On Jul. 6, U.S. District Judge David N. Edelstein gave U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White until Jul. 15 to attempt to secure the estimated $8.6 million for a government-supervised, Teamsters rerun election. On Jul. 1, White told Edelstein that the government needed more time to try to end the impasse the rerun funding. White also suggested that, if sufficient funds are not found, the Court should consider the possibility of either appointing a special master to supervise the balloting or ordering the Teamsters to conduct the rerun on its own without government supervision.
The impasse is due to an U.S. Appeals Court ruling forcing taxpayers to pay for the rerun. Congress passed legislation barring taxpayer funding of the rerun because nearly $20 million was wasted on the 1996 election due to the Ron Carey campaign’s scandals, and Congress, led by Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), is unconvinced that safeguards are in place to prevent another corrupted election.
Edelstein also ordered the Teamsters to submit, by Jul. 10, a plan for an unsupervised election. [BNA Daily Labor Report 07/07/98]