December 16, 1998
VIA FIRST CLASS MAIL
Joseph Padellaro
December 16, 1998
Page 1
Joseph Padellaro
28 Basin Road
Newburyport, MA 01950
Kenneth J. Woodring
Teamsters Local Union 115
2833 Cottman Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19149
Robert Benedetto, Sec.-Treas.
Teamsters Local Union 145
804 Fairfield Avenue
Bridgeport, CT 06604
John P. Morris, Sec.-Treas.
Teamsters Local Union 115
2833 Cottman Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19149
James Brennan, President
Teamsters Local Union 169
1355 W. Cheltenham Avenue
Elkins Park, PA 19027
Metz Slate
c/o Jim Smith
2833 Cottman Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19149
George O. Suggs, Esq.
Wilburn & Suggs
1015 Locust
Suite 818
St. Louis, MO 63101
Arthur Z. Schwartz
Kennedy, Schwartz & Cure, P.C.
113 University Place
New York, NY 10003
Patrick J. Szymanski
Baptiste & Wilder
1150 Connecticut Ave., Suite 500
Washington, DC 20036
Joseph Padellaro
December 16, 1998
Page 1
Re: Election Office Case Nos. PR-411-EO-EOH
PR-420-EO-EOH
Gentlemen:
Joseph Padellaro
December 16, 1998
Page 1
Joseph Padellaro, a candidate for Eastern Region Vice-President on the John Metz Slate, and Kenneth J. Woodring, a member of Local Union 115, filed pre-election protests pursuant to Article XIV, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 1995-1996 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”). Both protesters allege that members in the Eastern Region who requested duplicate ballots were sent Central Region ballots. The Election Officer deferred these protests for post-election review pursuant to his pursuant to his authority under Article XIV, Section 2(f)(2) of the Rules.
These protests were investigated by Deputy Election Officer Benetta M. Mansfield.
The ballots for the International Officer Rerun Election were mailed to members on November 2, 1998. Beginning November 6, 1998, the Election Officer began operating the “boiler room” at the Count Site. Members who had not received ballots, or who needed a duplicate ballot (because they ruined the first ballot) called the boiler room to make such a request. The information received at the boiler room was transmitted to a remail operation, which was responsible for creating a label and sending out a duplicate ballot to the member making the request. Even before the boiler room opened, however, the Election Officer began remailing ballots. The Election Officer had withheld from the initial mailing of several thousand ballots that had known local union or employer addresses or incomplete address information, and started to remail those ballot packages.
On or about November 6, 1998, the Election Office logged the first call from a member in the Eastern Region requesting a duplicate ballot. During the period that the boiler room operated (November 6 through November 27, 1998), the Election Officer received 1,833 calls from Eastern Region members requesting a ballot. Fifteen of those calls came from members stating that they had received a Central Region ballot in their remail packet. In each of those 15 cases, the Election Officer remailed to the member a second time, this time with an Eastern Region ballot to correct the previous error.
Prior to the vote count, the Election Officer investigated the possible extent of this problem. The Election Officer has determined that any Central Region ballot erroneously mailed to members in the Eastern Region occurred when the remail operation started. The Election Officer has determined that the error could have occurred only during the first three days of remail, i.e., November 7, 9 and 10. When the remail supervisor was advised of the error through the calls to the boiler room, strict measures were taken to insure that this did not occur.
There were 583 ballots remailed to members in the Eastern Region during the first three days of remail. There is no evidence that all 583 contained the wrong ballot. Indeed, the evidence shows that the error affected very few people. While there is no way to know the precise number of Eastern Region members who received Central Region ballots, the Election Officer finds that the error was not widespread, and certainly not involve all 583 members, for the following reasons:
Joseph Padellaro
December 16, 1998
Page 1
First, the Eastern Region members who received ballots remailed on or before November 10, had ample time to contact the boiler room to receive the correct ballot. These were members who had already contacted the boiler room for a new ballot so they knew how to do so. Because the error occurred early in the process, there was ample time to remail the correct ballot. Despite that clear opportunity, the boiler room received only 15 calls from Eastern Region members regarding the erroneous receipt of the Central Region ballot.
Second, at the count, any Cental Region ballots received from members in the Eastern Region were sent to remark-remake, so the information could be placed on an Eastern Region ballot. The remark-remake supervisors were told to keep track of such ballots. Only six Central Region ballots were sent to remake-remark from Eastern Region local unions during the count.
There is no question that an error was made in the first few days of remail. Based upon call volume, the Election Officer believes that this error did not involve more than 15 or 20 members. The protest could be denied on that basis alone.
However, even assuming that it involved the entire 583 remailed ballots to Eastern region members during the first four days of remail, this error could not have affected the outcome of the election. The margins in the races between the winning candidate with the least votes and the losing candidate with the most votes in the Eastern Region, as detailed below, are all far more than 583.
Office Margin in the Eastern Region
General President: 21,585
General Secretary-Treasurer: 17,734
At-Large Vice-President: 19,013
Trustee: 19,404
Eastern Region Vice-President: 19,295
Accordingly, the protests are DENIED.
Any interested party not satisfied with this determination may request a hearing before the Election Appeals Master within one day of receipt of this letter. The parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Officer in any such appeal. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing and shall be served on:
Kenneth Conboy, Esq.
Latham & Watkins
885 Third Avenue, Suite 1000
New York, NY 10022
Fax (212) 751-4864
Joseph Padellaro
December 16, 1998
Page 1
Copies of the request for hearing must be served on the parties listed above as well as upon the Election Officer, 444 N. Capitol Street, Suite 445, Washington, DC 20001, Facsimile
(202) 624-3525. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for a hearing.
Sincerely,
Michael G. Cherkasky
Election Officer
cc: Kenneth Conboy, Election Appeals Master