IN RE: MICHAEL CORRIGAN,
Protest Decision 2001 EAD 111
Issued: January 30, 2001
OEA Case Nos. PR011212MW
Michael Corrigan, a member of Local 743, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2000-2001 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). Corrigan alleges that Richard Berg and Debra Simmons, candidates for IBT convention delegate on the 743 New Leadership slate (the "New Leadership slate"), improperly nominated, seconded and submitted a signed acceptance for Local 743 member Rutha Spencer as a member of their slate without her knowledge or consent.
Election Administrator representative Dennis Sarsany investigated the protest.
Findings of Fact
Local 743 held its nomination meeting on January 3, 2001. At that meeting, Spencer was nominated and seconded. Subsequently, protestor Corrigan says that he learned of the facts underlying his protest on information provided to him by Local 743 members Willie Johnson and Philip Johns.
According to Johnson, he and Johns, a Local 743 business agent, attended a contract ratification hearing at Grant Hospital on January 11, 2001. There, they had a conversation with Spencer in which they told her that she had been nominated to run on the New Leadership slate. Johnson says that Spencer told them she knew nothing about this, and had not authorized submission of any written acceptance of the nomination. Johnson and Johns instructed Ms. Spencer to contact consultant Julie Hamos, who had been retained by Local 743 to conduct its delegate election.
Hamos told our investigator that a document that appeared to be Spencer's written acceptance of nomination had been submitted in writing at the January 3 nomination meeting. According to Hamos, however, Spencer had not signed the New Leadership slate declaration form, nor had she contacted Hamos regarding her status as a candidate.
Spencer told our investigator that Berg had asked her to run as an alternate delegate on the New Leadership slate. She says she told Berg that she was too busy to run because she was attending school. She said that she had not signed anything stating her acceptance of a delegate or alternate delegate nomination at Berg's request or otherwise. When asked if she had felt pressured by Johnson and Johns to withdraw from the campaign, she stated that she was very busy and did not have time to become involved. She also gave this explanation when asked why she had not contacted Hamos to have her name removed from the ballot.
Berg claimed that he met with Spencer during a break in the lobby/hall at Grant Hospital. He claimed that she agreed to run on the New Leadership slate and that he obtained her signature on an acceptance form. He could not state the time and day of the conversation. He says that he had not tried to obtain her signature on the New Leadership slate declaration form. Berg seemed genuinely surprised that Spencer did not want to run and stated "all she had to do was say she didn't want to run, it's not a problem for us."
Based on the foregoing, we conclude that Spencer originally agreed to be a candidate on the New Leadership slate, and executed a written acceptance of nomination. Because of her evasiveness, our investigator did not credit her statement to the contrary. Further, after hearing that her name had appeared on a written acceptance of nomination, Spencer made no effort to discover who might have (as she now claims) forged her name on a document, and made no effort to have her name removed from the ballot. Her failure to act does not ring true.
Both Spencer and Berg agree that they spoke about her nomination. If Spencer declined to run, as she claims, little benefit would have accrued to Berg from falsifying her acceptance. Further, under the Rules, a written acceptance includes the social security number of the candidate and one must question how Berg would have obtained this privileged information if not from Spencer. Finally, Berg was surprised Spencer claimed not to have signed the acceptance form, and did not hesitate to admit that he had not obtained a signature from Spencer on the New Leadership slate declaration form. This is consistent with the documentation filed with Hamos. We accordingly credit Berg's denial and find that neither he nor Simmons submitted a forged acceptance for Spencer.
For the foregoing reasons, the protest is DENIED.
Any interested party not satisfied with this determination may request a hearing before the Election Appeals Master within two (2) working days of receipt of this decision. The parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Administrator in any such appeal. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing, shall specify the basis for the appeal, and shall be served upon:
Kenneth Conboy
Election Appeals Master
Latham & Watkins
Suite 1000
885 Third Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Fax: 212-751-4864
Copies of the request for hearing must be served upon all other parties, as well as upon the Election Administrator for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 727 15th Street NW, Tenth Floor, Washington, DC 20005, all within the time period prescribed above. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
William A. Wertheimer, Jr.
William A. Wertheimer, Jr.
Election Administrator
cc: Kenneth Conboy
2001 EAD 111
DISTRIBUTION LIST VIA UPS NEXT DAY AIR:
Patrick Szymanski
IBT General Counsel
25 Louisiana Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001
Bradley T. Raymond
Finkel, Whitefield, Selik,
Raymond, Ferrara & Feldman
32300 Northwestern Highway
Suite 200
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
J. Douglas Korney
Korney & Heldt
30700 Telegraph Road
Suite 1551
Bingham Farms, MI 48025
Barbara Harvey
Penobscot Building
Suite 1800
645 Griswold
Detroit, MI 48226
Betty Grdina
Yablonski, Both & Edelman
Suite 800
1140 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
Tom Leedham c/o Stefan Ostrach
110 Mayfair
Eugene, OR 97404
IBT Local 743
300 S. Ashland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60607
Michael Corrigan
3440 Elmwood Avenue
Beryn, IL 60402
Richard Berg
1336 W. Argyle
Chicago, IL 60640
Debra Simmons
750 N. Dearborn Ave.'#802
Chicago, IL 60610
Rutha Spencer
911 Menard
Chicago, IL 60610
Julie Hamos
203 N. Wabash
Suite 1800
Chicago, IL 60601
Dennis Sarsany
1829 Eddy Street
Chicago, IL 60657