Word: hoffa
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With Congress closely divided, everyone in Washington wants to be wooed as the key to legislative victories. By shifting alliances and presenting an aura of unpredictability, Hoffa has transformed the oft-troubled union into a premier political force. In the coming weeks, the White House needs his help to convert the five to eight Senators required to start drilling in Alaska. Democrats are counting on the Teamsters to fight the Administration's plans to let Mexican trucks operate in the U.S. and Bush's push for trade-negotiating authority. "They are not a lock for us, and that is their...
Massaging the Teamsters started before Bush was in the White House. The President's chief strategist, Karl Rove, has known Hoffa for years, and the labor leader is quick to mention the help Rove offered during his race against Ron Carey back in 1996. That gratitude didn't win Bush the Teamsters' endorsement, but when the two sons who hold their fathers' jobs met last year, they hit it off. "We told [Bush] we wanted to work with him if he became President," says Hoffa...
Rove met with Hoffa early in the Administration and made sure he had access to Vice President Dick Cheney and chief of staff Andy Card. The union credits those meetings with gains in protecting some labor agreements and its pension system. Another Cheney meeting is scheduled for next week. The coddling happens in small ways too: Hoffa is likely to start getting invitations to White House social events. "This White House pays more attention than the last one did," says Teamsters spokesman Bret Caldwell...
...Hoffa is also posting his valentines to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The hope is that the Justice Department will shutter the three-member Independent Review Board, which monitors the union for fraud. Hoffa, who gets to choose one board member, has opted for G.O.P.-friendly lawyer Joe DiGenova. The Administration picks the other, and the two members select the third. Hoffa's move is likely to appease skeptical Republicans if the watchdog group says the Teamsters are clean...
...flirting also keeps Democrats in line. "We're not trying to drive a wedge between us and the Democrats," says Mike Mathis, Teamsters director of government affairs. "But they can't take us for granted." Such pragmatism will help Hoffa's re-election bid this fall. The Teamsters are more diverse than other unions, and G.O.P. ties will appeal to members who backed Nixon, Reagan and the President's father. Tacking Republican also distances Hoffa from his predecessor, now on trial for perjury connected to an alleged scheme to use money tied to the Democratic Party...