By Kevin Galvin

Associated Press Writer

January 17, 1998

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Telephone records cast doubt on embattled Teamsters President Ron Carey's contention that he had little contact with his former campaign manager, who has pleaded guilty to a fund-raising conspiracy.

But the records, which are among 21 new exhibits that will be introduced Tuesday at a hearing on whether to expel Carey from the union, also show many more calls from campaign chief Jere Nash to the offices of his key co-conspirator, Martin Davis.

Other documents include Carey campaign financial statements, affidavits from union leaders and a memorandum that shows some Teamsters may have considered targeting spending on union programs to boost Carey's re-election chances.

The telephone records and other documents were obtained by The Associated Press.

In a memo to top Carey aide Aaron Belk, written at a time Nash was making the transition from consulting with the union on budgetary matters to taking the helm of Carey's re-election, Nash suggested spending could be targeted to help Carey retain office.

``Consider adding more spending authority to targeted departments and/or divisions to assist with the re-election campaign,'' Nash wrote in the March 10, 1996 memo.

He wrote that the union's education and organizing departments ``could be given a `spending bump' for 1996.''

Investigators for the court-appointed Independent Review Board questioned another Carey aide, Robert Hauptman, who had worked with Nash on the budget process, about the memo. Hauptman said he never discussed that proposal with Nash.

``I would never have discussed the option as he presented it here,'' Hauptman said in deposition. ``Had he ever said we need to do this because it helps the election, I would have objected to that.''

Carey has maintained that he had no inkling of the scheming by Nash, Davis and others, and he even claimed that he had spoken with his campaign manager only about 20 times.

``They designed a scheme certainly to rip off this union - rip me off in terms of my credibility,'' Carey said last October.

But according to Nash's cellular telephone bills, he kept in close contact with Carey and others inside Teamsters headquarters at a crucial time during the 1996 union campaign.

Election overseers who tossed out Carey's slim re-election over James P. Hoffa and barred him from a rerun reported that the most egregious fund-raising violations carried out by Nash, Davis and others occurred in October 1996.

Between mid-September and mid-November of that year, Nash placed at least 10 calls to Carey's office, and an additional dozen to other Teamsters officials in the organizing, legal, education, government affairs and communications departments. Under federal labor law, union officials are barred from electioneering on union time.

However, the records also show that Nash called various extensions at the November Group, the direct mail consultancy where Davis was a partner, at least 65 times during the same period.

Carey's defenders have argued that he was the victim of a conspiracy between Davis and Nash, who also had been on retainer to November Group, to siphon funds from the Teamsters treasury.

That defense was discarded by a former federal judge Kenneth Conboy, who disqualified Carey from the rerun, saying he believed Carey helped Nash and Davis steer $735,000 in Teamsters funds to third parties in exchange for contributions to his campaign. Carey has taken a leave of absence from the union.

The Carey camp also has accused Hoffa of campaign irregularities and the new election officer, Michael Cherkasky, is looking into those assertions.

The IRB, which operates separately from the election monitor under a 1989 consent decree the Teamsters signed with the Justice Department to avoid racketeering charges, begins two days of hearings Tuesday to determine whether Carey and former Teamsters political director William Hamilton should be barred for life from the union.

Requests by attorneys for Carey and Hamilton to force Nash, Davis and former Carey assistant Monie Simpkins to appear for cross-examination were denied Friday by U.S. District Court Judge David Edelstein.

© Copyright 1998 The Associated Press