OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: ELIGIBILITY OF ) Protest Decision 2015 ESD 34
JEFF SUTTON, ) Issued: September 25, 2015
) OES Case No. E-049-091715-SO
Local Union 19. )
____________________________________)
Robert Rasch, member of Local Union 19 and candidate for delegate, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2015-2016 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”). The protest alleged that Angel Cantu was not validly nominated for delegate because his nominator, Jeff Sutton, was ineligible to do so and because a second written nomination of Cantu did not comply with the Rules.
Election Supervisor representative Dolores Hall investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
To be eligible to nominate for office, one must be a member in good standing with his/her dues paid through the month prior to the nominations meeting. The nominations meeting for Local Union 19’s delegate and alternate delegate election was conducted September 15, 2015. Therefore, the “paid through” month for nominators was August 2015. The protest alleged that Jeff Sutton was ineligible to nominate Angel Cantu because Sutton was on honorable withdrawal and therefore did not have a paid through date of August 2015. The protest acknowledged that Cantu purportedly was nominated in writing a second time at the same meeting; however, the protest alleged that the second nomination was invalid because it was untimely submitted and therefore did not comply with the procedures governing written nominations set forth in Article II, Section 5(f) of the Rules.
Sutton’s TITAN dues payment history confirmed that he was placed on honorable withdrawal on August 7, 2015. However, the record also showed that the withdrawal card was deposited September 9, 2015, when a dues check-off remittance was posted to his account. The TITAN record showed that the September 9 dues remittance produced a paid through date of August 2015, the paid through status required in order to be eligible to nominate.
Accordingly, we find Sutton ELIGIBLE to nominate Cantu. Given our finding that Sutton was eligible to nominate, we do not address the allegation that a second nomination of Cantu was invalid.
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:
Kathleen A. Roberts
Election Appeals Master
JAMS
620 Eighth Avenue, 34th floor
New York, NY 10018
kroberts@jamsadr.com
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, 1050 17th Street, N.W., Suite 375, Washington, D.C. 20036, all within the time prescribed above. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Kathleen A. Roberts
2015 ESD 34
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
braymond@teamster.org
David J. Hoffa
1701 K Street NW, Ste 350
Washington DC 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
Teamsters United
315 Flatbush Avenue, #501
Brooklyn, NY 11217
info@teamstersunited.org
Louie Nikolaidis
350 West 31st Street, Suite 40
New York, NY 10001
lnikolaidis@lcnlaw.com
Julian Gonzalez
350 West 31st Street, Suite 40
New York, NY 10001
jgonzalez@lcnlaw.com
David O’Brien Suetholz
515 Park Avenue
Louisville, KY 45202
dave@unionsidelawyers.com
Fred Zuckerman
P.O. Box 9493
Louisville, KY 40209
fredzuckerman@aol.com
Teamsters Local Union 19
5939 Bender Road
Humble, TX 77396
dgfierro@comcast.net
Robert Rasch
16010 Campden Court
Spring, TX 77379
robertjohn18@yahoo.com
Dolores Hall
1000 Belmont Place
Metairie, LA
dhall@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
214 S. Main Street, Suite 210
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
EllisonEsq@aol.com