Government Loses Bid for Teamsters Watchdog

A federal judge Thursday refused to appoint a watchdog for allegedly corrupt Teamsters locals, the first setback in the government’s drive to reform the nation’s largest union.

Instead, U.S. District Judge David Edelstein scheduled a Feb. 27, 1989, trial date for the government’s civil racketeering lawsuit to oust reputed Mafia-dominated members of the Teamsters’ executive board.

Federal prosecutors had sought a preliminary injunction that, among other things, would have created one or more court-appointed liaison officers to police corruption among the hundreds of locals in the 1.6-million-member union.

U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani said losing the bid for the liaison officers was not a problem “since we have a quick trial date.”

At Thursday’s hearing, Edelstein extended a restraining order, scheduled to expire Friday, barring the union’s executive board from making large expenditures of union funds or destroying records.

“The court has extended the temporary restraining order until the time of the trial and has set the trial schedule on the fast track that we asked for,” said Giuliani, whose office brought the lawsuit last week. “From our point of view, this achieves almost everything we wanted to get.”

But Michael J. Riley, one of the Teamster vice presidents, who would be removed from office if the government’s suit succeeds, disagreed.

“This is a substantial round-one victory for us,” said Riley, reflecting the view of Teamster leaders who feared that the judge might have appointed a court liaison immediately.

“This is an indication of the view that the court holds of this action,” he added. “There is no cause for a preliminary injunction. I think it’s a big setback for Giuliani. It’s a very ill-prepared case.”

Teamsters general counsel John R. Climaco said, “I am absolutely thrilled . . . and gratified that Judge Edelstein has provided the International Brotherhood of Teamsters the opportunity to present a meaningful defense, and that is what we intend to do.”

The liaison officers would have been empowered to appoint trustees to run corrupt Teamsters locals and review expenditures and union constitution changes by the executive board.

Climaco asked Edelstein earlier this week to give the union more time to counter “what we consider the false and shameful allegations by the government.”

Edelstein concluded that “it would clearly be imprudent to grant the preliminary relief sought by the government without an evidentiary hearing.”

But, he added in a six-page opinion: “It is apparent that the legal and factual questions presented by this case require more time to prepare than the time within which a preliminary injunction hearing would typically be heard.”

Edelstein decided to combine the hearing on the preliminary injunction with the trial on the government’s lawsuit and scheduled it for February.

The lawsuit claims that mobsters, wielding influence over the executive board, have deprived union members of their rights through shootings, bombings, beatings and a “campaign of fear, bribes, extortion and theft.”