ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 16, 1996 TAG: 9612160081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Teamster President Ron Carey declared victory Saturday over the son of labor legend Jimmy Hoffa, promising to press on with his efforts to fight corruption and revitalize the once mighty union.
``This is not a victory for one man or a slate of candidates, it's a victory for all working people who want strong, honest unions,'' Carey said at union headquarters where supporters cheered his claim of election to a second five-year term.
Meanwhile, a federal overseer was tallying the final ballots and James P. Hoffa remained confident that the outcome would depend on an accounting of challenged ballots, which could total 30,000.
Teamsters Local 171 in Roanoke represents about 1,300 people working for employers such as Kroger and UPS.
``When the ballots are counted, it does appear it's going to be a very, very close race,'' Hoffa said. But he admitted the trend emerging from the vote count was against him. ``It's not time for a concession speech, but it does look like it is possible that Ron Carey will be re-elected.''
Carey supporters conceded the challenged ballots would be checked, but they were certain that wouldn't change the results. Carey claimed 52 percent of the vote.
``This was about things that are important to working people,'' a buoyant Carey said. ``The reform movement in this union has spoken today.''
To avoid federal racketeering charges, the Teamsters in 1989 agreed to submit to an independent review board to investigate wrongdoing by union officials. The union also agreed to let its 1.4 million members directly elect top union officers, and to have federal officials oversee those elections. Only about one-third of the members cast ballots in this election.
Carey began his first term in February 1992. Working with regulators, he placed 66 locals in trusteeship and suspended officers suspected of corruption. Carey says Hoffa's supporters are hurt most by such reforms.
The victory ``sends a message to every mob boss in America,'' Carey said. ``Our treasury, our pension funds, will never again be used as a piggy bank.'' He urged the Teamsters' old guard to ``get on the reform train, or get the hell out of the way.''
Hoffa's father, who built the Teamsters into a powerful force, served four years in jail for jury tampering and fraud before he disappeared and presumably was killed in 1975. The younger Hoffa wanted to return power to regional Teamster bodies, and he accused Carey of being a weak negotiator and letting union funds dry up.
Canada and the South, two of five voting regions, went to Carey and he was ahead in the East. The West was a toss-up, while Hoffa led in the central region. Most of the union's 27-member general board is elected by region, so a split board seemed likely.
The bruising battle for control of the union raised questions for the rejuvenated labor movement, such as why a candidate who stood for reform in a long-troubled union had such a close fight for re-election.
Carey blamed it on being outspent by Hoffa, who enjoyed the support of many old-time Teamster leaders whose wings were clipped by Carey's work to eliminate regional councils, multiple salaries and other perks.
But while the name Hoffa recalls corruption for some, in the minds of many Teamsters it is inseparable from labor's golden days.
Many observers said the election's narrow margin held a message: Members were looking not only for reform, but for performance.
``For most people, getting a good job and a good contract is what's important,'' said Ken Paff, a Carey supporter and leader of Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a 10,000-member caucus that has lobbied for reform for two decades. ``Do they see union reform as a vehicle to get a good job and a good contract? That's what's being tested here.''
Carey had 155,078 votes, or slightly over 52 percent, to Hoffa's 142,379, when election officer Barbara Quindel released her most recent official tally Friday afternoon in nearby Chevy Chase, Md.
Saturday afternoon, Carey's own count showed him with 52 percent of the votes, with more than 90 percent of the ballots tallied. The margin was about 17,000 votes.
Both camps predicted about 30,000 ballots would be challenged, most by Quindel's office because of questions regarding the dues-paying status of voting members. An estimated 486,000 to 500,000 votes were cast.
The Hoffa campaign protested that several thousand ballots were left out of their envelopes in the counting room overnight Tuesday and questioned the integrity of the ballot counting process.
Observers from both sides guarded the rooms until counting resumed the next day.
``I can't prove Ron Carey stole the election,'' Hoffa said. But with ``so many suspicious operations and so many unusual things, one certainly ought to make an inquiry.''
Michael Holland, who was appointed by a federal judge to oversee the 1991 election, said there was ``no evidence to support any of these allegations.''
Hoffa also challenged a New York City local over allegedly fraudulent ballots for Carey found in the mix. Carey alleged Hoffa supporters had collected ballots from members of a Chicago local.
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Careyby CNB