By Rob South, WKAR News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-867713.mp3
LANSING, MI – A local labor union is suing Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero for the return of a contribution the union made to a controversial campaign account.
AUDIO:
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 665 claims in its lawsuit that Mayor Bernero misled the union into donating $5,000 to the City Administrative Account.
Local 665 business manager Scott Clark say he was told the money would be used on city sponsored events and official travel. Clark says he started getting concerned when the 527 account showed up as a political campaign fund.
"The more we learned about it, the more deceptive it looked, so I started passing it around a little bit, letting other people analyze it," Clark says. "And I get the same kind of response from everybody. The question really becomes what he was trying to do with it."
Bernero's campaign director is calling the suit a political stunt. IBEW Local 665 supported Bernero for Mayor in 2005. They are supporting Carol Wood in this year's election. Bernero told WKAR in an interview last week that the money has been used to pay city related expenses that would have otherwise come out of the general fund.