HERE'S WHAT TAXPAYERS PAID FOR

A federally appointed board has filed charges against former Teamsters Union president Ron Carey, alleging he participated in an illegal scheme that used $885,000 in union funds to boost his re-election. The board, which consists of two former federal judges and a labor lawyer, also didn't think much of Carey's Clintonesque defense. The board declared that Carey's claim that he didn't recall approving a series of improper payments a "fabrication."

Under a 1989 consent decree between the union and the Justice Department, the three-member board recommends charges to the union's executive board. The ultimate penalty under this process is a lifelong bar from the union.

As you reflect on this, keep in mind that American taxpayers paid $23 million to run a Teamsters Union election that we were told would be honest and aboveboard. Beyond this, a federal grand jury is looking into the whole mess, and Carey has been disqualified from the re-run election ordered by a court-appointed election officer.

One of the candidates in that election is certain to be James P. Hoffa, whom Carey narrowly defeated in last year's tainted contest. Says Hoffa of the disgraced Carey: "He has made our union basically an annex of the Democratic Party and the Clinton White House. It's not good for our union, and we have little to show for it." Hoffa is right. This latest Carey scandal is part of a scenario in which Carey has joined with his close ally, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, to move the labor movement sharply to the left.

Look for lots more fallout from this burgeoning scandal, which may yet engulf more unions and their leaders, as well as certain top officials of the Democratic Party who are implicated in it as well.