Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: HOFFA-HALL 2016,                      )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 260

                        )           Issued: June 29, 2016

            Protestor.                                           )           OES Case Nos. P-190-022416-NA   

____________________________________)                                  

Hoffa-Hall 2016 filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2015-2016 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”).  The protest alleged a number of irregularities in the Period 3 CCER report of the Teamsters United slate.

            Election Supervisor representatives Terry Flick and Jeffrey Ellison investigated this protest. 

Findings of Fact and Analysis

            The protestor made four allegations concerning the Period 3 report filed by Teamsters United.  Under the Rules, Period 3 covers the interval beginning October 1, 2015 and concluding January 31, 2016.  We address the issues in the order the protest listed them.  We note that the protest issues was investigated; that approximately two weeks after the protest was filed, Teamsters United made an amended filing addressing the disclosure issues questioned by the protest, and that the amended Period 3 CCER was promptly provided to the protestor after the filing.  This decision memorializes the corrections and the remedial disclosures previously made. 

First allegation:  That Teamsters United held a fundraiser on January 31, 2016 in Louisville, KY but listed nothing for it.  The protestor contended that because the fundraiser occurred on the last day of Period 3, information concerning it should have been included in the Period 3 report. 

            Teamsters United’s Period 3 original CCER report, filed February 8, 2016, listed fundraisers at the TDU convention (10/24/2016); and in Nashville, TN (10/24/2016); Ft. Wayne, IN (11/7/2015); Dallas, TX (11/8/2015); and El Paso, TX (12/10/2015).  No information was listed concerning a fundraiser in Louisville on January 31, 2016.

            The person responsible for preparing the CCER report told our investigator that she input data concerning the Louisville fundraiser by creating a “fundraiser report” within the CCERS system that listed the date and location of the event and then keying the contributions and expenses associated with the event to that “fundraiser report.”  Unfortunately, she entered an incorrect date for the event, a date that fell outside the Period 3 reporting period.  The CCER software automatically assigns the fundraiser report date to contributions received at a specific fundraiser.  If a fundraiser’s report date is wrong, that error is replicated in all the records of contributions made at that fundraiser.  Thus, because the Louisville fundraiser was assigned an erroneous date in Teamster United’s original Period 3 CCER, that report did not show the Louisville event or the associated contributions.

            When the protest was filed and served on Teamsters United, the bookkeeper noted the allegation that information concerning the Louisville fundraiser had not been reported.  She logged into the Teamsters United CCERS account, found the fundraiser data she had entered, and discovered the erroneous date.  Teamsters United filed an amended CCER report for Period 3 on March 10, 2016.  With the correction the bookkeeper made to the “fundraiser report” in CCERS, the amended CCER listed the Louisville fundraiser that occurred January 31, and the contributions associated with that event.  The amended filing was promptly transmitted to the protestor, who had previously requested the Teamsters United filing.  The protestor has raised no further question about this fundraiser.

            We find that a simple error and not intentional misconduct caused the data concerning the Louisville not to appear on the original Period 3 CCER report.  Teamsters United corrected the error when the protest called attention to the problem.  With the amended filing correcting the error, we deem this aspect of the protest RESOLVED.

Second allegation: That Teamsters United held a fundraiser on January 10, 2016 in Phoenix, AZ but listed no contributions or expenses for the event, aside from some travel reimbursement. 

Investigation showed that the event was for informational and organizing purposes and was not a fundraiser.  Nonetheless, Teamsters United’s amended Period 3 CCER report created a “fundraiser report” for the event that showed 30 persons attended the event and that a single verified  in-kind contribution in the amount of $300 paid the cost of the event space.  Investigation showed this event was not reported initially because the slate did not regard it as a fundraiser.

            Detail concerning this event was recorded in CCERS and disclosed in the March 10, 2016 amended filing.  We deem this aspect of the protest RESOLVED.

Third allegation: That for the El Paso, TX fundraiser Teamsters United held December 10, 2015 at a VFW hall there, the CCER report shows contributions and expenses but no payment for hall rental or other expenses of the event.

            The amended Period 3 CCER report showed a verified in-kind contribution of $100 from a member to pay the cost of the hall rental.  Investigation showed this contribution was not reported initially because of a good faith administrative error rather than intentional misconduct.  With the March 10, 2016 amended filing correcting the error, we deem this aspect of the protest RESOLVED.

Fourth allegation: That neither the Teamsters United slate, Zuckerman, nor Sylvester Period 3 Supplemental Reports No. 1, which document legal and accounting contributions and expenditures during the period, listed any expenditures for legal services provided, whether paid or in-kind.  The protest points out that at least eight protests were filed in the names of Teamsters United or Zuckerman during the period, and that counsel for Teamsters United participated in the appeal of Election Supervisor protest decisions in Zuckerman, 2015 ESD 63 (December 28, 2015), and the investigation that led to the decision in Hoffa-Hall 2016, 2016 ESD 67 (January 15, 2016).

            Investigation showed that counsel for Teamsters United has submitted three invoices for legal services rendered.  None of the invoices has been paid.  Counsel has converted 25% of each invoice to an in-kind contribution of legal services.  The remaining portions, once they aged 60 days from date of issuance, were reported by Teamsters United as extensions of credit with an annual interest rate of 5.5%.  The extension of credit was reported on Teamsters United’s amended Period 3 CCER.  An amended Supplemental Report No. 1 was filed to reflect the value of services provided.

            On this basis, we deem the protest’s fourth allegation  RESOLVED.

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:

Kathleen A. Roberts

Election Appeals Master

JAMS

620 Eighth Avenue, 34^th floor

New York, NY 10018

kroberts@jamsadr.com

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, 1050 17^th Street, N.W., Suite 375, Washington, D.C. 20036, all within the time prescribed above.  A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.

                                                                        Richard W. Mark

                                                                        Election Supervisor

cc:        Kathleen A. Roberts

            2016 ESD 260

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