The former federal prosecutor who heads the Teamsters' internal anti-corruption program as well as 20 other investigators and lawyers involved in that effort resigned yesterday, saying the union's president was not fully committed to fighting corruption.
In a sharply worded resignation letter, Edwin Stier, the former prosecutor, accused James P. Hoffa, the Teamsters president, of blocking a broad investigation into possible union corruption in Chicago and of dragging his feet in a case of alleged embezzlement by a Teamsters leader in Houston.
In addition to the investigators and lawyers, a 10-member anti-corruption advisory panel also resigned.
"In spite of our efforts to convince General President Jim Hoffa to remain committed to fighting corruption," Stier wrote, "I have concluded that he has backed away from the Teamsters' anti-corruption plan in the face of pressure from self-interested individuals."
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