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Office of the Election Supervisor for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

 

IN RE: BRIAN PEYTON and                  )           Protest Decision 2021 ESD 122

JEFF PADELLARO,                                 )           Issued: June 10, 2021

                                                                      )           OES Case No. P-142-051921-AT

 Protestor.                                                    )          & P-143-052021-NE  

__________________________________)

 

Brian Peyton, member, officer, and elected delegate from Local Union 322, and Jeff Padellaro, member, officer, and elected delegate from Local Union 633, filed separate pre-election protests pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2020-2021 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”).  Each protest alleged that Maria Perez, candidate for International office on the Teamster Power slate, solicited campaign support by emailing Peyton and Padellaro, separately, at their local union email addresses, in violation of the Rules.

 

Election Supervisor representative Jeffrey Ellison investigated these protests.  They were consolidated for decision.

 

Findings of Fact and Analysis

 

            Article VII, Section 4 of the Rules grants each accredited candidate for International office “the right to request and receive from the Election Supervisor a list of all certified delegates with corresponding addresses.”  Delegates serve as their local union’s representatives to the IBT convention, which is “the supreme governing authority of the International Union.”

 

A principal purpose of each accredited candidate’s right to the list of certified delegates is to permit the candidate to solicit support for the candidate’s nomination and platform at the convention.  OES prepares and updates the list as delegate and alternate delegate elections of local unions are certified.  The list is issued to requesting candidates entitled to them on a periodic basis.  The list is arranged by local union number and compiles the name, mailing address, and email address of each certified delegate and alternate delegate.  The data for the list is drawn from the candidate information sheets candidates for delegate and alternate delegate completed upon nomination at their local unions.  For email addresses, the Rules do not dictate that a candidate who is an officer or employee of a local union and who uses both a personal and a union-provided email address for email communication must list his/her personal email address or prohibit listing his/her union-provided email address.  The sole requirement is that candidates provide a reliable means by which they may be contacted.

 

Protestors Peyton and Padellaro are the principal officers of their respective local unions.  Each was nominated for delegate, and each listed his union-provided email address on the candidate information sheet he prepared upon being nominated.  Each was elected, the election certified, and the information contained on each protestor’s candidate information sheet was entered on the certified delegate list.

 

Maria Perez is a candidate for IBT East region vice president on the Teamster Power slate.  She was accredited as a candidate for that office on September 21, 2020.  On May 18, 2021, she sent an email message to certified delegates and alternate delegates in the East region concerning her campaign for International office.  The message invited delegates to “an online event for Delegates and Alternate Delegates of the Eastern Region for the first time to connect and have a conversation.”  The message also invited delegates and alternate delegates to an in-person lunch fundraiser.

 

Each protestor contended that Perez’s action in emailing him at his local union email address violated the Rules because she used a union resource – the email address provided by the local union – to support her campaign.  Generally, a candidate may not send solicitations for campaign support to local union officials and employees at their union addresses – whether postal or email – unless the solicitations are intended for display on literature tables or bulletin boards governed by Article VII, Section 7(h).  Ostrach & Mandaro, 2000 ESD 29 (October 2, 2000), aff'd, 00 EAM 7 (October 10, 2000); Reyes, 2010 ESD 59 (December 22, 2010); Teamster Power, 2021 ESD 6 (July 10, 2020).  The Perez email solicited support from Peyton and Padellaro directly; she did not request that the communication be placed on either local union’s literature table.

 

Nonetheless, we find no violation of the Rules.  We rely on our decision in Hoffa 2006, 2006 ESD 326 (July 18, 2006), where we held that mailing campaign literature to elected delegates at local union postal addresses did not violate the Rules because the delegates had listed those addresses as the locations where they could be contacted for that purpose.  We explained this holding as follows:

 

The central purpose of the Rules provision permitting accredited candidates to obtain certified delegate lists is identical to that underlying the provision that permits candidates to obtain union membership lists – it allows candidates to campaign among and solicit support for their candidacies directly from members who will vote on whether the candidates will be nominated to the ballot in the International officer election.  To suggest, as the protest did, that an accredited candidate may not mail campaign literature to the address a certified delegate has listed, if the listed address is that of the local union, would impermissibly interfere with the candidate’s ability to solicit support among all delegates and alternate delegates.

 

In reaching this conclusion, we recognize the tension in the Rules between the broad prohibition on use of union resources for campaigning – including the prohibition on use of a local union address for distribution of campaign material embodied in Ostrach, 2000 EAD 29 (October 2, 2000), aff’d, 00 EAM 07 (October 10, 2000) – and the right of accredited candidates for International office to obtain names and contact information for certified delegates and alternate delegates under Article VII, Section 4.  In balancing these provisions, we hold that an accredited candidate is permitted to contact delegates and alternate delegates at any addresses those persons list - including local union addresses – where the contact is made to those persons in their capacities as delegates or alternate delegates.  Accredited candidates may not otherwise contact those persons for a campaign purpose at the local union addresses they list, except in their capacities as delegates and alternate delegates, without including the disclaimer required by our advisory on literature tables and bulletin boards.

 

            The decision in Hoffa 2006 concerned mailing campaign material to delegates at local union postal addresses.  The protests here concern emailing the material to them at local union email addresses.  We discern no principle that would permit the use of the postal addresses in Hoffa 2006 and prohibit them here, where the delegates themselves listed the union-provided email addresses as the means by which they could be contacted in their capacity as delegates.

 

            For these reasons, we DENY these protests.

 

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.  Any party requesting a hearing must comply with the requirements of Article XIII, Section 2(i).  All parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely in any such appeal upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Supervisor.  Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing, shall specify the basis for the appeal, and shall be served upon:

 

Barbara Jones

Election Appeals Master

IBTappealsmaster@bracewell.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, all within the time prescribed above.  Service may be accomplished by email, using the “reply all” function on the email by which the party received this decision.  A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.

 

                                                                  Richard W. Mark

                                                                  Election Supervisor

cc:        Barbara Jones

            2021 ESD 122

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                     

     


DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS NOTED):

Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
braymond@teamster.org

Edward Gleason
egleason@gleasonlawdc.com 

Patrick Szymanski
szymanskip@me.com

Will Bloom
wbloom@dsgchicago.com

Tom Geoghegan
tgeoghegan@dsgchicago.com 

Rob Colone
rmcolone@hotmail.com 

Barbara Harvey
blmharvey@sbcglobal.net

Kevin Moore
Mooregp2021@gmail.com

F.C. “Chris” Silvera
fitzverity@aol.com 

Fred Zuckerman
fredzuckerman@aol.com

Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
ken@tdu.org

Brian Peyton
peytonbrian@hotmail.com

Jeff Padellaro
Jeffpadellaro2@gmail.com

Joe Childers
jchilders@ibtvote.org

Peter Marks
pmarks@ibtvote.org

Jeffrey Ellison
EllisonEsq@gmail.com