Saturday, June 8, 2002
The UAW leadership felt Warren Davis broke his word about running for regional director, a union spokesman said.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The congressional candidacy of Warren Davis was dealt huge blows as his own union not only withdrew its endorsement of him but also eliminated the region he has run for 19 years the day after he was re-elected.
The reason for the action by the United Auto Workers, according to spokesman Paul Krell, is Davis deceived union leaders by initially telling them he would retire and then opted to run for re-election as director of Region 2.
"Your word is your bond," Krell said. "The feeling of the [UAW] convention delegates was that he had broken his word on what he was going to do. That's why the endorsement was pulled."
Davis, 67, said the union's decision will not chase him out of the congressional race.
"I am not leaving the race," Davis said. "On the contrary. This has given this over-65 candidate more vigor."
What happened
Davis said the union retaliated against him for violating a union rule that leaders must step down after age 65.
Davis, of Bay Village, had said Thursday by telephone from the UAW convention in Las Vegas that he had only considered retiring, but never told anyone that he would definitively do so.
Davis planned to not run for re-election, paving the way for Rich Vadovsky, his assistant director, to run Region 2, according to UAW sources.
But because Davis' campaign as an independent for the 17th Congressional District was not progressing, he opted to run for re-election and use the office as a position of strength, sources say. Vadovsky then decided not to challenge Davis.
Instead, Davis lost his job and his endorsement and the region no longer exists.
The district covered 36 counties in eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and most of West Virginia and represented 41,000 union members. Davis served as its director since 1983, and before that was its assistant director for 13 years.
Mergers
The Ohio portion of Region 2, which has about 38,000 members, was merged with Region 2-B, which has about 49,000 members, Krell said. The Pennsylvania and West Virginia portions of Region 2 were merged with other regional offices, Krell said.
Part of the reason for the breaking up of Region 2, the smallest UAW region as far as membership is concerned, was Davis' decision to stay on as director, Krell said.
Davis was re-elected Thursday to a four-year term and Region 2 was eliminated a day later. Davis opted not to challenge Lloyd Mahaffey, Region 2-B director, for the top spot in Region 2-B, Krell said.
The UAW does not know how to classify Davis, Krell said. He could be considered a retiree or he could conceivably return to the automobile plant from which he came, Krell said.
"This is an unusual situation," he said.
Regional directors are expected to retire at age 65 or, if they are in midterm at that age, when the term expires, Krell said. Davis said Thursday that there are cases of regional directors' sticking around to age 75. Krell said he has never heard of such instances.
The fate of the Region 2 office in Cleveland is undecided; it could become a subregional office for Region 2-B, Krell said.
There are no plans to endorse any of the other candidates in the 17th Congressional District race, Krell said.
The other candidates are Democrat Timothy J. Ryan of Niles, Republican Ann Womer Benjamin of Aurora and U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. of Poland, who is running as an independent.
Before this, Davis was seen by political observers as the underdog in the congressional race, and the UAW's stripping him of his endorsement is essentially the final nail in his coffin, political experts say.
"He didn't have much of a campaign to start with, but with this loss, he has no chance to win," said William Binning, chairman of the political science department at Youngstown State University. "He won't make any headway now."
The district includes portions of Mahoning, Trumbull, Portage and Summit counties.
skolnick@vindy.com
XContributor: The Associated Press