Robert Peirce Jr., a former Allegheny County commissioner and clerk of courts, gave thousands of dollars in cash to transportation union officials who played a role in helping him attract legal work from union members, according to court testimony in Houston.
Peirce, 65, is one of five lawyers identified during a hearing as making payments to officials of the Cleveland-based United Transportation Union, which represents about 125,000 active and retired rail, bus and mass transit workers in the United States and Canada. He declined to comment when reached last week at his Downtown law office.
The court testimony came in connection with the September sentencing of a former union official accused of perjuring himself before a federal grand jury in Houston.
Neal Babineaux of Katy, Texas, pleaded guilty to contempt of court and agreed to cooperate in a continuing investigation into alleged union corruption in return for two years of probation.
Within weeks of his plea, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston announced racketeering and fraud indictments against UTU President Byron Boyd Jr. of Seattle, retired UTU President Charlie Little of Leander, Texas, and one union employee. They are accused of taking nearly $500,000 in bribes from lawyers. Boyd and Little have pleaded innocent.
The union leaders' Nov. 13 indictment filed in Houston charges them with soliciting money from more than 30 lawyers who were seeking to represent injured union workers.
During Babineaux's sentencing, prosecutors named five lawyers, including Peirce, who were prepared to testify that they gave money to Babineaux. The prosecutors said the amounts ranged from $5,000 to $50,000.
Gus Saper, the defense lawyer for Babineaux, said the lawyers who made the payments were given immunity from prosecution.
"I'm certainly surprised that there are all these lawyers out here who certainly had a lot more to gain than the union officials, and they all end up with immunity," Saper said.
Prosecutors declined to comment. The 106-page indictment does not name the lawyers who made the payments. It does say that one of the lawyers is from Pittsburgh.
The unidentified lawyer made $20,000 in four payments to union officials, the court document states. One of those payments was made through an intermediary in the lawyer's firm, which was not identified. The Pittsburgh lawyer also allegedly picked up the cost of a $5,000 dinner for union officials at Shula's Steakhouse in Miami.
Peirce, a Republican, was an Allegheny County commissioner from 1976 to 1979. He also was county clerk of courts earlier in the 1970s.
He generated headlines in the 1990s for negotiating $13 million in reduced property assessments for clients. Peirce had close ties with then-Commissioners Larry Dunn and Bob Cranmer, who like Peirce were Republicans. All three denied their party ties had anything to do with the assessment reductions.
Chris Osher can be reached at cosher@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7910
