Claim Toussaint Lost Battle For Top Ballot Line;
TWU Challenger Calls Petition Edge Key Sign of Strength

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

A challenger to Transport Workers' Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint claims to have secured enough signatures on nominating petitions to knock the incumbent slate off the first line of the ballot in upcoming union elections.

PRELIMINARY BOUT: Transport Workers' Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint and John Samuelsen, a former ally now opposing him on a slate headed by Barry Roberts, traded harsh words in a dispute over who had the most valid petition signatures, which determines slates' positions on the election ballot.

According to sources within the union, however, a challenge to approximately 1,600 of the signatures obtained by Rail and Bus United if successful would put Mr. Toussaint's slate in the lead.

An Early Test

Although the neutral election monitor overseeing Local 100's nominating process has yet to certify the results of Oct. 27 submissions, John Samuelsen of Rail and Bus United last week claimed his slate received the most signed petitions.

The Rail and Bus United Web site said the slate got 14,000 signatures. Mr. Samuelsen amended that figure last week to 14,300, nearly 2,000 above what he said was the total for the TWU president's slate.

Mr. Toussaint, reached for comment Nov. 3, scoffed at the figures. He said there had been so many challenges to signatures by all four slates that there would be no definitive results until they were released by the monitor.

He denied allegations made by his challengers that he had withheld results because his slate finished behind Rail and Bus United.

Mr. Samuelsen said that his hand count of petitions submitted to election officials on Oct. 27 showed Mr. Toussaint's slate receiving approximately 12,500 signatures.

Michael Carrube, of the Fresh Start slate, garnered approximately 5,000, and Ainsley Stewart, running for president as part of the Union Democracy slate, got about 3,000, according to Mr. Samuelsen.

Sets Spot on Ballot

All four slates met the minimum requirement of 1,000 valid signatures to be declared eligible. But whichever slate comes up with the most signatures secures the first line on the election ballots, which are due to be printed and mailed to members next week.

Since the Oct. 27 submission, Mr. Toussaint said labor lawyer and former Workers' Compensation board member Barbara Deinhardt, who has been the union's neutral election monitor since 1998, had been investigating several claims of fraud, tampering and improper witness procedure.

He declined to state what the initial tally had been for his slate, but said that Mr. Samuelsen had "grossly inflated figures for his slate, and grossly deflated the figures for my slate."

Forgery Alleged

Several sources with knowledge of the proceedings said Ms. Deinhardt had first tackled accusations levied by Rail and Bus United against Mr. Toussaint. They alleged he had forged some signatures.

Mr. Toussaint denied that claim. Sources said there had been other challenges on petitions from all the slates about duplicate signatures, fraudulent signatures and illegible signatures. Most of those had been dealt with.

Sources said that Ms. Deinhardt was still trying to resolve the validity of nearly 1,600 signatures obtained by Rail and Bus United that were challenged by the other slates.

Figures Questioned

While the signatures appeared to be real, officials questioned how one slate member, who took only two days off, managed to witness more than 1,000 signatures. That was about 400 more signatures than anyone else had been able to oversee in a similar timeframe.

Local 100 election laws state that all signatures must be witnessed by the person who hands in the nomination petition. Rail and Bus United had another nominating petitioner who claimed to have witnessed 600 signatures, mostly from Station Agents, without taking any time off.

Ms. Deinhardt and a team of independently contracted lawyers delayed announcing final results while they conducted random spot checks of signatories to try and verify the witnessing process, said a union source.

Mr. Samuelsen said other slates also had questionable witness signatures. He accused Mr. Toussaint of "grasping at straws."