Teamsters Back Rep. Hoekstra
Associated Press Last Updated: April 27, 2000 at 5:10:08 p.m.
WASHINGTON - In a strange political marriage, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has endorsed Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Republican who voted against all the union's key bills last year.
Teamsters officials said the endorsement was due to Hoekstra's support for ending the federal government's 11-year supervision of the 1.5-million member union.
``He's the first candidate that has stood up and said, `It's time for the government to get out of the Teamsters' business.' He came to speak to us and that left an impression on us,'' Bill Black, legislative director for the Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43, said Thursday.
Michigan Teamsters endorsed Hoekstra at their delegate meeting in Detroit last week and the national union went along with it.
``We knew it would not be a popular endorsement because of his voting record,'' Black said.
Teamsters Local 406 in Grand Rapids, Mich., which has many members in Hoekstra's district, endorsed his opponent, Democrat Bob Shrauger.
``We cannot endorse him at the local level because of his voting record and we have to reflect what our members want,'' said Bruce Harvey, the local's political director.
When Fred Bennett, an agent with Teamsters Local 214 in Muskegon, Mich., heard of the national union's endorsement, he laughed. He said his local would support Hoekstra's opponent ``no matter who it is.''
``The international is a lot different than the regular locals,'' he said. ``I don't think Mr. Hoekstra has the best interest of labor at heart.''
Hoekstra opposed all nine of the Teamsters' key issues last year, including legislation dealing with ergonomics and trade with China. The Teamsters give him a lifetime voting record of 3 percent.
After a federal election official overturned the 1996 election of Teamsters President Ron Carey in August 1997, Hoekstra conducted a 17-month investigation into the balloting.
The election result was set aside when federal investigators found Carey's campaign had improperly benefited from donations the union made to third-party political organizations. A new election was held in 1998, clearing the way for James P. Hoffa to assume leadership.
At the end of Hoekstra's investigation, he recommended the union create records of spending by union bosses, establish an inspector general to investigate fraud and adopt a code of ethical conduct.
``When this union was going through a lot of its turmoil, we were the ones that responded to the rank-and-file,'' Hoekstra said Thursday in a telephone interview from his Hawaii vacation. ``The only Teamsters that don't like me are the ones that are connected to the corrupt Ron Carey regime.''
Shrauger did not return a phone call seeking comment.
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