IN RE: HOFFA UNITY SLATE,
Protest Decision 2001 EAD 502
Issued: October 12, 2001
OEA Case No. PR100514NA
The Hoffa Unity slate ("Hoffa slate") 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). The protest alleges TDU has forfeited its status as an independent committee by allowing its facilities to be used by the Tom Leedham Rank and File Power slate ("Leedham slate") for phone-banking.
Election Administrator representative Jeffrey Ellison investigated the protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
The protest concerning Leedham slate phone-banking at TDU facilities states:
To the extent in connection with TDU's involvement in this phone bank the Leedham slate takes the necessary steps to supervise access to and use of the membership list information, and to prevent its dissemination to third parties, it will be required to exert "control" over TDU. This "control" will deprive TDU of its status as an "independent committee" under the definition explicitly set forth in the Rules.
Accordingly, it is clear that in conducting phone banking on behalf of the Leedham slate, the nondisclosure provisions of Article VII will have been violated or, in the alternative, TDU's status as an "independent committee" will have been forfeited, thereby mandating that the Leedham slate be required to submit amended CCERs incorporating all of TDU's contribution and expenditure activities.
Investigation shows that the Leedham slate will phone-bank at TDU headquarters in Detroit. The membership list used for this function will, according to the Leedham slate, be supervised and controlled by a Leedham slate coordinator for the area, pursuant to the affidaviting procedure approved by the Election Administrator. Volunteers will staff the phone bank.
We DENY the protest. The protest's logic fails where it equates control of the membership list with control of the organization where the list physically is used. The Election Administrator's affidaviting procedure for a membership list maintains the chain of custody necessary to insure that the list is not provided to, inspected or copied by a third party. The use of that procedure does not bring the organization whose facilities are used for phone-banking under the control of the campaign. Indeed, a slate's properly affidavited use of a membership list for phone-banking at TDU headquarters was expressly approved in Hoffa, P634 (April 3, 1996).
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 502
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
3060 Penobscot Building
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
Jeffrey Ellison
65 Cadillac Square
Suite 3727
Detroit, MI 48226