IN RE: HOFFA 2006, Protestor.
Protest Decision 2006 ESD 345
Issued: August 29, 2006
OES Case No. P-06-312-073106-HQ
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 campaign alleged that it received a faulty membership list from the Election Supervisor's Office.
Pursuant to Article VII, Section 3 of the Rules, accredited candidates for International office may receive a complete membership list of the IBT, current as of April 30, 2006, from the Office of the Election Supervisor (OES). The list is prepared by the Office of the General Secretary-Treasurer of the IBT and is transferred to the OES for distribution to accredited candidates or their campaigns.
In May 2006, the Office of the General Secretary-Treasurer transferred a current IBT membership list to the OES. That list, however, contained complete Social Security numbers of all members and could not be distributed to accredited candidates. The OES requested that the Office of the General Secretary-Treasurer generate a current list that did not include Social Security numbers. The Office of the General Secretary-Treasurer transferred a list to the OES on July 29, 2006, which the OES in turn released to accredited candidates.
As discovered first by Hoffa 2006 when its campaign staff accessed it, the July 29 list contained no names of persons who were active members. Instead, it listed persons who were retired, on withdrawal status, or otherwise inactive.
This protest followed. We replied by letter to counsel for Hoffa 2006 on August 1, explaining that, in accordance with the Rules, the list had been prepared by the IBT General Secretary-Treasurer's Office; that office had erroneously extracted data for inactive members instead of active members; and that IBT-prepared list had been released to the candidates. The General Secretary-Treasurer's Office subsequently supplied a new list to OES containing the correct data set extracted from TITAN and that list was released to the candidates.
By facsimile dated August 2, 2006, the protestor requested to withdraw this protest. We grant the protestor's request and deem the protest WITHDRAWN.
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. 20006-1416, 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 345
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
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
Stefan Ostrach
1863 Pioneer Parkway East, #217
Springfield, OR 97477-3907
saostrach@gmail.com
Steven Newmark
Office of the Election Supervisor
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
1725 K Street, NW, Suite 1400
Washington, DC 20006
snewmark@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
510 Highland Avenue, #325
Milford, MI 48381
ellisonesq@aol.com