IN RE: MARK MAY, Protestor.
Protest Decision 2011 ESD 145
Issued: March 2, 2011
OES Case No. P-162-021611-NE
Mark May, member of Local Union 317 and candidate for delegate on the Staring/Pekoff/May Members First Integrity Team, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2010-2011 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). The protest alleged that a campaign postcard sent to all members by the Rank and File Power slate violated the Rules.
Election Supervisor representative Deborah Schaaf investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
The Rank and File Power slate is competing in Local Union 317's delegates and alternate delegates election. It sent a 5" x 7" two-sided postcard to 4,000 members of the local union on February 14, 2011, the day before ballots were mailed, exhorting members to support the slate.
The protest alleged that the campaign mailing violated the local union election plan because it did not utilize the procedure for mailings laid out there. The protest further alleged that the campaign postcard violated the Rules because it used the IBT's horses-and-wheel logo.
Investigation showed that the Rank and File Power slate used a membership list supplied to it by the Sandy Pope campaign. Pope, an accredited candidate for International office, received an IBT membership list in January 2011. Pursuant to Article VII, Section 3 of the Rules, her campaign may use the list to advance her candidacy for "nomination and/or election."
The provision states further: "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."
The postcard declared the Rank and File Power slate's support for Pope's candidacy. Among other things, the postcard stated "We will nominate Sandy Pope to give you a choice against Hoffa for Teamster President." Investigation showed that the Pope campaign released Local Union 317's membership list to the slate solely for the purpose of advancing her candidacy; a slate representative executed an affidavit attesting that it would put the list only to that use. On this evidence, we find that the slate properly obtained and used Local Union 317's membership list.
Although the local union election plan provides a means by which candidates or slates may conduct campaign mailings, the Rules are not violated if mailings are carried out using another permissible method, as the Rank and File Power slate did here. Accordingly, we DENY this aspect of the protest.
We also DENY the protest's charge that the campaign postcard violated the Rules by using the IBT's horses-and-wheel logo on it. Article XI, Section 1(b)(6) permits "use of the Union's … insignia or mark" on campaign literature. Under this provision, use of the horses-and-wheel logo is permitted. Watts, 2006 ESD 146 (March 17, 2006); Lyons, 2006 ESD 101 (February 27, 2006); Brazeau, 2001 EAD 316 (April 18, 2001).
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, 1801 K Street, N.W., Suite 421 L, Washington, D.C. 20006, 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
2011 ESD 145
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
braymond@teamster.org
David J. Hoffa
Hoffa Hall 2011
1100 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Ste. 730
Washington, D.C. 20036
hoffadav@hotmail.com
Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
P.O. Box 10128
Detroit, MI 48210-0128
ken@tdu.org
Barbara Harvey
1394 E. Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, MI 48207
blmharvey@sbcglobal.net
Fred Gegare
P.O. Box 9663
Green Bay, WI 54308-9663
kirchmanb@yahoo.com
Scott D. Soldon
3541 N. Summit Avenue
Shorewood, WI 53211
scottsoldon@gmail.com
Fred Zuckerman, President
Teamsters Local Union 89
3813 Taylor Blvd.
Louisville, KY 40215
fredzuckerman@aol.com
Robert M. Colone, Esq.
P.O. Box 272
Sellersburg, IN 47172-0272
rmcolone@hotmail.com
Carl Biers
Box 424, 315 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
info@SandyPope2011.org
Julian Gonzalez
Lewis, Clifton & Nikolaidis, P.C.
350 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1800
New York, NY 10001-5013
jgonzalez@lcnlaw.com
Mark May
337 Westbrook Hills
Syracuse, NY 13215
markmay@twcny.rr.com
John DePietro
6878 Sand Hill Road, Apt. 4
East Syracuse, NY 13057
cosmo2121@yahoo.com
Gary Staring, Secretary-Treasurer
Teamsters Local Union 317
P.O. Box 11037
Syracuse, NY 13218
gstaring@twcny.rr.com
Deborah Schaaf
1118 Coddington Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
debschaaf33@gmail.com
David F. Reilly
22 West Main Street
Wickford, RI 02852
dreilly@dfresq.com
Maria Ho
Office of the Election Supervisor
1801 K Street, N.W., Suite 421 L
Washington, D.C. 20006
mho@ibtvote.org
Kathryn Naylor
Office of the Election Supervisor
1801 K Street, N.W., Suite 421 L
Washington, D.C. 20006
knaylor@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
214 S. Main Street, Ste. 210
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
EllisonEsq@aol.com