ELECTION APPEALS MASTER
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IN RE: CHIP ROTH,
Protestor.
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11 Elec. App. 53 (KC)
ORDER
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This matter is an appeal from the Election Supervisor's decision 2011 ESD 296 issued July 4, 2011. The appeal was submitted by Chip Roth, a member and business agent of Local Union 391.
A hearing was held before me on July 11, 2011. The following persons were heard by way of teleconference: Jeffrey J. Ellison, Esq., for the Election Supervisor, J Griffin Morgan Investigative Officer, Vernon Gammon, Secretary-Treasurer of Local Union 391, Organizer JoCarolyn Wilkins of Local Union 391, Michael McGaha of the Gammon-McGaha Team 391 slate and Chip Roth the protester.
The appeal here attacks the Election Supervisor's decision finding no evidence to support a claim of retaliation by Local 391 executive board members against a rival and successful alternate delegate candidate. Specifically, the election protest asserted that JoCarolyn Wilkins elected as alternate delegate to the IBT Convention was terminated in her position as a public sector organizer for the local by the majority four members of the Executive Board, all of whom were members of a rival slate defeated by Ms. Wilkins' slate.
The Election Supervisor found no evidence of retaliation, accepting as persuasive, evidence submitted by the local that the rationale for Ms. Wilkins' termination was a non-retaliatory business decision to "balance staffing responsibilities between its private and public sector representatives." Appeals Statement of Jeffry J. Ellison dated July 11, 2011 at 2.
Chip Roth, an able spokesperson for Ms. Wilkins, agues that this reasoning submitted by the local is pretextual, and that the real motivation was retaliation in response to Ms. Wilkins adverse election campaigning against Claude Gray, the local's principal officer. Appeals Statement of Chip Roth dated July 6, 2011.
As I noted in the hearing, advocates' arguments must be constrained by the evidentiary record in the investigative proceeding. Factual assertions made de novo in the hearing cannot impeach the record below.
Accordingly, I conclude that the determinations reached by the Election Supervisor are sufficiently grounded in the record to support his decision. Accordingly, that decision is affirmed.
SO ORDERED:
__s/Kenneth Conboy_____________
Kenneth Conboy
Election Appeals Master
Dated: July 13, 2011