IN RE: HOFFA UNITY SLATE,
Protest Decision 2001 EAD 498
Issued: October 5, 2001
OEA Case No. PR091911NA
The Hoffa Unity slate ("Hoffa slate"), by Todd Thompson, 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") against Teamsters for a Democratic Union ("TDU") and Teamsters Rank and File Education and Legal Defense Foundation. The protest alleges that TDU and TRF have subsidized partisan campaign activity on behalf of the Tom Leedham Rank and File Power slate (the "Leedham slate"), as allegedly indicated on the face of legal and accounting expense verifications filed by TDU/TRF activists Ken Paff and David Levin.
Election Administrator representative Michael Nicholson investigated the protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
Article XI, Section 1(b)(5) of the Rules provides for legal and accounting activities, as discussed in Taylor, 2001 EAD 256 (March 23, 2001) and 01 EAM 59 (May 14, 2001), to be funded by certain contributions other than those received from IBT members. In our Third Addendum to Advisory on Campaign Contributions and Disclosure (May 31, 2001), we imposed a requirement that each person that has provided paid or in-kind legal or accounting services to a candidate, slate or independent committee file a verification that the services are such within the meaning of the Rules, as explained in the Third Addendum.
Pursuant to that requirement, Paff and Levin filed such verifications with the campaign disclosures for the three-month period ending August 31, 2001. The verifications each stated that the signer is a full-time employee of TRF, has reviewed TRF's Supplemental Form #1 for the fifth CCER reporting period, that "[t]he amounts stated in the [form] for legal and accounting expenditures reflect in part the costs to TRF for [the signer's] time, as reflected on [the signer's] contemporaneously kept time records," and that "[a]ll such compensation to me by TRF was for legal or accounting service for the purposes defined in Article XI, Section 1(b)(5) of the Rules for the 2000-2001 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election, and not campaign contributions."
The protest alleges that in signing the verifications Paff and Levin "state without qualification that they are 'full time' employees of TRF and that all compensation received by them from TRF 'was for legal and accounting service for the purposes defined in Article XI, Section 1(b)(5) of the Rules…', [and that] in these signed verifications, both Levin and Paff (and possibly others) have confirmed that despite the fact that they have performed significant partisan campaign work on behalf of Leedham all compensation paid to them from TRF has been allocated to 'legal and accounting' work, not campaign work." (Emphasis in original.)
TRF's Supplemental Form #1 for the CCER #5 period lists period total expenditures for legal and accounting services totaling $470.89 and $855.08 respectively. The Paff and Levin verifications, if read properly, state that Paff and Levin have read the Supplemental Form #1 containing these amounts and that these amounts stated in the form reflect in part the costs to TRF for the signer's time as reflected on his contemporaneous time records, and that all such compensation to them by TRF was for legal or accounting service for the purposes defined in Article XI, Section 1(b)(5) of the Rules.
As the employer of Paff and Levin, TRF issues them paychecks and withholds and forwards their payroll deductions to taxing authorities and other parties. As employees of TRF, Paff and Levin spend time performing election-related legal or accounting services, along with other functions, for which they are paid by TRF. They also have performed activities for TDU, including activities that are both election and non-election related. Time expended by Paff and Levin for TDU election-related activities that are not legal and accounting services is billed to and paid by TDU out of funds exclusively received from IBT members eligible to make such contributions.
Thompson suggests that the Paff and Levin verifications state that "all compensation" paid to Paff and Levin was for legal and accounting work. The verification form does not so state. Rather, it says that the amounts shown on the Supplemental Form #1 reflect in part the costs to TRF for their legal and accounting work and that "all such compensation" to them "by TRF was for legal and accounting service." The verifications do not claim that all compensation paid to the signers was for legal and accounting service.
Nor do either TRF or TDU make such a claim. Instead, we have examined the allocation of Paff's and Levin's time for the period in question, taken from their contemporaneous time records, and have verified that both of them have recorded the time they spent during that period on election-related activity. And, as reflected in TDU's CCER filing, all compensation for such time was paid for with permissible IBT member contributions.
Accordingly, having found no evidence supporting the protest and no violation of the Rules, we DENY it.
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 (facsimile: 202-454-1501), all within the time 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 498
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
Todd Thompson
209 Pennsylvania Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20003
Matt Ginsburg
30 Third Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11271
James L. Hicks, Jr., P.C.
Suite 1100
2777 N. Stemmons Freeway
Dallas, TX 75207
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
7437 Michigan Avenue
Detroit, MI 48210
Teamsters Rank and File Education and Legal Defense Foundation
7437 Michigan Avenue
Detroit, MI 48210
Bruce Dubinsky
Klausner Dubinsky & Associates
4520 East West Highway
Suite 640
Bethesda, MD 20814