ELECTION APPEALS MASTER
IN RE:
MIKE HICKS, Protestor.
06 Elec. App. 022 (KC)
ORDER
This matter is an appeal from the Election Supervisor's decision 2006 ESD 110 issued March 2, 2006.
A hearing was held before me on March 13, 2006. The following persons were heard by way of teleconference: Jeffrey J. Ellison, Esq. and Steven Newmark, Esq. on behalf of the Election Supervisor, and Mike Hicks, Protestor.
This protest implicates the principle, well settled in extensive federal case law, that local union resources, in this case a newsletter, shall not be appropriated for partisan campaigning for union office.
In determining whether the publication of all or part of a local's newsletter by incumbent local officers violates this prohibition and the election Rules, an analysis of the timing, tone and content of the objected to material is required.
The Election Supervisor concluded, having conduced the required three part analysis, that violation of the Rules has not occurred.
At the Hearing, the Protestor, Mr. Hicks, placed emphasis on the timing alone. I agree with the Election Supervisor, having examined de novo the newsletter, that the content and tone are entirely benign. The timing of the publication, usually insufficient by itself to sustain a Rules violation, is in this case sufficiently remote to raise any issue under the Rules and the case law. Furthermore, elected local officers should not, and cannot, be constrained by the Rules from discharging their responsibilities to the membership in reporting on matters of vital interest, as long as the reportage is politically neutral. That is clearly the case here.
Accordingly the decision of the Election Supervisor is affirmed
SO ORDERED:
_/s/______________________
Kenneth Conboy
Election Appeals Master
Dated: March 15, 2006