised on Maui, Trask graduated from Baldwin High School there and the University of Hawai'i and Hastings College of the Law at the University of California.

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February 13, 2003

UPW’s convicted ex-leader
sues to get retirement pay

By Debra Barayuga, Star-Bulletin

Convicted former union leader Gary Rodrigues contends the United Public Workers is intentionally withholding the vacation, sick leave and pension that he accrued during 37 years with the union.

Rodrigues, 61, filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court yesterday against Peter Trask, an attorney appointed by the mainland parent of UPW as union administrator, and other unnamed entities.

Rodrigues, UPW state director since 1981, resigned from his $200,000-a-year post on Nov. 22, days after he and his daughter were convicted of mail fraud and money laundering and after the union parent, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, suspended him.

Eric Seitz, attorney for Rodrigues, says the practice of the UPW is to provide retirees their salary and accrued entitlements immediately after they leave. "He retired. He wasn't fired."

There is no dispute Rodrigues is entitled to the money, Seitz said, and Trask has not given them any reason for the delay.

"They're just kicking him while he's down," Seitz said.

Trask, an attorney who has represented the UPW on arbitration matters in the past and once served as an administrative assistant for the UPW and as Rodrigues' executive assistant, could not be reached for comment.

As for Rodrigues' pension, all the union has to do is certify that he has retired, and the bank can begin payments to him immediately, Seitz said.

Since his retirement, Rodrigues has been preparing for his sentencing on May 12 and plans to appeal the conviction. But in the meantime he needs money to live on, Seitz said.

"He's in limbo waiting to see what happens."

The union responded to earlier requests from Doron Weinberg, Rodrigues' attorney in the criminal case, by saying they are conducting an audit and Rodrigues would have to wait, Seitz said.

"We're hoping to resolve this," he said. "If we don't resolve this decently, regrettably it will cost a lot of time and money."

UPW's mainland parent made the rare move of seizing control of the union and appointing an administrator because of Rodrigues' conviction and the resulting dissension.

At the time of his appointment, Trask said the union planned to conduct an audit that would look into the retirement, sick leave and unpaid vacation time owed to Rodrigues.

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UPW salaries

Here's a list of employees of the United Public Workers, a union led by Gary Rodrigues, left, who were paid more than $50,000 during 1997:

Employee Title Salary before taxes

Gary Rodrigues State Director $105,530

Peter L. Trask Executive Administrator $94,941

Clifford Uwaine Private District Director $67,046

Dwight Takeno Dir. of Legislation & Research $66,930

Georgietta Carroll Administrative Assistant $65,095

Gilbert Nobrega Kauai District Director $55,236

Tani Olaso State Director's Secretary $53,917

Roland Kadota Hawaii District Director $52,826

Leanard Agor Oahu District Director $52,779

Jeanne Endo Senior Accountant $52,440

Dayton Nakanelua Executive Assistant $51,733

Business Agents (range) $41,198-$48,781

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

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NEW DISCOVERY (02/17/08):

NEWSWATCH

October 11, 1997

Judge refuses to block
plutonium-probe launch

Federal Judge David Ezra Saturday refused to delay tomorrow's scheduled blastoff from Cape Canaveral, Fla., of the Cassini mission, bearing a record 72 pounds of plutonium.

A disappointed Lanny Sinkin, the Big Island attorney representing the anti-launch groups, today said: "There's so much sentiment for (the launch) not to happen on a worldwide level."

He added: "We hoped the decision would be different."

But U.S. attorney Tony Hoang said: "This project involves 16 different European nations and scientists from 33 states. It's been in development since 1989. It is important that the Cassini mission go forward."

Attorneys for the government and anti-nuclear groups have disagreed about the dangers posed by a NASA space probe carrying plutonium that the Hawaii County Green Party wants stopped from being launched.

The Green Party and the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court asking for preliminary and permanent injunctions against the launch, which was announced Oct. 3.

The mission is scheduled to take off at 10:55 p.m. tomorrow, Hawaii time.

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UPW asks judge to order
public-funds restitution

HILO -- The United Public Workers union is asking a judge to order a private landfill company or Mayor Stephen Yamashiro and several County Council members to personally repay millions of dollars to the county treasury.

In a continuation of the dispute over the county's 1993 contract with Waste Management Inc. to construct and operate the Kona landfill, UPW attorney Herbert Takahashi says the contract was illegal and money paid to the company must be returned.

Waste Management spokesman Bob Awana said the amount paid over four years may approach $16 million.

"He (Takahashi) has been threatening to do this all along," Awana said.

County attorney Ted Hong said, "To me it just looks like another example of UPW's vendetta against (Mayor Yamashiro's) administration and against privatization."

The state Supreme Court earlier said Waste Management could not operate the Kona landfill because that kind of work was customarily done by county workers. The union represents those workers.

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Bishop lawyer says Bronster
out to get two trustees

An attorney for Bishop Estate has charged that state Attorney General Margery Bronster's office expects to "get" two of the estate's trustees.

"Our sources say that people within the Department of the Attorney General say that they're going to get at least two heads," said estate attorney William McCorriston.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Lawrence Goya denied the charge.

"We're not out to 'get' anybody," Goya said. "We're out to look for whatever the facts are. And once we determine what the facts are, we'll determine what we're going to do from that point."

McCorriston made the comment Friday to reporters as he delivered to Goya a package containing the minutes of the board's meetings dating back to January 1995.

Bronster is investigating charges of illegal dealings on the part of estate trustees. The attorney general and McCorriston have been waging a battle over what, if any, of the documents subpoenaed by Bronster should be turned over.

http://starbulletin.com/97/10/10/news/satnews.html

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From AMERICAN DYNASTY - Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Deceit in the House of Bush, by Kevin Phillips:

INDIANA BUSH AND THE AXIS OF EVIL

... As president, Bush senior gloried in the Gulf War and the 1989 invasion of Panama, both cast as strikes for democracy–even if the dictators attacked were former friends. Over a decade...his web of covert international relationships prompted charges of his participating in and covering up in three actual or alleged illegalities: the Republican Party’s “October Surprise” negotiations with Iran in 1980, supposedly undertaken to ensure that no hostages taken in Iran would be released before the election; the Iran-Contra scandal; and “Iraqgate,” secretly arming Iraq from 1984 to 1990 before hurriedly changing course after Saddam Hussein took Kuwait. Two catchphrases recur in the family resume: “arms deals” and “clandestine operations.” A third recurring association would be “cover-up.”

George W. Bush was a willing recipient of the inheritance–witness the CIA and BCCI ties of some who finance him, from Arbusto to Harken Energy a decade later. For example, James Bath, who invested fifty thousand dollars in the 1979 and 1989 Arbusto partnerships, probably do so as U.S. business representative for rich Saudi investors Salem bin Laden and Khalid bin Mahfouz (Osama bin Laden’s brother-in-law). Both men were involved with the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, the rogue bank and occasional CIA front known for financing arms deals – indeed, bin Mahfouz owned 20 percent of its stock.

Bath, who made his fortune investing for the two Saudis, was a colorful Texan – and then some. According to former Houston Post reporter Pete Brewton, Bath was “an asset of the CIA, reportedly recruited by George Bush himself” in 1976 to keep the Agency up to date on Saudi activities.

A decade later, Harken Energy, the company willing to handsomely buy out George W.’s crumbling oil and gas business, had its own CIA connections. Chairman Alan Quasha was the son of a Philippine lawyer connected to the Nugan Hand Bank, a notorious Australian bank closely linked to the CIA.

Equally to the point, 17.6 percent of Harken’s stock was owned by Abdullah Bakhsh, another Saudi magnate reported by some to be representing Khalid bin Mahfouz.

A U.S. Senate subcommittee investigating BCCI in 1992 reported on how the bank bought friendship and favors from politicians around the world; details of the investigation were published in two books: False Profits: The Inside Story of BCCI, the World’s Most Corrupt Financial Empire, by Peter Truell, and The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI, by Jonathan Beaty and S.C. Gwynne. According to the latter, the story of the Bush involvement in the BCCI scandal involved the “trails that branched, crossed one another or came to unexpected dead ends.”...

As we have seen, Jeb Bush began his business career in Miami collaborating with Cubans tied to the CIA or to kindred intelligence agencies in pre-Castro Cuba. He socialized with Adbur Sakhia, BCCI’s Miami branch manager and later its top U.S. Official. Jeb Bush’s partners and early associates included a number of Cuban emigres with CIA, Nicaraguan ‘contra, or Batista-era Cuban intelligence connections.

To say that armaments, clandestine operations, and money-laundering banks recur in the history of the Walker-Bush family is no exaggeration at all. No other presidents have been so caught up in this kind of foreign policy. And the Bushes’ preoccupations are not clear until you consider the whole dynasty. It is the dynastic aspect that truly reveals the pattern – the clandestine behavior over multiple generations...

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Peter Trask is expected to testify regarding his business, professional and personal relationships with David Trask; Alii Petroleum; James Ahloy; Waste Management, Inc., Bob Awana, Linda Lingle, Bill Clinton; Hillary Clinton; Barack Obama; George W. Bush; George H.W. Bush; James Baker; Jack Abramoff; Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate; P&C Insurance Co.; Clyde Mark; Rodney Park; Edwina Clarke; Robert K.U. Kihune; Gilbert Tam; Sandwich Isles Communications; Summit Communications; Steven Guttman; Mary Lou Woo; Judith Neustadter Fuqua; Nathan Aipa; Colleen Wong; Louanne Kam; William S. Richardson; Rocco Sansone; Marsh & McLennan; Dennis Fern; Kukui Inc.; Kamehameha Activities Association; Matsuo Takabuki; Henry Peters; Richard Wong; Francis Ahloy Keala; George W. Bush; Linda Lingle; Bob Awana; Karl Rove; Harken Energy; Aloha Petroleum; Milton Holt; Yukio Takemoto; Wally Chin; Mark McConaghy; PricewaterhouseCoopers; Arthur Anderson LLC; Michael McKenzie; McKenzie Methane; Lee Henkel; William Simon; Robert Miller; Judge Barry Kurren; Faye Kurren; Tesoro Hawaii; University of Hawaii; George Ariyoshi; Mark Bennett; Colbert Matsumoto; Jeffrey Watanabe; Dee Jay Mailer; Hamilton McCubbin; Michael J. Chun; Oswald Stender; Lunalilo Trust; Stanley Hong; David Cole; Maui Land & Pineapple; Nature Conservancy of Hawaii; Haunani Apoliona; Clayton Hee; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; James Haynes; Maui Petroleum, John Ashcroft, Frederick Black, Alberto Gonzales, David Farmer, Dan Case, James Cribley, Ron Rewald, the CIA, Alan Quasha, John Marshall, Michael Nauyokas, and others to be named upon discovery.