The Teamsters' choice for its representative on the Independent Review Board that oversees the union, a pick the union believes could help it win its freedom from the board, is facing opposition from the federal government.

The Detroit News reports that a hearing on Teamsters President James P. Hoffa's selection of former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova is scheduled for today in Federal District Court in New York.
The three-member Independent Review Board was created as the result of a 1989 consent degree that settled a racketeering suit brought by the government against the union. The union gets to choose a member, the government chooses a member, then those two members pick the third representative.
Mary Jo White, the U.S. Attorney in New York, has questioned whether diGenova will be able to remain neutral while serving on the board. DiGenova and his wife, a former federal prosecutor in Detroit, served as co-counsel on a House subcommittee that investigated the failed 1996 election of former Teamsters President Ron Carey. The committee's work was seen by some as sympathetic to Hoffa.
In an editorial, The Detroit News said that diGenova's appointment "is a good start toward establishing an Independent Review Board whose ultimate goal is freeing the Teamsters from government control," which Hoffa is pushing for.
Teamsters General Counsel Patrick Szymanski contends that the government has no role in the union's choice of its representative; the only requirement is that the person not be a union employee.
The government has not yet announced its choice for the board, and must do to by Aug. 20.