State Unions To Be Paid By Linda McMahon After AFL-CIO President Complains

Republican Linda McMahon’s spokesman said Friday night that several union funds will be paid on Monday as part of her bankruptcy repayments – soon after the state’s top union official had complained about not being paid.

John Olsen, the longtime president of the state AFL-CIO who is also one of the state’s most prominent Democrats, told Capitol Watch on  Friday that multiple union entities – which are listed as creditors – had been seeking payment and had not yet been contacted by McMahon.

Three entities in West Haven – the Connecticut Laborers Health and Welfare Fund, Connecticut Laborers Pension Fund and New England Training Trust Fund – are listed together in McMahon’s bankruptcy documents as seeking $14,000. In addition, the Connecticut Bricklayers Supplemental Health Fund, also in West Haven, is seeking $389.

Olsen said he was aware of a news account by The Hartford Courant that Pamela Behn of Park City, Utah had been contacted by McMahon’s office and had been promised that she would be receiving a check that was related to her former co-ownership of a horse farm in the Hartford suburb of Colchester.

“If a woman in Utah was contacted, why weren’t the Laborers contacted?” Olsen asked Friday.

When told about the union complaints, McMahon’s spokesman, Todd Abrajano, referred Capitol Watch to a statement that McMahon had released on Thursday night. That statement said that payments would be made to “all private individual creditors” – prompting Olsen to say it was still unclear if the unions would be paid because a union is not an individual.

Abrajano called back soon after and said, “They will be paid on Monday.”

Olsen said he did not know the precise details of the work that the laborers had performed in 1976, but he said he believes it was related to the McMahon family home in West Hartford.

“I know the Laborers. They can use the money,” Olsen said. “They’ll take the money. They have a trust fund. … It sure looks pretty stupid to pay some woman in Utah versus some laborers who are losing their health benefits.”

He added, “I’m sure they could use the money. If she’s giving money away, we want to be in line.”

The unions have a trust fund from which pensions and health benefits are paid. The money was being sought by the fund, as opposed to the individual union members.

When told that Olsen said the issue was unclear, Abrajano said, “The statement we sent out was very clear. It outlined exactly who would be contacted by the McMahons. The actual documents list the exact amounts. All of the creditors on the list are there for everyone to see. The McMahons are going to be compensating those private, individual creditors. It’s very clear which creditors are going to be paid back. … That means private, individual creditors. The statement speaks for itself.’’

 Since McMahon has promised that the interest from 1976 would amount to four times the original amount, the unions are expecting to receive $56,000.

When told that the unions would be paid Monday, Olsen laughed and said, “This is astonishing!”