The Mystery of Trying to Sink Teamsters leader Al Mixon

         With Al Mixon’s long Teamsters career obviously sliding into a sink-hole, the Hoffa-Hall 2016 slate metaphorically stepped on his  head to push him down deeper, faster by filing a complaint accusing him of failing to file timely fundraising reports on his campaign for Teamsters international president.

          The mystery is why?

          Last summer, Mixon seemed destined to be reelected as International Vice President on the Hoffa slate. Then a surprising something happened: on Aug. 10, 2015, he declared himself a candidate for the presidency running against incumbent James P. Hoffa.

          The Teamsters’ Election Officer issued a decision on April 1, 2016, affirming that Mixon had not met the required deadline for the   filings. The decision also slightly lifted the veil on his demise as a union official noting that he had been found guilty of internal union charges although no details were provided explaining who brought the charges or what they involved.

          The guilty verdict resulted in Mixon’s suspension from the Teamsters for six months and stripped him of his many union positions ranging from secretary-treasurer of Cleveland Local 507 to International Vice President.

          The Teamsters General Executive Board has rejected Mixon’s appeal of the case against him. He has decided to carry that appeal a step further: to the international convention’s delegates at Las Vegas’ Flamingo Hotel in June.

          The prospect of a reversal by the delegates is slim indeed.

          Mixon faces a maximum fine of $2,500 for failing to file the required reports. As far as I know that penalty has yet to be imposed.

          I am still puzzled by why the Hoffa slate bothered to press the filings case against Mixon whose presidential campaign appears to have gone not much further than his announcement as a candidate.

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           Addenda: On April 14, 2016, Al Mixon withdrew as a candidate for IBT general president.

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