CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Gary Rodrigues and wife, Tani Olaso, headed into federal court yesterday.
Rodrigues
vows appealThe former UPW chief
gets a five-year term
for a fraud convictionHis attorney maintains there is
"no basis" for the U.S. court verdict
Former United Public Workers leader Gary Rodrigues, who was sentenced to more than five years in prison yesterday, is confident his convictions on charges he defrauded the union will be reversed on appeal, his attorney says.
"There's just no legal basis for the convictions," Doron Weinberg, Rodrigues' attorney said after Rodrigues was allowed to remain free on bail pending an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "We believe the court of appeals will agree with us on that."
Chief Judge David Ezra sentenced Rodrigues, 61, to five years and four months in federal prison for his convictions on 101 counts, including mail fraud, embezzlement, conspiracy to launder money and money laundering.
Rodrigues was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release, pay a $50,000 fine, and $378,104 restitution to the UPW. He was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $10,100, or $100 per count, to help defray court costs.
A jury found Rodrigues guilty last November of negotiating consulting fees for the union's medical and dental contracts and funneling those fees to his daughter, Robin Haunani Rodrigues Sabatini, without the executive board's knowledge and approval.
He was also found guilty of accepting $117,000 in kickbacks from an agent of the union's life insurance carrier. Sabatini was convicted along with her father on 95 counts and will be sentenced in December.
Longtime critics of Rodrigues expressed satisfaction that he was finally sentenced, but say he should have been ordered to serve his term immediately.
"I still say justice delayed is justice denied," said Angel Santiago-Cruz, one of three union stewards who challenged Rodrigues four years ago to open union records involving questionable financial transactions.
While he doesn't dispute Rodrigues has done much for the union, "it's just that he forgot who he was serving," Santiago-Cruz said.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Assistant U.S. Attorney Florence Nakakuni and Ed Fischer, special agent with the U.S. Department of Labor, talked to reporters yesterday after ex-UPW head Gary Rodrigues was sentenced.
Under Rodrigues, members were pushed aside by management and greed "in capital letters," said Santiago-Cruz.
Former steward Keith Faufata, who also opposed Rodrigues, said the union leader's federal trial and subsequent conviction accomplished what they were unable to do in 1999.
"We got our objective, and that was to get corruption out of the union," he said.
With Rodrigues out and much of his supporters losing ground, democracy is being restored to the union, Santiago-Cruz said. "We're on our way to our final goal, which is to bring the membership to its rightful place in the union. We are the union -- the members."
Weinberg credited Rodrigues yesterday for bettering the work conditions and lives of the 12,000-member union and the state.
"He moved the union from a very small, not politically significant entity to an important major force in the culture and politics of the state," he said.
Rodrigues' convictions "was a very small piece of what Gary Rodrigues has done to his life and his union," Weinberg said.
In arguing for a higher sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Flo Nakakuni described Rodrigues as a man who came to believe he was "above the law" because he was state director of the UPW, powerful and politically connected.
At some point, he forgot his fiduciary duties and became greedy, lining his pockets and those of his daughter, she said. "In betraying the trust of the members, he treated members with disrespect and contempt."
Nakakuni disagreed with the defense's contention that Rodrigues' convictions on 101 counts was a "small part" of who he was, saying his criminal conduct occurred as far back as 1992 when he directed that consultant fees be paid to the stepfather of his then-girlfriend to repay a personal loan.
While Ezra concurred that Rodrigues served the interests of the rank-and-file well, the judge said the evidence was overwhelming that Rodrigues took it upon himself to take money from the union for his personal benefit. "There's simply no question Mr. Rodrigues violated his trust and position of responsibility."
Rodrigues did not address the court during sentencing because he doesn't believe he did anything wrong, Weinberg said.
"He believes what he did ... is to direct an opportunity that legitimately existed to his daughter, who was qualified," and at no cost to the union and its members.
Nakakuni said she was not surprised Rodrigues expressed no remorse and did not accept some responsibility. "To date he has not and I don't expect him to ever do that."
The government is confident it will defeat Rodrigues' appeal, she said.
Santiago-Cruz said he hopes what has happened to Rodrigues serves as a wake-up call to other union leaders.
The union, which is under administratorship by its mainland parent, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is expected to elect a new state director and executive board at its upcoming convention in December.
