| Print | Close Window | AMO Currents - Posted: May 11, 2010 |
A word about 'Politico'
The article, prepared by the Center for Public Integrity and published May 10 by the Washington-based online and print publication Politico, said our union's reports since 1999 had identified "the same 16 outdated - and, in many cases, dead - pieces of legislation" as the issues our Washington staff discusses today with members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and officials at all levels of the Executive Branch.
When I was advised officially in advance of the Politico article that many of our union's lobby disclosure reports were inaccurate, our Washington staff and I reviewed the documents immediately. We found that many of the reports - especially those filed within the last few years - were indeed inaccurate in the sense that some of the specified legislation was no longer under Congressional consideration, even though the issues that gave rise to such legislation remained valid.
Citing AMO's most recent lobby disclosure filing, Politico said AMO "was lobbying the 111th Congress on the same legislation from a decade ago." But many of the bills we monitor in the House and Senate address recurring maritime policy issues - for example, annual appropriations for the Maritime Security Program in place since 1996 and for the 1954 PL-480 humanitarian food aid export program and the 1985 U.S.-flag cargo preference requirement tied to it. It is not unusual to find that AMO was working Capitol Hill on behalf of the MSP and PL-480 in 1999 and again in 2009.
In addition, bills that languish in one Congressional session often resurface in the next - the bill numbers change in these cases, but the legislative text often does not.
Nevertheless, the reports were inaccurate in far too many specific instances, and I accept full responsibility for the flawed forms filed since I began serving as national president of AMO in January 2007. I also owe each of you an honest explanation of how this situation arose.
Approximately five years ago, AMO Comptroller Martin Epstein recommended to the AMO administration in office at the time that the responsibility for completing and filing the lobby disclosure reports be shifted from our Washington staff to the AMO accounting department at union headquarters in Dania Beach, even though these specific reports have nothing to do with money - specifically, expenditures from the American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund.
Mr. Epstein assigned the task to his top administrative assistant, Keith Siat - and this is when a consistent pattern of inaccuracy emerged. Mr. Siat apparently found it too difficult to call Washington staff members individually to ask what legislation and what issues they were working on at filing time in order to update the information. Mr. Siat apparently found it too easy to copy and paste information from the previous report to the current report - at some point, the recycled information became permanently archaic. It appears that Mr. Siat did so with Mr. Epstein's approval - and possibly at Mr. Epstein's direction.
I regret that a mid-level management failure at AMO headquarters - laziness, incompetence, carelessness - resulted in such embarrassment for everyone in our union, and I regret not reviewing each report personally as it was completed and before Mr. Siat and Mr. Epstein affixed my signature to it electronically. I regret the potential effect on our union's Voluntary Political Action Fund, AMO's legislative agenda and our Washington representatives, who do their jobs only with your best professional interests in mind. I regret the possible impact on the relationships our union has worked long and hard to establish on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill. And I regret not being able to spend every minute of every working day monitoring the performance of every AMO employee.
Appropriate disciplinary measures are pending against Mr. Epstein and Mr. Siat, and inaccurate forms filed previously with the clerks of the House of Representatives and the Senate are being revised for the official public record. I have directed that the responsibility for completing and filing the lobby disclosure forms be assigned once again to the AMO staff in Washington. With the assistance of the certified public accounting firm our union has on retainer for external auditing and other services, I am reviewing all other aspects of accounting department performance.
Moreover, I will consult with counsel to determine whether attorneys specializing in federal election and campaign finance law should manage the lobby disclosure forms and other required submissions - including the American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund financial data filed with the Federal Elections Commission. In keeping with my policy of open communication and easy AMO membership access to important information, I will also make it permanent policy that we post and archive all lobby disclosure reports on the official AMO Web site.
I welcome any additional suggestions or questions or comments you may have. As always, you can reach me on my cell phone at 202-251-0349.
Thank you.
Tom Bethel
National President
Please use this link to read the Politico article.
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