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

8. The 1998 Rerun Election and the Emerging Dominance of James P. Hoffa

146 8 The 1998 Rerun Election and the Emerging Dominance of James P. Hoffa The sinister forces of corruption have again found a way to hamper the IBT’s progress toward a democratic union. An honest, fair and informed [rerun] election is of paramount importance as this union continues on its path to rid itself of the remains of corruption and deceit.1 —Judge David Edelstein, September 29, 1997 The Teamster members have spoken. This victory today is a victory for the 1.4 million members of the Teamsters Union. The Hoffa Unity Slate has won this [1998 rerun] election. . . . Despite wild and baseless charges by my political opponents, here I stand today duly elected the general president of the Teamsters Union. —James P. Hoffa, remarks at the National Press Club, December 12, 1998 The question that everybody, Members of the Committee, the U.S. Attorney, the FBI, the Department of Justice, would like to ask is are the Teamsters serious about the [Hoffa administration’s] anticorruption program [Project RISE]? Are they serious about protecting the membership from exploitation by racketeers? I am here to tell you that for 6 months I have been working full time on this project. The answer is absolutely, unqualifiedly yes. Without hesitation I can tell you that Jim Hoffa is committed to this effort without any reservation. —Edwin Stier, special counsel to Project RISE, testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, March 28, 2000 The 1998 Rerun Election and the Emerging Dominance of James P. Hoffa 147 On August 21, 1997, the same day EO Quindel nullified the 1996 election, she submitted a proposed rerun-election plan to Judge Edelstein. Candidates who had received 5 percent of the delegates’ votes at the 1996 convention would automatically be placed on the 1998 general-election ballot. The 1996 convention delegates could also make supplemental mailin nominations, but the 5 percent criterion was still applicable. Candidates who were members of slates in the invalidated 1996 election could not switch slates in the rerun election. Aiming to further level the election playing field, the rules for the 1998 rerun election included campaign contribution caps. Candidates themselves could contribute no more than $5,000 to their own campaigns; other Teamsters could contribute no more than $1,000 in total to all candidates.2 Not surprisingly, given the 1996 campaign contribution-swap schemes, the rerun election rules prohibited all non-Teamsters from contributing to candidates’ campaigns. The rules also beefed up campaign-contribution reporting requirements. Candidates and slates would have to report all contributions , disclose the names of their vendors and contractors, and submit more frequent campaign contribution and expenditure reports to the EO’s office. To limit the advantage that extensive Teamster Magazine coverage provides incumbents, the magazine would have to suspend regular publication eight weeks before balloting. It would also have to publish a special issue carrying, for no charge, candidates’ battle pages. After Quindel’s resignation became effective at the end of September 1997, Judge Edelstein appointed Michael Cherkasky, a former NYC prosecutor and CEO of an international private investigations firm, to serve as EO for the 1998 rerun election. Edelstein acceded to Cherkasky’s request that the election be put off until Cherkasky finished investigating possible Hoffa-slate 1996 campaign-finance violations.3 In April 1998, Cherkasky announced that the 1996 Hoffa campaign had committed several violations.4 First, two vendors improperly contributed over $167,000 to the Hoffa campaign by grossly underbilling for their work. Second, the Hoffa campaign failed to report $44,000 in cash contributions . Third, a Hoffa-slate vice presidential candidate, Thomas O’Donnell, concealed the employment of an ex-felon. (The IRB later recommended that the IBT charge O’Donnell with filing false campaign contribution and expenditure reports. Finding the IBT’s response to that recommendation inadequate, the IRB convened a de novo hearing at which it found O’Donnell culpable and imposed a nine-month suspension from the IBT.)5 Despite these violations, Cherkasky did not disqualify Hoffa from the rerun 148 The 1998 Rerun Election and the Emerging Dominance of James P. Hoffa election because his violations lacked the “hallmarks” that had resulted in Ron Carey’s disqualification: personal knowledge, intentional misconduct, and abuse of official authority. Instead, he fined the Hoffa slate 10 percent of the improper contributions and barred the underbilling vendors from contracting with any IBT...