IN RE: HOFFA 2006, Protestor.
Protest Decision 2006 ESD 238
Issued: May 12, 2006
OES Case No. P 06 141-021306-MW
Hoffa 2006 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"). The protest alleged that campaign literature was mailed to Local Union 299 members by an unregistered independent committee, United Teamsters Against Hoffa (UTAH), in violation of the Rules. The protest further alleged that the Leedham slate provided a Local Union 299 membership list to UTAH, which "cannot obtain or use such a list."
Election Supervisor representatives William C. Broberg and Joe F. Childers investigated the protest.
Findings of Fact
The subject of the protest is a 4-page full-color flyer mailed to the membership of Local Union 299. The first page was headed with "Local 299 Teamsters for Change," a slate contesting Local Union 299's delegate and alternate delegate election. Immediately beneath the slate's name and its mailing address was a logo consisting of the IBT horses-and-wheel emblem over which was superimposed "U.T.A.H. United Teamsters Against Hoffa www.UTAH2006.com." Portions of the slate's platform were printed beneath the logo, including a plank seeking to "Nominate the Leedham Strong Contracts, Good Pensions Slate to Run Against Hoffa." The second page of the flyer displayed photos, names, and employers of the candidates for delegate and alternate delegate on the Local 299 Teamsters for Change slate. The top half of the third page listed bullet points comparing the merits of Teamsters for Change slate members with those on the opposing Moore Members First slate. The bottom half of the third page reprinted a sample ballot with voting instructions. The flyer's fourth page repeated issues the slate promoted and reprinted the UTAH logo.
Investigation showed that the Leedham campaign supplied the Local Union 299 membership list to the mailhouse that mailed the flyer, using the IBT membership list Tom Leedham was granted under Article VII, Section 3 of the Rules when he gained accreditation for International office in December 2005. Using this mailing list, the Teamsters for Change flyer was mailed to approximately 4,894 members of Local Union 299 in February 2006.
Analysis
The protest contends that the Leedham campaign supplied the Local Union 299 portion of its IBT membership to UTAH, which the protest contends is an independent committee, and that this action violated the Rules because an independent committee "cannot obtain or use" the membership list and cannot endorse candidates for office. We reject each of the premises the protest advances.
Investigation showed that the Leedham campaign supplied the membership list for use by the Teamsters for Change slate, a slate with an announced goal of nominating the Leedham slate for International office. Article VII, Section 3 of the Rules expressly permits the membership list issued to an accredited candidate to be used in a delegate and alternate delegate election, "provided that the list is used solely to advance the accredited … candidate's campaign for nomination …" See generally Rhinier, 2006 ESD 126 (March 4, 2006), and cases collected there; see also Silva, 2006 ESD 159 (March 24, 2006) (use of membership list in delegate election by Leedham campaign no violation); and Misich, 2006 ESD 175 (April 10, 2006) (use of membership list in delegate election by Hoffa campaign no violation).
No evidence was presented that the list was provided to UTAH. Such a fact, if established, would not state a Rules violation in this case. We previously considered and rejected the Hoffa campaign's contention that UTAH was an independent committee during the period that Local Union 299's delegate and alternate delegate election was being conducted; instead, we held it was a candidate committee controlled by J.D. Jackson and Joel Dunn, two candidates competing in that local union's delegate election. Hoffa 2006, 2006 ESD 172 (April 6, 2006). No appeal was taken from that decision. As the precedents cited above permit accredited candidates to use membership lists in delegate elections, it is irrelevant to our analysis here whether the list was provided for use in the Local Union 299 delegate election by Teamsters for Change or UTAH.
Finally, we reject the protestor's contention that an independent committee "cannot obtain or use" a membership list that has been issued to an accredited candidate and cannot endorse candidates. In Hoffa, P634 (April 3, 1996), the Election Officer found that the Rules permit use of a membership list at a TDU phone bank operation to campaign for an International officer candidate, where appropriate safeguards were used to protect the list from improper use. Moreover, independent committees by definition may engage in campaign activity in support of or opposition to candidates; such permitted campaign activity includes the right to endorse.1
Accordingly, we DENY 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 Office of the Election Supervisor for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 1725 K Street, Suite 1400, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006, 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 238
1 Definition 22 permits independent committees to make campaign contributions or expenditures "where the purpose, object or foreseeable effect of the contribution or expenditure is to influence the election of International Officer candidate(s)." Definition 5 defines "campaign contribution" to include "[a]n endorsement or counter-endorsement by an individual, group of individuals, or entity."
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
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
J.D. Jackson
1584 West Thirteen Mile Road
Madison Heights, MI 48071
Kevin Moore, President
IBT Local Union 299
2741 Trumbull Avenue
Detroit, MI 48216
Julie Fosbinder
1515 Mockingbird Lane
Charlotte, NC 28209
William Broberg
1108 Fincastle Road
Lexington, KY 40502
wcbroberg@aol.com
Joe F. Childers
201 West Short Street, Suite 310
Lexington, KY 40507
childerslaw@yahoo.com
Jeffrey Ellison
510 Highland Avenue, #325
Milford, MI 48381
EllisonEsq@aol.com