Carey Victory as Teamsters Head Voided by Court

Teamsters President Ron Carey, flush from victory in the union’s strike against United Parcel Service, must run again for reelection to the union’s top post because his campaign used illegal contributions, a court-appointed labor monitor ruled Friday.

The order forces Carey to face off once more against an extremely popular Teamsters rival, James P. Hoffa, and it raises deep questions about his own self-announced effort to reform one of the country’s most scandal-scarred labor organizations.

Election Officer Barbara Zack Quindel, ruling in Washington, determined that Carey operatives obtained $221,000 in illegal contributions--some of it from union coffers--that were used to fund pro-Carey mailings to many of the union’s 1.4 million members. Carey defeated Hoffa in last fall’s vote-by-mail election by fewer than 4 percentage points.

“The investigation revealed a complex network of schemes to funnel employer and IBT [International Brotherhood of Teamsters] funds into the Carey campaign,” Quindel said.

Quindel stopped short of finding any improper conduct by Carey himself. But noting that “important questions remain unanswered” in the investigation, she added that if additional evidence is unearthed, she “will consider” his disqualification.

Carey responded by addressing Quindel’s findings about his campaign consultants and the charges that they manipulated Teamsters money to help his campaign. One of those aides, Martin Davis, has been charged with mail fraud in connection with a scheme to embezzle money from the union. A federal grand jury in New York is continuing to investigate other irregularities.

If the allegations are true, Carey said, “the conduct of these consultants has no place in the Teamsters union. It flies directly in the face of all the reforms our union has implemented in the past 5 1/2 years.”

Until a repeat election is held, Carey added, “our union will continue to do its job of standing up for American working families.”

Carey was the obscure head of a Teamsters local of UPS drivers in New York when he pulled off an upset victory in 1991 and became the union’s national president. Last November, he ran for reelection against Hoffa, the son of legendary Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa--who disappeared in the late 1970s and is presumed to have been killed by the Mafia-- and squeaked out a victory with just under 52% of the vote.

The Hoffa campaign claimed Friday that Quindel’s decision provided vindication for its allegations that the Carey camp was rife with financial abuses.

But at the same time, George Geller, a Hoffa lawyer, accused Quindel of showing favoritism toward Carey. He also suggested that she waited until after the UPS strike settlement to release her decision.

“We find Barbara Quindel’s claim that Ron Carey knew nothing of this scandal to be preposterous and likely the evidence of corruption in Quindel’s own investigation,” he said. “We are being asked to believe that hundreds of thousands of dollars in IBT funds were embezzled from the union treasury . . . and that Carey knew nothing about it.’

Because the union is run under a federal court consent decree--due to its long history of corruption--that permits Washington to monitor internal Teamsters activities, the election was never official until Quindel certified the results. But immediately after the balloting, the Hoffa camp filed protests and Quindel’s decision Friday now means that a second election must be held, most likely in December.

In an interview here with The Times, Quindel denied Geller’s contentions that she waited until after the strike to announce her ruling in order to purposely help Carey. She said her investigation was not completed until after the strike was begun, and that there then was a “very short delay” between the time it was finished and released on Friday.

But either way, she said, “I didn’t want it to be a factor in the labor-management dispute.”

She also said that she simply did not find a threshold for disqualifying Carey as the union chief.

“Disqualification is specific remedy. It’s a drastic remedy,” she said. “It would be issued only under the appropriate circumstances, and this did not lead to that.”

She said it is important that rank-and-file Teamsters believe that federal court monitors like herself are protecting the members’ interests.

“I’ve shown that when you break the rules, there are critical consequences,” she said. “The members have to understand the union belongs to them and that they have the right to elect their candidates without interference.”

Carey has won praise for ousting allegedly corrupt union local officials across the country; Hoffa is widely regarded as a staunch opponent of reform.

“It wouldn’t be unfair to characterize Mr. Hoffa as being the personification of the old guard Teamster leadership,” said Clete Daniel, a professor of labor history at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. “In fact, he celebrates the legacy of his father and he promises, if elected, he’ll resurrect the style of leadership that his father pioneered in the union.”

In the wake of the Teamsters’ major symbolic victory in their 15-day strike against United Parcel Service of America, Carey’s prospects for reelection appear bright.

“There can be no more opportune time for Mr. Carey to run for election,” Daniel said.

But Greg Tarpinian, a New York-based consultant to labor unions, said Carey’s fortunes could change quickly.

The anticipated new showdown between Carey and Hoffa, he said, “is a fascinating turn of events” with both sides claiming they are the true apostles of reform.

Indeed, shortly after Quindel’s ruling was announced, representatives of both candidates predicted they would prevail in a rematch.

“We are rolling up our sleeves and today stand ready to turn back the old guard for the third time in six years,” said John Bell, a spokesman for the Carey camp. “With the greater unity in the Teamsters union since last year’s election, Ron Carey should win by an even greater margin.”

Geller, the Hoffa aide, said simply: “We intend to win this election and win it big.”

Serrano reported from Washington, Silverstein from Los Angeles.