Round Two in the 2016 Teamsters Election

I was shocked and distressed when Tim Sylvester lost the presidency of New York Teamsters Local 804 on Dec. 15.

I was elated when I realized this was just the first round in Sylvester’s bid to become the next General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; that he was still in the fight.

In effect incumbent General President James P. Hoffa won the opening round of the 2016 election when a slate obviously aligned with him beat Sylvester by 70 votes.

Sylvester is going into the second round, the final round, with the continued support of Teamsters United and Teamsters for a Democratic Union. The preliminary for the final round will be at the 2016 Teamsters Convention in June at which Sylvester must win enough votes to be on the ballot in the November-December 2016 election--no sure thing when you are opposing an entrenched incumbent.

There are two routes to the presidency for Sylvester:

First: Hoffa stumbling into a scandal so serious he is forced from office;

Second and most likely: Sylvester generating enough support from Teamsters disgusted with the Hoffa administration along with somehow tapping into the vast reservoir of rank and filers (over a million) who haven’t bothered to vote in past IBT elections.
vvv

A suggestion: my novel, THE TRUCKERS, has been described as a fun read. It is serious and tragic too. Try it free on Kindle, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, or Apple.

Thoughts on Los Alamos by Joseph Kanon

I found LOS ALAMOS BY Joseph Kanon too wordy at times yet I continued to read in part out of wondering whether the author could achieve the solution to a difficult mystery without a deus ex machina event.

Kanon confronts Mike Connolly, the protagonist, with a seemingly unsolvable crime with virtually no resources available to him other than his own persistence and skills derived from his pre-war career as a reporter.

The novel is set in the closing days of the Manhattan project, which the scientists involved know will create a weapon with the potential to end civilization as we know it, and possibly eradicate the human species altogether.

In that context tracking down a murderer is small potatoes. Kanon deftly ties a seemingly unrelated killing into the past and future politics involved in the creation of the atomic bomb.

LOS ALAMOS is a novel worth the time of a serious reader just for the pleasure of a mystery resolved with some contrivance but logically.

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.

TEAMSTERS 2016 ELECTION BEGINS

Incumbent James P. Hoffa and challenger Tim Sylvester have joyfully reported the impressive results of their petition drives to be accredited as candidates for the Teamsters presidency in 2016.

Hoffa reported 135,000 signatures--more than twice Sylvester’s 63,000.

However, we need to delve into the numbers. Hoffa’s incumbency gives him access to hundreds of local officials--many hungry to please him with hopes of being added to the international union’s payroll and being viewed favorably in conflicts with other locals, other unions and employers.

In the 2011 presidential election, Hoffa won a dismal 137,172 votes, just 2,172 more than the list of signatures he recently submitted on his petitions.

There is a political adage that to win an election, you have to run either unopposed or scared and hard.

In the 2011 election, Hoffa’s opposition was so divided and ineffective that he was just about unopposed.

So, the 135,000 signatures he collected either means that is about the max of his support or he is really running hard this time around planning to pressure his Teamster underlings to turn out the vote--or else face the prospect of being stripped of their extra salaries and perks.

Tim Sylvester, who heads New York Teamsters Local 804, promises to be a formidable candidate. His supporters in Teamsters United and Teamsters for a Democratic Union managed to tally 63,000 signatures on his petitions--or more than twice as many as needed for certification.

Sylvester has been on the campaign trail--mostly on weekends--since January and will pick up the pace as the election approaches. He is running hard to find enough votes among the 90 per cent of the 1,400,000 Teamsters rank and file who didn’t vote for Hoffa in 2011.

Accreditation gives a candidate the opportunity to promote himself in the Teamsters magazine as well as the names and address of all Teamsters members. Formal nomination still needs to be won at next year's Teamsters Convention.

*  *  *

A suggestion: my novel, THE TRUCKERS, has been described as a fun read. It is serious and tragic too. Try it free on Kindle, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, or Apple.

THE TEAMSTERS’ AUGUST SURPRISE: AL MIXON

Al Mixon, chairman of the Teamsters National Black Caucus, has jumped into the 2016 race for the presidency of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The candidacy of Mixon, who is secretary-treasurer of Cleveland Local 507, transforms the election into a three-way contest. His opponents: incumbent Teamsters general president James P. Hoffa and Tim Sylvester, president of New York Teamsters Local 804, home of the late Teamsters General President Ron Carey.

The revelation that Mixon has launched a petition drive to be accredited as a presidential candidate came not from an announcement by Mixon, but from the Teamsters United Facebook page. Teamsters United and Teamsters for a Democratic Union are backing Sylvester.

Mixon currently is an international vice president, elected in 2011 on the Hoffa slate. I have no idea why Mixon has split with Hoffa. Sylvester said on his website: “Long-time allies, Mixon and Hoffa broke with each other this Spring.” Not a very informative comment.

The next few days will reveal whether Sylvester's petition drive to be certified as a presidential candidate has been successful. A minimum of 30,794 signatures are needed to be certified. Sylvester supporters are aiming for 50,000.

At this point, Al Mixon is only a name in the game with no indication of whether he will launch a full-fledged slate or will run alone. I don’t know how potent the Teamsters National  Black Caucus is and whether or not it gives Mixon a significant political base for the 2016 election.

The first test of his candidacy will be his petition drive for accreditation.

Accreditation gives a candidate the opportunity to print campaign ads in the Teamster magazine and  a list of the entire Teamster membership for mailings and other forms of access.

*  *  *

A suggestion: my novel, THE TRUCKERS, has been described as a fun read. It is serious and tragic too. Try it free on Kindle, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, or Apple.

THE PENCIL ARTIST, A novel-writing goal fulfilled

In the year 2000, for some unknown reason, I set a goal of publishing eight novels before the age of 81. I will be 81 on Aug. 19, 2015 and am happy to say that my eighth novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is now available as an e-book and paperback.

After graduating from college, Billy Harrigan, the protagonist of THE PENCIL ARTIST, became a short order cook while pursuing his dream of achieving recognition as an artist.

Decades have passed with Billy rarely selling a drawing and still standing at the grill of a Manhattan diner. The turning point in his life begins with Ann Stone purchasing a set of Billy’s landscapes for her Hamptons beach house. Teddy Stone, Ann’s aging billionaire husband, suspects she is having a dalliance with this insignificant artist--and sets out to destroy Billy. Teddy discovers he isn’t as powerful as he imagined and while the pencil artist might be helpless alone his plight attracts a bevy of allies through social media to his cause.

THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.

If you read it and like it, please review it.

Thoughts on Singled Out by Julie Lawford

In Julie Crawford’s novel, ‘Singled Out’, a bevy of British singles spend a holiday in search of love, sex, escape and adventure. The novel delivers all to a crowd of horney women, willing men including a coward, a minor hero, an a now-familiar preditor. The central character, I wouldn’t call her the protagonist, is self-righteous and guilt-ridden, with a tendency to dominate and investigate those around her. She is a wonderfully different snoop.

I always look for themes or truths in a serious novels, and this is a serious novel. What does ‘Singled Out’ tell us: Love can blossom when you least expect it; the righteous are seldom welcome and not always right; and that you reap what you sow. Note: change the orders of the letters in reap to get clear understanding of that message in the novel.

‘Singled Out’ is well worth reading.

A suggestion:My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST, is now available as a free download on, Smashwords and Barnes and Noble.

Try it, enjoy it, and if you are in the mood, review it.

My thoughts on THE EINSTEIN PROPHECY by Robert Masello

Robert Masello’s novel, THE EINSTEIN PROPHECY, offers a chilling, supposedly imaginary, account of  the evil that spurred the creation of the atomic bomb. I say ‘supposedly imaginary’ since writers often foretell what is to come or grasp an obscure underlying truth. I can see a holy roller taking Masello’s story of an ongoing campaign by the devil to annihilate mankind as gospel--with the worst of consequences to come.

Most importantly for a serious reader, this is a well-written, literary thriller that can be hard to put down. THE EINSTEIN PROPHECY is well worth reading.

A SUGGESTION: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST, is now available as a free download on, Smashwords and Barnes and Noble.

Try it, enjoy it, and if you are in the mood, review it.

A brief review of FOREIGN AFFAIRS by Alison Lurie

FOREIGN AFFAIRS follows two very different academics from the English Department of a fictional upstate New York college that seems very much like Cornell on research sojourns in London.

The two, Virginia Miner and Fred Turner, are a study in contrasts, although both are very interested in finding sexual partners.

Virginia is a middle-aged, tenured professor, set in her ways and in love with London and everything English. Her dream man would be an English gentleman. She does find someone—radically different.

Fred, fresh from splitting up with his wife, hooks up (literally) with a British television actress who introduces him to the city and country’s upper class and artistic wild set.

          Alison Lurie tells a tale of two individuals which is poignant, witty, and spiced with surprises.

Lurie won the Pulitzer Prize, deservedly for FOREIGN AFFAIRS, IN 1985. Despite her accomplished career as a writer of many novels, I just discovered her in a search for a readable, serious book.

I will be reading more of Lurie in the future. 

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST, is now available as a free download on, Smashwords and Barnes and Noble.

Try it, enjoy it, and if you are in the mood, review it.

Teamsters 2016: The two legged stool and the distant ripple

Incumbent James P. Hoffa is perched on a wobbly two-legged stool in the opening days of the 2016 campaign for the presidency of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. His ostensible opponent, Teamsters United candidate Tim Sylvester, currently is just a ripple on the horizon of sea of 1.3 million potential Teamster voters.

Hoffa’s two legs are his name (the son of Jimmy Hoffa) and his incumbency (Teamsters president since March, 1999.) Incumbents are always hard to beat. A third leg, some great achievement--fulfilling his promise to resurrect Teamsters Power-- during his 16 years in office, would have all but assured his reelection.

Unfortunately for the union, I am unaware of any notable accomplishment by Hoffa during his reign. A point of comparison would be Teamsters President Ron Carey’s great victory in the 1997 national strike against the United Parcel Service.

The yet to be shaped third leg for the Hoffa stool will be the extent of support he wins from the potential pool of 1.3-million Teamsters eligible to vote in the 2016 election. In 2011, Hoffa only managed to tally 137,164 votes—which were more than enough for him to win reelection. The insignificant turnout is a indicator of the disinterest of the vast majority of the members in the union. 

Of course contesting Hoffa for those 1.3 million voters is Tim Sylvester, president of New York Teamsters Local 804, the local that was Ron Carey’s base of support.

Whether the Sylvester and his United Teamsters coalition ripple turns into a wave that crests and breaks without significant impact or becomes a tsunami to sweep away the Hoffa regime will be revealed after the votes are cast in October, 2016.

In the interim, Sylvester, who is already campaigning hard (his next stop will be in Providence, RI, on Saturday, May 16, 2015) has set out to gather at least 200,000 Teamsters to his banner.

Sylvester announced that that 800 Teamsters listened in to his national conference call in a pitch for campaign volunteers on a recent Sunday. Signposts of how well Teamsters United is doing will be first, the Accreditation Petition Drive this summer to collect the signatures of at least 50,000 members and then the number of delegates to the 2016 convention Teamsters United can win in local elections in the fall of 2015 and the winter of 2016.

*  *  *

A suggestion: my novel, THE TRUCKERS, has been described as a fun read. It is serious and tragic too. Try it free on Kindle, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, or Apple.

TEAMSTERS PRESIDENT 2016

Tim Sylvester's bid to become General President of the Teamsters picked up momentum last week in Milwaukee when Fred Gegare came forward to endorse him.

Gegare, now retired, is the former International Vice President, who became so disenchanted with James P. Hoffa that he ran against him in 2011. Hoffa was reelected soundly defeating Gegare and New York Teamsters leader Sandy Pope.

Sylvester drew the obvious lesson of the 2011 election that if Hoffa is to be ousted, it will take a coalition to defeat him in 2016.

Teamsters United is the name of Sylvester's umbrella campaign organization that so far includes Fred Zuckerman, president of Louisville Local 89, and Tony Jones, president of Columbus Local 413.

Teamsters United will stage a national conference call on Sunday, April 26, 2015, to brief Teamsters on the coalition’s strategy and to provide the opportunity for those interested to get involved in the campaign.

Details on how to sign up for the conference call are available on the Teamsters United website (teamstersunited.org.)

*  *  *

A suggestion: my novel, THE TRUCKERS, has been described as a fun read. It is serious and tragic too. Try it free on Kindle, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, or Apple.

TEAMSTERS PRESIDENCY 2016

Tim Sylvester has started on the long climb to winning the presidency of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 2016 by setting out to build a coalition called Teamsters United!

The coalition will combine those who supported the late Ron Carey, those disenchanted with the leadership of incumbent James P. Hoffa, and an untold number of the million plus Teamsters who didn't vote in the union’s 2011 election.

Sylvester is the president of New York Teamsters Local 804, the same militant local of mostly UPS workers that Carey headed and was his base in his successful run in 1991 to become the first IBT president elected by the rank and file.

Among those aligning themselves with Sylvester in Teamsters United are Fred Zuckerman, president of Louisville Local 89, and Tony Jones, president of Columbus Local 413. Zuckerman and Jones were vice presidential candidates on the anti-Hoffa ‘Fighting for the Members Slate’ in the 2011 election.

With less than 20 per cent of the membership voting in the 2011 election, Hoffa tallied an unimpressive 137,164 votes, although that was more than enough to defeat his two opponents: Fred Gegare (54,117) and Sandy Pope (39,251).

Sylvester’s challenge will be to somehow draw between 150,000 and 200,000 votes from that pool of more than a million Teamsters who either didn’t vote or who voted against Hoffa in 2011.

What has Sylvester got going for him:

--Experience in defeating an incumbent. In 2009, Sylvester ousted the Hoffa-allied president of Local 804. That was a feat equivalent to beating an incumbent Senator; it can be done, but not easily.

--The big, burly, bearded Sylvester not only looks like the movie version of a Teamster, he comes from the rank and file. Hoffa, who was a lawyer with Teamsters locals among his clients, ran for his first union office in 1996. In that election he failed to defeat the incumbent IBT president, Ron Carey. For the few who don’t know, the reason Hoffa was selected by the neo-old guard as their candidate was because he happened to be born the son of the legendary Jimmy Hoffa.

--Sylvester has developed a national reputation for his accomplishments as the head of Local 804, which reputedly has the best contract covering UPS workers among the nation's many Teamsters locals. In an age of givebacks, Sylvester won a $400 a month increase in pension benefits in the last round of negotiations, enabling a Local 804 member to retire after 25 years with a pension of $4,000 a month.

--Sylvester formally announced his candidacy on March 14, 2015—and has been holding meetings across the country to add local officers and rank and file adherents to Teamsters United coalition.  He already has been to Worcester, Mass., Los Angeles, Cleveland, Louisville, and Columbus. He will be in Chicago on Saturday, April 11.

--Sylvester presumably will have the backing of Teamsters for a Democratic Union, the rank and file reform party, with its national network of rank and file activists and local union officials.

                                              *  *  *

A suggestion: my novel, THE TRUCKERS, has been described as a fun read. It is serious and tragic too. Try it free on Kindle, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, or Apple.

THE JYNX, A WONDERFUL READ

       A reviewer, who calls himself/herself hobbydobbie, made my being sing when he /she described my novel, THE JYNX, on Apple iTunes as a book difficult to put down.  

            I write my novels with substance and I hope readability.

In THE JYNX, a Long Island clammer, barely surviving in a dying industry, is striving to become a wood sculptor. He is seduced by a political operative who serves the cause of the conservative rich and who specializes in character assassination. The political operative provides the money that the clammer/sculptor desperately needs, makes love to him, and is the inspiration for his masterpiece, The Jynx. The sculpture transforms her into a vengeful enemy.

           Here is hobbydobbie’s succinct review:  “A wonderful read, a book I started and had a difficult time putting down.”

           Try THE JYNX free on Kindle, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, or Apple.