Shields-led Hawkeye Labor Council in 2008 fired Alan Bernard; basis of firing now leads to federal charges

CEDAR RAPIDS - Alan Bernard, the former executive director of the Hawkeye Labor Council, has been charged in federal court with forging more than $24,800 in checks on the council's account and more than $6,500 on an individual's credit account.

The charges have been two years in the making and center on allegations that surfaced in February 2008 when the labor council suspended Bernard from his post and publicly revealed that its president at the time, City Council member Justin Shields, had confronted Bernard about “financial irregularities.”

The turn of events was not a pleasant one for Shields, who had hired Bernard in February 2005 and who then went on to raise the profile of the labor council and its influence in the community with Bernard's help.

The labor council, which is a coalition of some 40 union locals in Linn and neighboring counties, developed political muscle sufficient at the time for Shields to have Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, come to Cedar Rapids to campaign for Shields's election in 2005 to the City Council.

In early 2009, the labor council picked a new president, a job that Shields had held for 11 years. Shields, though, ran unopposed in November 2009 and remains on the City Council.

Bernard, 56, was charged Friday in federal court in Minneapolis, Minn., where he was arrested. He faces one count of access device fraud and 36 counts of use of forged securities, according to the indictment. He was released on bond.

He will appear for arraignment at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.

According to the indictment, Bernard used the credit of another person to purchase items from July 2006 to July 2007 totaling $6,511. He also allegedly used forged checks totaling $24,869 from the council's account on 36 occasions during the same time period.

The checks were drawn from the council's account at Farmers State Bank in Marion, according to the indictment. The 36 checks ranged in amounts from $300 to more than $1,000.

If convicted, Bernard faces possible prison time and fines.

Bernard came to Cedar Rapids a couple years before taking the job at the Hawkeye Labor Council and worked as the director of stadium operations and sales for the Kernels baseball team. While with the labor council, he also ran his own business, VoteFactory.com, which sold yard signs and campaign materials to candidates.

Before coming to Cedar Rapids, Bernard was an attorney practicing out of his own office in Des Moines. In January 2000, a judge filed an action against Bernard for frequently being late for court appearances. A few weeks later, he was arrested and charged with delivery of methamphetamine, a charge subsequently reduced to possession of methamphetamine. He served 20 days of a suspended jail sentence, was put on probation and completed substance abuse treatment. His law license was suspended in November 2002 by the Iowa Supreme Court.