the Department of Justice. He consented to aggressively seek internal reforms in the union in exchange for being dropped from the government's labor racketeering suit. The Teamsters reached an agreement with the Justice Department on March 12, 1989, in which the union agreed to institute internal reforms in order to end corruption and improve the democratic nature of its elections. Mathis was chosen by the executive board in 1990 to run for re-election as part of an incumbent slate. President McCarthy declined to run for health reasons, and the board selected R.V. Durham, an international vice president, to run as their candidate for president. In February 1991, Mathis backed a decision by Durham to reject a McCarthy-backed candidate for an empty vice presidential seat. The move was seen as an attempt to put political distance between the Durham candidacy and the McCarthy administration, which was increasingly unpopular with Teamster members. In retaliation, the board sued McCarthy and Mathis for labor racketeering. A week later, on February 8, 1991, Mathis recommended that the Teamster executive council look into the bidding process McCarthy used to award his son-in-law a contract to print the union magazine. Mathis' move was widely seen as a possible "coup attempt": If McCarthy were found to have committed improper acts, he would be forced to resign—allowing Mathis to become president of the union as well as be seen as a reformer. But the Teamster general board deadlocked 7—7 over the issue, and no investigation was made. On April 10, 1991, Mathis withdrew from the race for the secretary-treasurer position. Durham replaced him with Walter Shea. Shea attempted to oust McCarthy in June 1991, once more charging that McCarthy should step down immediately over the contract awarded to his son-in-law. A court-appointed administrator of the Teamsters had ruled that McCarthy had improperly awarded the printing contract but did not seek charges against him. A federal district court judge agreed with that decision. McCarthy turned the meeting of the Teamster executive board over to Mathis, who subsequently ruled that no vote could be taken until after the Teamster convention. Mathis retired from his post as secretary-treasurer on October 31, 1991, two months early. Mathis and his wife, the former Myrtle Henson, had five children. Two of Mathis's sons, who controlled Local 728, were voted out of office in a federally monitored election. Rather than return to Georgia, Mathis retired to