TEAMSTERS (IBT)
Detroit Bosses, Hoffa Pal, Accused of Embezzlement
IBT's Independent Review Bd. publicly charged IBT Local 337 president,
Lawrence Brennan, and his top officers June 19 with embezzling union funds
for their own union election campaigns. Brennan is a close friend and ally
of IBT president James P. Hoffa. The charges
coupled with other recent setbacks are widely seen as major blows to Hoffa's
hopes end the Dep't of Justice's eleven-year supervision of the corrupt
union.
IRB's 37-page report also named secretary-treasurer Colonel W. Myers, vice-president Robert F. Holmes, Jr., recording secretary Frank Walker, trustee Richard Gremaud and ex-Trustee Charles Isom. They allegedly voted themselves a pay raise and increased Christmas bonuses for the sole purpose of diverting the money into their reelection campaign. It totaled about $32,000.
IRB also sharply criticized Carlow Scalf, an ex-Local 337 official who handled the reelection money, with failing to keep and maintain proper financial records and even shredding documents after the election. While the board said Scalf's explanations for not keeping records was "unpersuasive and misleading," it did not charge him with wrongdoing. Scalf is now Hoffa's executive assistant.
IRB's charges will now be reviewed by IBT's executive board for a recommendation of a penalty, if any. Given his ties to the local, Hoffa has recused himself from the hearing.
Brennan, who is also president of IBT Jt. Council 43, which oversees all of Mich.'s locals, has been Hoffa's long-time supporter and confidant. When Hoffa first tried to run for IBT president in 1991, he could not because he had not worked as a Teamster. Brennan hired Hoffa, then a Detroit labor lawyer, as an assistant. When Hoffa was elected in 1998, he was Brennan's administrative assistant. [BNA 6/20/00; Det. News 6/21/00]
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