Van de Kamp Advises Against U.S. Takeover Attempt of Teamsters

California Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp has sent U.S. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III a letter counseling against an attempted federal takeover of the Teamsters Union, it was learned Tuesday.

The Justice Department is considering filing a lawsuit seeking temporary stewardship of the union under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) on grounds of alleged Teamster ties to organized crime. The RICO law has been used to take over four local unions on the East Coast but has never been used to deal with an entire national union.

But in his letter, dated Jan. 22 and made available to The Times on Tuesday, Van de Kamp warned Meese that such a takeover would “put a damper on the legitimate efforts of working people and others to express themselves through organizations of their own choosing.”

Van de Kamp suggested that instead of a takeover, the government prosecute individual union members for criminal activity. He added that in his five years as California attorney general, the state Department of Justice has “never found any significant relationship between our Teamsters locals here and organized crime. Instead, quite the contrary is true.”

Last summer, the Teamsters launched a massive political and public relations campaign in an attempt to persuade the Justice Department not to file the action. About 240 members of the House of Representatives and some senators have sent letters to Meese opposing any such suit. Among them was the entire California Democratic delegation.

Nonetheless, Justice Department sources have indicated in recent interviews that the Teamster takeover suit will be filed within a few months in New York.

A Teamster official said he believes Van de Kamp is the first state attorney general to attempt to dissuade Meese from filing the suit. In his letter, Van de Kamp said that if evidence exists to convict individual union officials, prosecutions should be undertaken. But he asserted that a federal takeover of the Teamsters poses constitutional and practical problems.

“Taking over an international union would be an enormously complicated proposition, shot through with operational pitfalls and potential conflicts of interest,” he wrote. “Just to pose one of the more obvious questions: To whom would those placed in command owe their allegiance? Would they respond to the working men and women of the union or to the political administration from which the request for the trusteeship came?”

Van de Kamp was initially asked to sign another letter to Meese along with a number of other elected officials, according to Barbara Y. Johnson, chief assistant attorney general. But he decided to send his own letter because he “felt more comfortable expressing his views in this fashion,” Johnson said.

Alan Ashby, a Van de Kamp spokesman, said Meese has not responded to the letter.

During his political career, Van de Kamp has had strong support from organized labor. For several years, he has been the master of ceremonies at the annual Labor Day Breakfast of the Catholic Labor Institute.

Last year, the California Teamsters Public Affairs Committee made a $5,000 contribution to Friends of Van de Kamp, one of the committees formed to support him in any state election campaign, according to a spokesman for the California secretary of state’s office.