Retiree votes at issue in cops’ union election suit

Cathy Scott

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 1998 | 10:26 a.m.

A lawsuit filed by Metro Police Sgt. Monty Hall against the Police Protective Association and its president claims that votes in the last union election were counted from retirees.

Hall's attorney, Michael Stein, says the vote count violated the PPA's bylaws.

If the votes from retirees were discounted, Hall would have been elected president of the union instead of Andy Anderson, Stein says.

David Crowell, a consultant for the PPA, says there is no prohibition against counting votes from retirees.

"The current bylaws are silent on the issue of whether retirees can vote," he said. "The practice of retirees voting is long-standing within the association. It's a convention that has been followed for as long as the executive board can remember."

But Stein, citing Article 13 of the PPA's articles of incorporation, said, "The articles have been clearly violated." That article says, "...only regular active members ... may become a member of this Association ... " The article goes on to say that all members shall have equal voting power. Stein interprets that to mean that unless one is a "regular, active" member, there is no right under the bylaws to cast a vote.

On behalf of Hall, Stein filed the lawsuit Monday in District Court.

Mail-in ballots in the October election were tallied into the final vote count, according to PPA election records. Without the retirees, Hall would have received 492 votes and Anderson 397, PPA records show.

As the election stands now, Anderson won with 617 votes to Hall's 524.

"Someone who ran for office was not picked a winner because they didn't follow the rules," Stein said.

The PPA represents rank-and-file officers and sergeants, while the Police Manager Supervisor Association, or PMSA, represents lieutenants and captains.

Stein said the PPA recently moved to change the articles in its bylaws without presenting those changes to the PPA membership.

"They're doing whatever they want to do. They just created a new bylaws document," he said. "It's got to stop. It's wrong. Sgt. Hall represents the active members who voted him in as president."