Hoffa Outlines Plan to Restore Teamsters’ Fighting Spirit

Newly elected Teamsters President James P. Hoffa promised Monday to revive the finances and fighting spirit of the union his father built into a national powerhouse and to seek an end to federal supervision of the union.

But even as a buoyant Hoffa outlined his plan to turn the union around, lingering questions about some of his associates were underscored by charges brought against one of his slate members by a court-appointed board.

Hoffa said his election should show that the allegations his opponents have made are “wild and baseless.”

Teamsters elections have been run by a federal overseer since the union signed a consent decree to avoid racketeering charges in 1989.

During the campaign, Hoffa challenger Tom Leedham and other opponents accused Hoffa of fronting for corrupt elements of the union’s old guard, the very officers who were stripped of power after the consent decree was signed.

Shaking that image will be one of the first challenges of Hoffa’s presidency. On the day he announced that his transition team would begin reviewing the union’s financial and personnel records in anticipation of his arrival, the corruption-fighting Independent Review Board raised the possibility that one of his slate members, Tom O’Donnell, could be expelled from the union if the man is found to have filed false election reports.