IN RE: ANTONIO SILVA, Protestor.
Protest Decision 2006 ESD 159
Issued: March 24, 2006
OES Case No. P-06-228-032006-AT
Antonio Silva, member and business agent of Local Union 97, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2005-2006 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). He asserted that the members of the Kleinerman slate violated Article VII, Sections 3(a) and 7(a)(4)(b) of the Rules by distributing campaign literature without obtaining the mailing list from the local union or providing the secretary-treasurer of the local union with a copy of the campaign literature.
Election Supervisor representative J. Griffin Morgan investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
Investigation showed that the Leedham campaign mailed campaign material to Local Union 97 members in support of electing Kleinerman's Team with Integrity slate, which is opposing the Gerow/Perez Slate in Support of Hoffa/Keegel 2006. Article VII, Section 3(a) permits "[u]se of a membership list in support of the election of delegate and/or alternate delegate candidates, … provided that the list is used solely to advance the accredited or nominated candidate's campaign for nomination and/or election." The Leedham campaign has complied with the requirements of Article VII, Section 3(a). In addition, a representative of the mail house the Leedham campaign used has executed an affidavit pledging that it will use the membership list only for the purposes permitted under the Rules. This use of the membership list by the Leedham campaign is permitted. See Rhinier, 2006 ESD 126 (March 4, 2006), and authority cited therein. The protestor's contention that the Kleinerman slate must obtain the mailing list for the local union membership either from the local union or from the Election Supervisor is therefore incorrect, as Rhinier makes clear. Accordingly, we DENY this aspect of the protest.
The protestor further alleges that Kleinerman failed to submit to Local Union 97's secretary-treasurer a copy of the literature to be mailed. Article VII, 7(a)(4)(b) of the Rules establishes such a requirement only where the candidate or slate requests that the local union duplicate the campaign literature for mailing. The Kleinerman slate did not make such a request and therefore was under no obligation to submit its literature to the local union. Accordingly, we DENY the balance of the protest.
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 Supervisor 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
885 Third Avenue, Suite 1000
New York, New York 10022
Fax: (212) 751-4864
Copies of the request for hearing must be served upon the parties, as well as upon the Election Supervisor for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 1725 K Street, N.W., Suite 1400, Washington, D.C. 20007-5135, all within the time prescribed above. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Kenneth Conboy
2006 ESD 159
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001-2198
braymond@teamster.org
Sarah Riger, Staff Attorney
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001-2198
sriger@teamster.org
David J. Hoffa, Esq.
Hoffa 2006
30300 Northwestern Highway, Suite 324
Farmington Hills, MI 48834
David@hoffapllc.com
Barbara Harvey
645 Griswold Street
Suite 3060
Detroit, MI 48226
blmharvey@sbcglobal.net
Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
P.O. Box 10128
Detroit, MI 48210
ken@tdu.org
Daniel E. Clifton
Lewis, Clifton & Nikolaidis, P.C.
275 Seventh Avenue, Suite 2300
New York, NY 10001
dclifton@lcnlaw.com
Stephen Ostrach
1863 Pioneer Parkway East, #217
Springfield, OR 97477-3907
saostrach@gmail.com
John J. Gerow
210 5th Avenue
Belmar, NJ 07719
teamsterslocal.ninetyseven@verizon.net
Antonio Silva
410 High Street
Cranford, NJ 07016
teamsterslocal.ninetyseven@verizon.net
Mark Kleinerman
31-19 Morlot Avenue
Fair Lawn, NJ 07410-4025
J. Griffin "Griff" Morgan
Elliot, Pishko, Morgan
426 Old Salem Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
jgmorgan@epmlaw.com
Jeffrey Ellison
510 Highland Avenue, #325
Milford, MI 48381
EllisonEsq@aol.com