Thomas MacMillan Photo
Poindexter: No comment.
An investigatory panel of the national AFSCME union plans a visit to New Haven later this month to hear charges of misconduct in the recent election of a president of the city government managers union.
A city worker who filed the complaint informed fellow members of AFSCME Local 3144 in a packet distributed this week that “AFSCME International Judicial Panel is scheduled to be in New Haven on January 29th to begin their investigation.”
“I can confirm there will be a hearing” in New Haven, Cheryl Kelly, a spokeswoman at AFSCME’s Washington DC office, told the Independent.
Lynn Piekarz, an executive administrative assistant to the city parks director, filed the complaint with the national headquarters. She accused the victor of the Nov. 13 Local 3144 election, incumbent Cherlyn Poindexter, of violating rules during the campaign, including using city email to run her campaign, creating a hostile work environment, and getting involved in preparing the ballot and election itself. Piekarz distributed a packet to members detailing her accusations.
The trouble began with accusations in the opposite direction. Poindexter originally accused Piekarz, a supporter of challenger Tom Verderame, of campaigning on work time, a false accusation that led supervisors to send a warning to union members that created a “hostile environment for all other candidates and their supporters” as well as “an atmosphere of trepidation and anxiety, Piekarz charged.
Piekarz also accused Poindexter of using city email to run her campaign — a violation of not just city policy, but of AFSCME’s rules for conducting elections. Piekarz’s packet included a log of email messages from the accounts of Poindexter and her slate of candidates, which Piekarz obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The log registered 54 messages to with attachments to union labels and to election flyers (“take looks for changes — let me know”), questions about supporters (“Offering help with campaign; also, status of her reclassification”); and pitches for support (“Reminder election is 11/13/13, I hope my team has your support, Harold Brooks & Marianne Carolla, 3144 Election.”).
“Here is my flyer can you post it in the Credit Union. This is the first of many. 3144 Election,” Poindexter emailed on Oct. 17.
On Oct. 29, she emailed, “My new flyer; what do you think? 3144 Election.”
“[Poindexter] had a small army of people campaigning for her via city email and flyers. A staggering amount of work was going on, after she falsely said that I was working on city time. I feel sick to my stomach about it. These people are supposed to be looking out for us and promoting fair and democratic elections,” Piekarz said in a conversation Wednesday. “If you’re the president of the union you cannot be involved in election preparation” under AFSCME rules, Piekarz said. A separate committee handles the logistics of putting on the election.
“She had the ballot a day before the election, and asked another employee to print it,” Piekarz said of Poindexter — an alleged violation of AFSCME’s rules handbook. Poindexter also “arranged for” bringing a ballot box and food to the election itself. This was also a violation of the AFSCME rule against presidential involvement in election preparation, Piekarz said.
Poindexter declined to discuss the upcoming hearing or the allegations.
“I haven’t received anything. I have no comment,” Poindexter said.
Shown the email log Piekarz distributed, Poindexter refused to look. “I have no time,” she said. “I’m on my lunch hour.”
Shawn Garris, an outspoken union member who works as a city procurement analyst, called the current case emblematic of a long-running lack of democracy in the AFSCME local. He accused union leadership of favoritism in helping employees get reclassified or promoted. He spoke of failed efforts over the years to present candidate forums for members to hear from challengers as well as incumbents. “Having on open discussion was frowned on,” Garris said.
Well, Poindexter works in New Haven. So it's not like she came up with these ideas on her own.
If the allegations are true, it would be interesting to know is who else from the city was involved.