Breaking the Devil’s Pact: The Battle to Free the Teamsters from the Mob

7. The 1996 Election Scandal

122 7 The 1996 Election Scandal Rank and file Teamsters will watch the 1996 election with the hope that the Union will continue to be free and democratic. They will constantly be asking themselves whether the Union truly belongs to them. It is not just their interests that are at stake. The American public as a whole will benefit when this union of more than 1.4 million members is freed from the clutches of organized gangsterism.1 —Judge David Edelstein, August 22, 1995 [My] investigation revealed a complex network of schemes to funnel employer and IBT funds into the Carey campaign. . . . [Thus,] the election officer refuses to certify the [1996] election and orders a rerun election. . . . [T]he election officer recognizes the hardship on the candidates who just went through an expensive two-year campaign and the disruption to the institution. . . . [But] the members cannot have confidence in their union or its leaders if they see their choice of officers has been manipulated by outsiders.2 —EO Barbara Quindel, August 21, 1997 Ron Carey could not be confident about reelection in 1996. He had won the 1991 election largely because the IBT establishment had split its support between R.V. Durham and Walter Shea. During his first term, Carey was frequently reminded that he could not count on the political support of a large majority of local and regional IBT officials. More worrisome, in 1996, he would face a challenge from James P. (Jim) Hoffa, son of former IBT General President James R. (Jimmy) Hoffa, a Teamster folk hero despite his Mafia ties and corruption conviction.3 The 1996 Election Scandal 123 The 1996 Candidates for General President Ron Carey Carey launched his reelection campaign in mid-1995. He boasted of having removed scores of corrupt union officials and trusteeing nearly seventy corrupt or financially mismanaged locals.4 To symbolize his commitment to a less imperial central office, Carey cut his own salary from $225,000 to $150,000, sold the union’s jets, canceled the Marble Palace’s water-cooler contract, and fired its French chef. Stressing the importance of gender and racial diversity, his staff organized conferences on women’s issues and civil rights.5 Still, only a small minority of local and regional IBT leaders were Carey loyalists. For example, John P. Morris, president of Philadelphia IBT Local 115 and an international vice president, called the 1996 election “a case of Mr. Clean [Carey] vs. Mr. Not [Hoffa].”6 Carl Haynes, president of NYC IBT Local 237, one of the largest Teamsters locals in the United States, stated that “if Hoffa wins, . . . we’ll go back to the pre-1991 way that things were done. The cleansing of the union, which is so badly needed, will stop.”7 AFL-CIO President John Sweeney praised Carey as a “unique American” who set “standards for integrity.”8 Although DOJ, Judge Edelstein, and most of the court officers kept their preferences private, a May 1995 Time magazine story disclosed a confidential letter from Frederick Lacey to Thomas Puccio, the court-appointed trustee of New York IBT Local 295, in which Lacey urged Puccio not to go public with allegations linking Carey to Cosa Nostra. Lacey warned that such charges could severely harm Carey’s chances for reelection: During our conversation, I told you that I thought you . . . ought to have in mind what would happen if you brought Carey down in that there were “old guard” Teamsters throughout the country that were hoping that Carey would be eliminated as a candidate in 1996 so that the clock could be turned back to what it was when I first came on the scene as Independent Administrator. You indicated that you had not given any thought to that but you would keep it in mind.9 Both Lacey and Puccio refused to discuss the letter. However, in a subsequent disciplinary case, an international vice president (Gene Giacumbo) facing embezzlement charges asked Lacey to recuse himself.10 Giacumbo argued that Lacey’s letter to Puccio demonstrates 124 The 1996 Election Scandal “clear partiality toward Carey. . . . [B]y openly aligning himself with Carey’s candidacy, Lacey implicitly placed himself in opposition to individuals such as [Giacumbo] who were actively seeking Carey’s ouster.” Lacey refused to recuse himself and Judge Edelstein affirmed Lacey’s decision.11 The Second Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to Judge Edelstein because he...