Confessions, Anyone?

Beset by an incorruptible, court-appointed board of monitors and by U.S. Senator John McClellan's labor-rackets investigators, Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa last summer bought a bright stunt thought up by his lawyers*: Why not set up an investigating commission of his own? Promptly named as chairman of the Teamsters' three-member Anti-Racketeering Commission: Ohio Insuranceman George H. Bender, sometime Republican Congressman (1939-48; 1951-54) and U.S. Senator (1955-57), memorable to televiewers as the boar-shaped man at the 1952 Republican Convention who made himself conspicuous by ringing a cowbell at every mention of Senator Robert A. Taft's name.

Verbal Report. Bender proved equally diligent at wielding a whitewash brush. Breaking an understanding with the other two commission members--a Detroit judge and a Washington lawyer--Bender went ahead on his own, using an investigative method roughly comparable to trying to solve a murder case by going to an open window and yelling, "Is anybody out there guilty?" To Teamster officials around the country--Hoffa's own men--Bender sent a form letter asking for information about racketeering, if any. Back came brief, negative replies. That was that. Without even bothering to draft a written report, Bender informed Hoffa that everything seemed to be O.K. Hoffa announced Bender's finding to the press.

A few weeks ago, facts about the techniques and rewards of Bender's investigation started leaking out. For his efforts, Bender collected $250 a day from Hoffa & Co.--a total of $19,250 from August to December--plus an additional $9,000 for expenses, including rent on Bender's regular Washington office. "I have never worked harder in my life," protested Bender, but it seemed that the only hard work involved was typing copies of letters, and a secretary did that.

Written Denial. Last week, his investigation exposed as a sad and cynical farce, Bender was threatening to sue any publication that reprinted Washington Post and Times Herald Cartoonist Herblock's devastating version of the Bender investigation (see cut). But when a newsman asked to see some of the evidence that Bender claimed to have in his files, Bender could produce nothing more convincing than a letter he had sent to Charles C. Curran, secretary-treasurer of a bakery drivers' (Teamsters) local in Tacoma, Wash. "We would like to know," said Bender's letter, "if there have been any cases of racketeering or gangster alliances in your local, and what action has been taken officially to eliminate such elements."

Scrawled across the bottom of the letter was the straightforward reply:

No racketeering here

Charles C. Curran

* Rumor of the week in Washington: Hoffa and Star Trial Lawyer Edward Bennett Williams (other clients: Frank Costello, Bernard Goldfine and Adam Clayton Powell) will soon part company.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.