Protest Decisions

IN RE: ROBERT HORVATH,
Eligibility Decision 2001 EAD 88
Issued: January 22, 2001
OEA Cons. Case Nos. E010811MI, E0108113MI, and E0108114MI

See also Election Appeals Master decision 01 EAM 20 (KC)

On December 19, 2000, Robert Horvath, a member of Local Union 372, filed a timely request with this office to verify his eligibility. According to an investigation of Mr. Horvath's TITAN record, Mr. Horvath did not timely pay his dues for the months of February 1999, October 1999, February 2000, July 2000, September 2000, and October 2000, while he was a cash-dues paying member. When questioned by an eligibility investigator on December 29, 2000, Mr. Horvath admitted that he had paid dues late for all of the above-mentioned months, but stated that he didn't know that he had to pay his dues timely every month for the continuous 24-month period in order to run in the election.

On January 4, 2001, our office issued a "Notice of Ineligibility" which determined Mr. Horvath to be ineligible based on his untimely payments of dues for the months of February 1999, October 1999, February 2000, July 2000, September 2000, October 2000, and for his possible untimely payment of December 2000 dues (which was not shown on the TITAN record when it was run in late December 2000).

On January 7, 2001, Mr. Horvath was nominated as an alternate delegate. On January 8, 2001, Mr. Horvath timely appealed this office's decision ruling him ineligible. His appeal was docketed as E010811MI. In his appeal, Mr. Horvath did not dispute that he had paid his cash dues untimely, but stated that he believed that "this rule does not serve sufficient purpose at this time [as] [w]e are no longer under a situation where by we mail in our payments, [w]e are now under check off where by monies are withheld from my check each month by the company and given directly to the IBT. Consequently if the IBT was worried it might send a dead-beat to the convention it now can not happen!…I can think of no other reason why these very minimal late payments would be a problem. Unless it is a rule used to eliminate competition against current administration . which is all it would do at this time [sic]."

The same day that Mr. Horvath filed his appeal, two other candidates, Dennis Romanowski and Alfred P. Derey, also the local's president and secretary-treasurer, protested Mr. Horvath's nomination for the same late cash dues payments as identified by this office. These protests were docketed as E0108113MI (Derey's protest) and E0108114MI (Romanowski's protest).

Election Administrator representative Lois M. Tuttle investigated this consolidated appeal and protests.

In her investigation, Ms. Tuttle found that Mr. Horvath did not deny that he had failed to make timely cash dues payments over the 24-month period as required under Article VI, Section 1(a)(1) of the Rules for the 2000-2001 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election. Mr. Horvath's contention that he has subsequently signed up for checkoff, if true, is simply beside the point. Moreover, she found Mr. Horvath's further contention, that "subsequent to a July 1995 strike dues collection was not enforced or even requested," to be contradicted by a copy of a January 20, 1997 letter supplied by Mr. Horvath himself, which stated that his dues must be brought current or the local would no longer be able to issue an out-of-work benefit during the strike. Mr. Horvath's TITAN record reveals that subsequent to this letter, Mr. Horvath paid up the $564 dues arrearage he had accrued over this time.

Therefore, we UPHOLD our earlier decision finding Mr. Horvath to be INELIGIBLE to run as a delegate or alternate delegate. The protests of Mr. Romanowski and Derey are thus moot.

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 Administrator in any such appeal. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing and shall be served on:

Kenneth Conboy, Esq.
Latham & Watkins
885 Third Avenue, Suite 1000
New York, NY 10022
Fax (212) 751-4864

Copies of the request for hearing must be served on the parties listed above as well as upon the Election Administrator, 727 Fifteenth Street, N.W., 10^th Floor, Washington, DC 20005, Facsimile (202) 454-1501. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for a hearing.

William A. Wertheimer, Jr.
William A. Wertheimer, Jr.
Election Administrator

cc: Kenneth Conboy, Election Appeals Master
Michael B. Nicholson, Michigan Area Regional Director

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