IN RE: DAN JOHNSON, Protestor.
Protest Decision 2006 ESD 322
Issued: July 8, 2006
OES Case No. P-06-227-032006-HQ
Dan Johnson, a member and delegate candidate of Local Union 41, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2005-2006 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). The protest alleged that members' home telephone numbers were made available to the Leadership and Integrity slate and the Dump Hoffa slate for campaigning, without similar opportunity provided to Johnson's slate, in violation of the Rules.
Election Supervisor representative Steven R. Newmark investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
The protestor, a member of the Rank and File slate, alleged that on March 16, 2006, members of Local 41 received two separate recorded phone messages, one supporting the Leadership and Integrity slate, and the other the Dump Hoffa Slate. In one message, Local 41 President Harold McLaughlin asked members to support the Leadership and Integrity slate. In the second, Tom Leedham sought support of the Dump Hoffa slate. The protestor contended that he received no notice of the availability of members' home telephone numbers for campaigning or the procedure for accessing them.
McLaughlin stated that neither the protestor nor the Dump Hoffa slate requested information from the local union. McLaughlin further stated that no union funds or equipment were used to make the calls. In addition, McLaughlin stated he has never had members' home telephone numbers. McLaughlin asserted that the Hoffa 2006 campaign was responsible for the recorded phone messages. He stated that the protestor, who also is a Hoffa supporter, could have asked the Hoffa campaign to make telephone calls on his behalf, but that he chose not to do so. McLaughlin told our investigator that he became aware of the phone banking opportunity available through the Hoffa campaign after speaking with the president from Local Union 696.
Investigation showed that the Leadership and Integrity slate and the Dump Hoffa slate obtained members' telephone numbers from the Hoffa and Leedham campaigns, respectively. The campaigns were provided IBT membership lists pursuant to Article VII, Section 3(a) of the Rules, which states:
The International Union shall prepare a membership list current as of August 31, 2005, and shall transfer that list to the Election Supervisor on or before September 10, 2005. The International Union shall prepare a membership list current as of April 30, 2006, and shall transfer that list to the Election Supervisor on or before May 10, 2006. The Election Supervisor is authorized to release a copy of the appropriate membership list to an accredited or nominated candidate for International office forty-five (45) days before the date for mailing of ballots for an election for Convention delegates and/or alternate delegates or for the election of International Officers. No membership list may be used for any purpose other than advancing the accredited or nominated candidate's campaign for nomination and/or election. Use of a membership list in support of the election of delegate and/or alternate delegate candidates shall not constitute misuse of the list, provided that the list is used solely to advance the accredited or nominated candidate's campaign for nomination and/or election. In order to obtain a copy of the membership list, the accredited or nominated candidate must submit to the Election Supervisor an affidavit in a form approved by the Election Supervisor attesting that he/she will not use or permit use of the membership list for any purpose other than advancing that candidate's campaign for nomination and/or election and that he/she will not provide the list to nor permit inspection or copying of the list by any third parties.
Each campaign contracted with a vendor to perform a phone-match of the membership list of Local Union 41 and supplied the phone numbers to the vendor that performed the automated, recorded campaign calls to the local union's members. Under this arrangement, no candidate or agent of the delegate and alternate delegate slates had access to the membership information. Moreover, no evidence shows the local union supplied its membership list to either slate.
Accordingly, 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 Supervisor 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
885 Third Avenue, Suite 1000
New York, New York 10022
Fax: (212) 751-4864
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, 1725 K Street, N.W., Suite 1400, Washington, D.C. 20006-1416, all within the time prescribed above. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Kenneth Conboy
2006 ESD 322
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001-2198
braymond@teamster.org
David J. Hoffa
Hoffa 2006
30300 Northwestern Highway, Suite 324
Farmington Hills, MI 48834
David@hoffapllc.com
Barbara Harvey
645 Griswold Street
Suite 3060
Detroit, MI 48226
blmharvey@sbcglobal.net
Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
P.O. Box 10128
Detroit, MI 48210
ken@tdu.org
Daniel E. Clifton
Lewis, Clifton & Nikolaidis, P.C.
275 Seventh Avenue, Suite 2300
New York, NY 10001
dclifton@lcnlaw.com
Stephen Ostrach
1863 Pioneer Parkway East, #217
Springfield, OR 97477-3907
saostrach@gmail.com
Dan Johnson
2020 Missouri City Road
Liberty, MO 64068
Danjohnson41@aol.com
Leedham Campaign
320 7th Avenue #338
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Harold McLaughlin
President, Local Union 41
4501 Emmanuel Cleaver II Boulevard
Kansas City, MO 64130
Steven Newmark
Office of the Election Supervisor
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
1725 K Street, N.W., Suite 1400
Washington, DC 20006
snewmark@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
510 Highland Avenue, #325
Milford, MI 48381
EllisonEsq@aol.com