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Frank J. Christensen (April 17, 1961) is an American labor leader. He is the long-serving Business Manager of Elevator Constructors Local 2, a Vice President of the International Union of Elevator Constructors, and Chairman of the Illinois Elevator Safety Board since 2003.
A native Chicagoan, Christensen was President of Local 2 from 1998 to 2001. He became Business Manager in September 2001 and was re-elected in 2002, 2005 and 2008. He is the longest-serving Business Manager of Elevator Constructors Local 2 since the 1920s. In July 2003, he was named Chairman of the Illinois Elevator Safety Board by Governor Rod Blagojevich and was reappointed as Chairman in 2007. On September 2, 2009 Governor Pat Quinn reappointed Christensen and extended his term as Chairman to 2013. In October 2003, he was appointed International Vice President by Elevator Constructors General President Dana Brigham. In 2005, Frank Christensen was selected as the Illinois Maritime Labor Man of the Year.
The Associated Press broke a story on March 3, 2008, that union officers from the Elevator Constructors received three appointments to the Illinois Elevator Safety Board in the same month the Elevator Constructors Local 2 PAC Fund donated $10,000 to impeached Governor Blagojevich's campaign in July 2003.[1][2] The report was part of a broader series of corruption scandals involving removed Governor Blagojevich and convicted fund-raiser Tony Rezko. Rezko would be convicted of 16 of the 24 Federal Counts of the indictment against him in June 2008.
The AP reported that Christensen was technically not eligible for the Board position because his village (Tinley Park, Illinois) had a population in excess of 53,000 in 2003 and that Christensen was appointed to represent a municipality with a population between 25,000 and 50,000. Christensen responded that the appointments to the State Board had nothing to do with the Local 2 PAC Fund campaign contribution on July 23, 2003, and he was not aware of the population of his village at the time of his appointment. In 2007, he was reappointed Chairman by removed Governor Blagojevich to represent a municipality with a population between 25,000 and 50,000. Tinley Park's population was in excess of 58,000 in 2007.[3][4][2]
CBS 2 Chicago reported on March 4, 2008, that among the issues expected to come up at the Rezko federal corruption trial is Blagojevich's 2003 appointment of Christensen to the state safety board.[5] On March 8, 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice released additional court documents showing Rezko's involvement with Blagojevich political fund-raising. Included in the document is a $10,000 Elevator Constructors Local 2 PAC fund contribution dated July 23, 2003, that went through Tony Rezko and was deposited into the Blagojevich campaign accounts two days later. Elevator Constructors Local 2's President John Valone was named in the document. Elevator Constructors Local 2 Political Fund was the one of the few union PAC funds to donate money through Rezko from June 2001 to August 2004.[6][7][8]
International Union of Elevator Constructors Regional Director Ed Christensen was on convicted felon Tony Rezko's Clout List. Ed Christensen is the older brother of Frank J. Christensen. The list was released in federal court documents in the Rezko federal corruption trial. Ed Christensen received re-appointment to the Building Commission of the Illinois Capital Development Board in 2003 by impeached Governor Blagojevich.[9][10]
On September 2, 2009 Governor Pat Quinn reappointed Frank Christensen as Chairman of the Illinois Elevator Board in the Labor position reserved for Cook County. Previously he had served on the Elevator Board a Representative for a Municipality with a population between 25,000 and 50,000. According to the Associated Press in a September 4, 2009 article, Frank Christensen's term as head of the Elevator Safety Review Board wouldn't have expired until 2011, but Quinn gave him a new stint that extends to 2013.
The Associated Press reported in 2008 that the union donated $10,000 to Blagojevich in July 2003, around the time Christensen and another Local 2 member were appointed to the panel that is revamping elevator construction and maintenance rules -- which could mean more jobs for installers. The contribution was later mentioned at the trial of political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who was convicted of trying to milk campaign money for Blagojevich out of businesses seeking state work. Christensen denies any connection between the donation and the board post and says neither he nor other key Local 2 officials have ever met Rezko. Christensen has not been accused of wrongdoing.[11]
Christensen has maintained there was no link between the $10,000 contribution and the two board appointments. The other member has since left the panel. "There was nothing meant by it," Christensen said this week. "Any guy running for governor that is labor friendly, if it's a Republican or a Democrat, we would have donated to them." But no other contribution from Local 2 comes close to that amount, according to state campaign finance records. Christensen explained that by saying the union's political action committee had sufficient funds at the time and "when you've got the money, you give what you can."[12]
The Associated Press also reported that a federal judge ruled in 2007, however, that the union improperly retaliated against three of its members for disagreeing with Christensen in his role as chairman of the elevator board. Christensen denies that was the case. According to the Associated Press, a lawsuit brought by Local 2 members, a federal judge declared in May 2007 that the union wrongly disciplined the members and declared one ineligible to run for election as a union officer. District Court Judge George Lindberg found that the union took "retaliatory disciplinary actions" against the members for disagreeing about proposed elevator-safety rules with Christensen, who was acting in his role as elevator board chairman. Christensen said the ruling was by an anti-labor judge and that an earlier National Labor Relations Board ruling upheld Local 2's decision on the election eligibility.[13]
The United States Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against Elevator Constructors Local 2 in Illinois Northern Federal District Court for other statues and micellaneous reasons on March 18, 2008. [14] The case was heard by the Honorable John F. Grady, a former Chief Judge. The lawsuit was filed by United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald on behalf of the United States Department of Labor asking the Court to have Elevator Constructors Local 2 comply with the DOL subpoena filed on April 24, 2007 for various records, books, papers and documents.
According to the Associated Press in an article written on September 4, 2009; That in May 2007, the U.S. Department of Labor subpoenaed myriad financial records from Local 2 for 2003 to 2006, saying it was seeking possible violations of federal law in economic reporting and record-keeping. The documents were turned over earlier this year (2009). Labor spokesman Michael Volpe said he could not confirm or deny that there is an investigation. Christensen said he has won a court order that the Labor Department comply with his Freedom of Information Act request for documents about the agency's activities.[15]
On IUEC Local 2's Website the letter from the Union Attorney is prefaced as the firm represents "all the Members of IUEC Local 2" and that the letter responding to false allegations presented by a member of the Executive Board at a meeting. [16]
In a letter dated May 19, 2008 by the Union Attorney and released on IUEC Local 2's website on June 18, 2008, claims the subpoena request was contrary to the Department of Labor's long-standing policy of auditing Local Unions in the office of the Union in order to avoid unwarranted intrusion in the affairs of the local and that the Department of Labor took their actions solely as a means of harassing Local 2 and interfering with its operations. [17]
The Department of Labor wanted to compel Local 2 to produce originals of all its records at the Department of Labor's Office in May 2007. According to the Union Attorney, the Department of Labor never responded to Local 2's offer to comply with the Local's request to review the records at the Local's Office. In the Union Attorney's statement in the letter, "with the passage of time, coupled with the utter silence of the DOL, can only lead to the logical conclusion that the DOL has abandoned the subpoena." [18]
On July 30, 2008 In Federal District Court in Chicago, Elevator Constructors Local 2 decided to comply to the demands of the US Department of Labor subpoena and will transfer the requested documents and computer files by November 12, 2008. On January 14, 2009 the Department of Labor said that Local 2 was in compliance with the subpoena and Federal Judge John F. Grady dismissed the case with prejudice.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Position created |
Chairman of the Illinois Elevator Safety
Board July, 2003 – |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by Ed Christensen |
Business Manager of Elevator Constructors Local
2 September 16, 2001 – |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by John Green |
Vice President of International Union of Elevator
Constructors October 14, 2003 – |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
|
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