IN RE: DEREK MAEDA,
Protest Decision 2001 EAD 307
Issued: April 17, 2001
OEA Case No. PR031911WE
See also Election Appeals Master decision 01 EAM 67 (KC)
Derek Maeda, a member of Local 996, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2000-2001 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). He alleges that Local 996 president Mel Kahele and the Kahele/Kozuma slate (the "Kahele slate") violated Article XI, Section 1(b)(3), (6), (7) and (12)(A) of the Rules by causing a photograph to appear in a campaign ad in the Honolulu Advertiser that was taken during an official union function, and by Kahele's placement of the ad at a cost in excess of the $2,000 contribution limit applicable to Kahele as a delegate candidate under the Rules.
Election Administrator representative Dolly Gee investigated the protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
The March 15, 2001 issue of the Honolulu Advertiser contained an ad supporting the Kahele slate. The ad cost $2300.79 to place and contained a photograph of Kahele with IBT General President James P. Hoffa. The photograph was taken at an AFL-CIO convention in 2000. Kahele's attendance at the convention was official union business. Kahele testified without contradiction, however, that the photograph was taken with his personal camera.
The ad states that it was paid for by Mel Kahele. Kahele, however, demonstrated that he paid for the ad with campaign funds raised from IBT members. Kahele contributed $1,000 to these funds, as permitted by the Rules. The contributions he raised were sufficient to pay both for the ad and for the other expenditures of the slate.
We reject Maeda's argument that the photograph used in the ad is property of the local union, so that its placement in the newspaper ad violated the Rules. While taken at a union function, it was not taken with a camera or film that belonged to the union, but rather with Kahele's camera and film. Kahele's photo was his own, and he was entitled to use it without violating the Rules.
Nor did the financing of the campaign ad violate the Rules, since the contributions that supported it were appropriate under Article XI of the Rules. The misstatement that the ad was paid for by Kahele does not change this result, since Kahele has shown that the legitimate campaign funds covered the cost of the ad, and has also shown that he contributed only $1,000 of his own money.
For the foregoing reasons, we DENY the protest.
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, shall specify the basis for the appeal, and shall be served upon:
Kenneth Conboy
Election Appeals Master
Latham & Watkins
Suite 1000
885 Third Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Fax: 212-751-4864
Copies of the request for hearing must be served upon all other parties, as well as upon the Election Administrator for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 727 15th Street NW, Tenth Floor, Washington, DC 20005 (fax: 202-454-1501), all within the time prescribed above. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
William A. Wertheimer, Jr.
William A. Wertheimer, Jr.
Election Administrator
cc: Kenneth Conboy
2001 EAD 307
DISTRIBUTION LIST VIA UPS NEXT DAY AIR:
Patrick Szymanski
IBT General Counsel
25 Louisiana Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001
Bradley T. Raymond
Finkel, Whitefield, Selik,
Raymond, Ferrara & Feldman
32300 Northwestern Highway
Suite 200
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
J. Douglas Korney
Korney & Heldt
30700 Telegraph Road
Suite 1551
Bingham Farms, MI 48025
Barbara Harvey
Penobscot Building
Suite 1800
645 Griswold
Detroit, MI 48226
Betty Grdina
Yablonski, Both & Edelman
Suite 800
1140 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
Tom Leedham c/o Stefan Ostrach
110 Mayfair
Eugene, OR 97404
Mel Kahele
IBT Local 996
1817 Hart Street
Honolulu, HI 96819
Derek Maeda
2755 Kalihi Street
Honolulu, HI 96819
Dolly Gee
Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann &
Sommers
6300 Wilshire Blvd.
Suite 2000
Los Angeles, CA 90048