Friends are legion, so is union's influence

Coryell's friends are legion, so is union's influence

AFTER A STRIKE shut down the Pennsylvania Convention Center for one day last week - just as a 10,000-delegate convention was about to begin - some suggested that Gov. Corbett intervene to jawbone the Carpenters District Council and its president, Ed Coryell Sr., the man who called the strike.

That may not be a good idea.

Although our conservative Republican governor could be expected to frown upon the antics of a labor union at the state-owned center, Corbett may not be the man to bring down the hammer on the carpenters' union, if you will excuse the pun.

That's because the governor is also a bona fide FOE - a Friend of Ed, one of the many politicians who has received money from the union in the form of campaign contributions. A look at that record shows that Ed has many, many friends.

The carpenters' political-action committee (PAC) gave Corbett $250,000 when he first ran for governor in 2010. That's big money by any standard and, as we all know, money talks in politics.

Although it seems out of character - after all, aren't unions supposed to give just to Democrats? - the carpenters' PAC has a slight Republican tilt. That's partly because the carpenters' union is a regional one and covers a number of counties in eastern Pennsylvania, many of them Republican controlled.

It's also a good example of Coryell's practice of realpolitik. You give to winners (and Corbett was a clear favorite in 2010) and you give to people in power, regardless of party. In the three-year period ending in 2012, the carpenters' PAC handed out $1.5 million in campaign contributions. Corbett was the biggest recipient of the PAC's largesse.

This is something to keep in mind while surveying the mess that is the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The $1.3 billion center that now sprawls from Broad to 11th Street is in danger of becoming a white elephant.

After it completed a $786 million expansion in 2011, the center was primed to attract conventions that draw thousands of delegates. Backers of the expansion - paid entirely with taxpayer dollars - projected 20 to 30 of these so-called citywides each year.

The center has 20 conventions this year, but then the numbers quickly drop off; only eight are booked for 2016. The word among convention bookers is this: They love the city and love the center, but hate the hassle factor - shorthand for trouble with excessive costs and with some of the union workers. So, they are booking elsewhere. In the highly competitive national market, there are lots of other choices.

Coryell wears two hats at the convention center. As head of the carpenters, he is leader of one of the six unions that represent center workers and his son, Ed Coryell Jr., is the union's business manager at the center.

The carpenters are the problem child, subject of most of the complaints about bad service and high fees. As one center source put it: "We don't have a labor problem. We have a carpenters' union problem."

As a union leader, it was Coryell who walked out of contract negotiations with the center's management July 31 and called a strike. It is the carpenters, sources say, who are the only obstacle to a long-term contract and Customer Satisfaction Agreement (CSA).

The strike forced the center's management to cave on getting a new CSA - officially, postponing it for a year - out of fear that the canceling of a convention of the American Diabetes Educators would be a public-relations disaster that would put the nail in the coffin of the center's already damaged reputation. Make that a union-hammered nail.

Coryell's second hat is that of a member of the board that manages the center. He was recently named to replace Pat Gillespie, head of the local Building and Construction Trades Council.

To put it another way, Coryell is both labor and management. On the labor side of the table he has the deciding vote. On the management side, he is one of 15 board members, so he does not seem to have as much leverage.

But, look again. As leader of a large 8,000-member regional union, Coryell has clout that exceeds most of the other 14 board members. His PAC giving assures even more.

* Coryell was appointed to the board by the Republican leader of the state Senate, Joe Scarnati, of Jefferson County. Since 2010, Scarnati has received $60,000 from the carpenters' PAC.

* Coryell's appointment was advanced by state Sen. Tony Williams ($5,000 from the PAC), who has aspirations to run for mayor in 2015. (It never hurts to have labor on your side in this city.)

* Appointing rights on the 15-member board are divvied up among officials in the five counties, the governor and legislative leaders. Rob Wonderling, head of the region's Chamber of Commerce, and John Kroll, a representative of the local hotel industry, are Corbett appointees.

* Democrat Josh Shapiro ($30,000 from the PAC) is the board member from Montgomery County, where he serves as an elected county commissioner.

* Councilwoman Marian Tasco ($15,000) is an appointee of Mayor Nutter ($20,000).

* Councilman Mark Squilla is an appointee of City Council president Darrell Clarke ($5,000). In all, the union's PAC has contributed $116,000 to 14 Council members since 2010.

* Board member Frank Buzydlowski is an appointee of Council Minority Leader Brian O'Neill ($26,000). Both are Republicans.

* David Woods is a board member appointed by the Senate president, but his claim to fame came as chief of staff to Senate Republican leader Dominic Pileggi ($155,000), who may be the most influential legislator in Harrisburg. The PAC has also given $100,000 to eight other state senators - six Democrats and two other Republicans.

A $1,000 contribution here; $10,000 there; $25,000 to someone else. Pretty soon, it all adds up. Ten of the 15 board members are FOEs or appointed by FOEs.

Make that 11. I forgot Coryell himself.

All of this will give special meaning to the moment when the convention-center board, trying to stop the center's free fall, fashions a solution and then turns to board member Ed Coryell and asks: "Ed, what do you think?'

When Coryell speaks, they will listen.

Source: Philly.com