The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Apr. 8 that the federal government is not obliged to pay for the $8.2 million cost of supervising the Teamsters’ 1998 rerun election. The court reversed its own decision from a year ago. Now, the court holds that because the government’s supervision was optional under a 1989 consent decree, it was not obligated to pay for the supervision costs. This issue exploded in 1997-98 between the Dep’t of Justice and Congress after ex-boss Ron Carey’s campaign scandals came to light. Fighting for the best interest of taxpayers, many in Congress believed that after Carey’s people blew almost $20 million on the 1996 election, the union should pay for the rerun itself. [BNA 4/12/99]
