IN RE: RICHARD LOPEZ, Protestor.
Protest Decision 2006 ESD 344
Issued: August 29, 2006
OES Case No. P-06-321-081906-MW
Richard Lopez, member and secretary-treasurer of Local Union 743, 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 Richard Berg, member of Local Union 743 and candidate for Central Region vice president on the Tom Leedham Strong Contracts Good Pensions slate, has distributed false and misleading campaign literature about Lopez.
Election Supervisor representative Joe Childers investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
In Berg, 2006 ESD 315 (June 29, 2006), we found that Lopez had retaliated against Berg for Berg's Rules-protected political activity by striking Berg in the face at the Las Vegas site of the IBT convention. On appeal, the Election Appeals Master reversed our decision and directed that we investigate the incident further. The re-investigation is pending.
Lopez protests that Berg has distributed campaign literature that refers to our finding that Lopez assaulted Berg but does not state that the Election Appeals Master reversed our decision and directed further investigation.
Lopez concedes that the material Berg has distributed is campaign literature. As we stated in Sandford, 2006 ESD 142 (April 3, 2006), we do not regulate the content of campaign literature. As such, the Rules do not require that Berg's campaign literature describe the appellate history of the protest he filed.
Accordingly, we find that Berg's campaign literature does not violate the Rules, and we DENY this 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 344
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
Stefan Ostrach
1863 Pioneer Parkway East, #217
Springfield, OR 97477-3907
saostrach@gmail.com
Richard Berg
1336 Argyle
Chicago, IL 60640
Richard Lopez
606 North 6th Avenue
Maywood, IL 60163
Robert Walston, President
IBT Local Union 743
4620 South Tripp
Chicago, IL 60632
William Widmar III
IBT Local Union 743
4620 South Tripp
Chicago, IL 60632
William Broberg
1108 Fincastle Road
Lexington, KY 40502
wcbroberg@aol.com
Joe F. Childers
201 West Short Street, Suite 310
Lexington, KY 40507
childerslaw@yahoo.com
Jeffrey Ellison
510 Highland Avenue, #325
Milford, MI 48381
EllisonEsq@aol.com