December 3, 1996
VIA UPS OVERNIGHT
Stephen Williams
December 3, 1996
Page 1
Stephen Williams
43 Lake Drive
Howell, NJ 07731
Ron Carey Campaign
c/o Nathaniel K. Charny
Cohen, Weiss & Simon
330 W. 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
Bradley T. Raymond
Finkel, Whitefield, Selik, Raymond,
Ferrara & Feldman
32300 Northwestern Highway, Suite 200
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
Stephen Williams
December 3, 1996
Page 1
Re: Election Office Case No. P-1325-LU469-NYC
Gentlemen:
Stephen Williams, a member of Local Union 469, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIV, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 1995-1996 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”) alleging that on November 11, 1996, a Carey campaign bus came into a CCI carhaul terminal in Edison, New Jersey and began removing Hoffa campaign materials and replacing them with Carey campaign materials, including prying open a locked union bulletin board.
New York City Protest Coordinator Barbara C. Deinhardt investigated this protest.
The conduct is alleged to have occurred on November 11, 1996. The protest is dated November 22, 1996. In his protest, Mr. Williams states that he was unaware “of the two day rule for complaints.” The protest was received by the Election Office via facsimile on December 2, 1996. Regional Coordinator Deinhardt attempted to contact the protester, but he did not include his telephone number on the protest and the number is unlisted.
Stephen Williams
December 3, 1996
Page 1
Article XIV, Section 2(b) of the Rules requires protesters to file “within two (2) working days of the day when the protestor becomes aware or reasonably should have become aware of the action protested.” The short time limits are important to ensure that alleged violations of the Rules are quickly brought to the attention of the Election Officer in order to afford the greatest opportunity for applying an effective remedy if a violation is found. “Nevertheless, the Election Officer has not treated time limits as an absolute jurisdictional requirement, but rather as a prudential restriction.” Hoffa, P-788-IBT-EOH (June 18, 1996); Blake, P-712-LU630-CLA (April 29, 1996). In prior cases, the Election Officer has waived the timeliness requirements of the Rules if the protest was not excessively untimely and the alleged violation was serious.
Mr. Williams’ failure to file the protest for almost three weeks creates an excessive time delay that the Election Officer cannot overlook. Even after the protester was aware of the time limits, he did not send the protest to the Election Office for another 10 days.
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
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
Barbara C. Deinhardt, New York City Protest Coordinator