Jim, Jimmy, and Irwin

A campaign committee that goes by the name DRIVE — Democrat, Republican, Independent Voter Education — last week gave $5000 to an independent committee backing the mayoral candidacy of Democratic city councilman David Alvarez. According to its website, “DRIVE is the Teamsters’ political action committee. Your contribution will support grassroots action by Teamster families to stand up to Big Business interests.”

These days the Teamsters union is run by Jim Hoffa, the only son of Jimmy Hoffa, the missing labor boss of years past who helped arrange Teamster loans for such infamous San Diego projects as La Costa, built by mobster Moe Dalitz and his Las Vegas associate Irwin Molasky. Still alive and developing in both Nevada and San Diego, Molasky at 86 is spending big money on one of Alvarez’s opponents, Republican city councilman Kevin Faulconer, for mayor. In his 1979 book The Teamsters, author Steven Brill wrote about a gathering of influential union members at the Carlsbad resort prior to their 1972 endorsement of president Richard Nixon: “La Costa room records show that members of the International executive board, as well as other top teamsters personages including Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., and Tony Provenzano (then still barred from officially holding office because of his labor-law violation conviction), gathered there on July 14. Most took two-bedroom suites at the hotel, although physical fitness buff Provenzano took a double at the spa.”