GOP Says Federal Funds Spent to Monitor Teamsters Vote Wasted

Republicans on Saturday pointed to the overturned Teamsters election as an example of government waste and demanded accountability for campaign abuses despite the $20 million spent monitoring the union vote.

“Who will be held accountable for the mismanagement of this $20 million?” Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) said in the GOP’s weekly radio address.

Americans must have relief from wasteful federal regulations that lead to government involving itself in such activities, Hoekstra said.

To honor the American worker on Labor Day, he said, “we must commit ourselves to be better stewards of the responsibilities and financial resources that are entrusted to us.”

A court-appointed election overseer, Barbara Zack Quindel, refused on Aug. 22 to certify balloting last December that showed Teamsters President Ron Carey winning reelection over challenger James P. Hoffa. She ordered a new vote. On Saturday, Hoffa denounced Quindel’s monitoring efforts and asked former President Carter to oversee a rerun of the election.

Hoekstra said his subcommittee--the House Economic and Educational Opportunities panel on oversight and investigations--will examine the Teamsters election.

Quindel based her decision to throw out the election on an investigation that found more than $220,000 in improper contributions to Carey’s campaign.