April 19, 1996
VIA UPS OVERNIGHT
Richard Lopez
606 N. 6th Avenue
Maywood, IL 60153
The Movement Toward Members Slate
c/o Eddie Kornegay, Trustee
Teamsters Local Union 743
300 S. Ashland Avenue
Chicago, IL 60607
Re: Election Office Case No. P-716-LU743-CHI
Gentlemen:
A pre-election protest was filed pursuant to Article XIV, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules") by Richard Lopez, a member of Local Union 743 and supporter of the Take Back Local 743 Slate ("Take Back" slate). Mr. Lopez alleges that Local Union 743 put different requirements on a campaign mailing sent out by the Take Back slate on April 5, 1996, and one sent out by the Local 743 Movement Towards Members Slate ("MTM" slate), which Mr. Lopez received on April 6, 1996. The MTM slate is supported by Local Union 743 Trustee Eddie Kornegay. Specifically, Mr. Lopez asserts that the local union supplied the MTM slate with a membership list and allowed it to choose its own mail house, whereas the local union required the Take Back slate to use a designated mail house and sent the labels directly to that mail house. Mr. Lopez contends that such different treatment constituted discrimination in the application of campaign mailing procedures, as well as an improper contribution of local union resources to the MTM slate.
Richard Lopez
April 19, 1996
Page 1
Local Union 743 denies that it supplied the MTM slate with a membership list. The MTM slate denies that the campaign literature that Mr. Lopez received was theirs. The Ron Carey Campaign states that it made that mailing and three others to targeted portions of the Local Union 743 membership, using a mailing list supplied to Mr. Carey by the Election Officer under the Rules.
This protest was investigated by Adjunct Regional Coordinator Dennis Sarsany.
Article VIII, Section 3 of the Rules allows candidates for International office to use membership lists for "advancing the accredited or nominated candidate's campaign for nomination and/or election . . ."
The Ron Carey Campaign states that from April 2 through April 8, 1996, it made four mailings to targeted portions of the Local Union 743 membership. It used a paid political consultant, the November Group, to prepare the campaign materials and to arrange for their distribution to the targeted groups. The Ron Carey Campaign identified Suburban Mailing Service as the mail house that the November Group used.
Suburban Mailing Service confirmed that it made four mailings for the November Group: one on April 3, two on April 5, and one on April 8. In the course of the Election Officer's investigation, the Ron Carey Campaign submitted U.S. Post Office invoices confirming these mailings. On this record, the Election Officer finds that the campaign mailing that Mr. Lopez received was prepared, paid for, and mailed by the Ron Carey Campaign, without the involvement of Local Union 743 or the MTM slate.
The Election Officer also finds that the Ron Carey Campaign made the campaign mailings at issue in order to advance Mr. Carey's campaign, thus meeting the requirements of the Rules as set forth above.
Accordingly, the protest is DENIED.
Any interested party not satisfied with this determination may request a hearing before the Election Appeals Master within one day of receipt of this letter. The parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Officer in any such appeal. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing and shall be served on:
Kenneth Conboy, Esq.
Latham & Watkins
885 Third Avenue, Suite 1000
New York, NY 10022
Fax (212) 751-4864
Richard Lopez
April 19, 1996
Page 1
Copies of the request for hearing must be served on the parties listed above as well as upon the Election Officer, 400 N. Capitol Street, Suite 855, Washington, DC 20001, Facsimile
(202) 624-3525. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for a hearing.
Sincerely,
Barbara Zack Quindel
Election Officer
cc: Kenneth Conboy, Election Appeals Master
Julie Hamos, Regional Coordinator
Dennis Sarsany, Adjunct Regional Coordinator