Frank J. Christensen - Illinois Elevator Safety Board

Illinois Elevator Safety Board

The Associated Press broke a story on September 4, 2009 concerning the reappointment of a Union Official to a State Board. On September 2, 2009 Illinois Governor Pat Quinn reappointed Christensen as the Chairman of the Illinois Elevator Board in the Labor position reserved for Cook County. Previously Christensen had served on the Elevator Board as a Representative for a Municipality with a population between 25,000 and 50,000. Christensen's term as head of the Elevator Safety Review Board wouldn't have expired until 2011, but Quinn gave him a new term that extends his appointment to 2013.

The Associated Press had reported in 2008 that his 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. Christensen has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Christensen has maintained there was no link between the $10,000 contribution and the two board appointments. The other two 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."

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.