IN RE: HOFFA 2006, Protestor.
Protest Decision 2006 ESD 360
Issued: September 28, 2006
OES Case No. P-06-340-092606-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 protest alleged that the campaign website of the Virtue-DiLeo slate displayed a false endorsement of Dan Virtue by Ernie Soehl.
Election Supervisor representative Jeffrey Ellison investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
The Virtue-DiLeo slate maintains a website at www.virtue-dileo.org. The "commentary" section of the site lists "[c]omments from Teamster leaders about Dan Virtue." The first such comment is attributed to Ernie Soehl, member and principal officer of Local Union 701, viz.
I support Dan Virtue for the position of Vice President of the Eastern Region in the upcoming International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Election.
The Soehl comment is followed by comments praising Virtue that are attributed to other Teamster leaders. A similar section lists praise for Don DiLeo. The commentary section concludes with "Note: complete letters of endorsement are on file and available on request."
Our investigator reviewed the letter of endorsement signed by Soehl. The sentence attributed to Soehl on the Virtue-DiLeo website is correctly quoted from the letter Soehl signed.
The protest included a more recent letter from Soehl to Virtue stating that he no longer supports the Virtue candidacy and requesting that the statement attributed to him be removed from the Virtue-DiLeo website. Hoffa 2006 argues that Soehl's second letter obligates the Virtue-DiLeo slate to remove the first statement from its website and its failure to do so violates the Rules.
We disagree and therefore DENY the protest.
We have repeatedly held that we are without authority to regulate the content of campaign literature. See Sanford, 2006 ESD 142 (April 3, 2006), and cases discussed there. "The Rules are not intended to censor … or ensure the accuracy and truth of campaign materials." Yolland, P660 (April 3, 1996). "Even if [a] flyer were actionably libelous, we are precluded by the Rules from censoring it." Leedham Slate, 2001 EAD 343 (May 4, 2001). Nothing in the Rules obligates the Virtue-DiLeo slate to alter or modify the content of its campaign material to reflect an asserted change in Soehl's political position.
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 360
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
Virtue-DiLeo Slate
c/o Dan Virtue
P.O. Box 5006
Harrisburg, PA 17110
Virtue-Dileo@hotmail.com
Ernie Soehl, Secretary-Treasurer
IBT Local Union 701
2003 Route B, Suite B
North Brunswick, NJ 08902
Jeffrey Ellison
510 Highland Avenue, #325
Milford, MI 48381
EllisonEsq@aol.com