The following was posted on the Red County blog and carried over as stated: http://www.redcounty.com/content/shari-freidenrichs-confusing-union-courting-strategy
It appears that others see the larger union plot as well.....
Brea Not Immune Either From Union Influence
Submitted by James Callender (not verified) on Mon, 2010-09-20 10:31.
If an “outsider” were to try to make heads or tails of the recent blogs (and comments to blogs) on which special interest groups are supporting which candidates, and how the patchwork of endorsements (i.e. OCGOP, public safety unions, etc.) all adds up to an actual picture of who these candidates really are (and whether they have a consistent “conservative” philosophy), it is fairly clear that they’d be utterly perplexed. Most of it seems to boil down to “who is who” and “who isn’t who”, depending on fairly complex personal allegiances that will likely change in two years.
When it comes to public safety union endorsements, it shouldn’t be about whether they endorse a candidate (Republican, “conservative”, or otherwise), but what the union expects to gain from such an endorsement. Traditionally, candidates of all political stripes have coveted the endorsements of police and fire unions. Historically (but, sadly, not recently in certain jurisdictions), a public safety union could mean a combination of things—chief among them, however, was whether a candidate demonstrated an appreciation of and commitment to, dare I say, PUBLIC SAFETY! It didn’t mean that an endorsed candidate was expected fall in line to a public safety union’s agenda once elected (the ultimate quid pro quo). In many cities, it still doesn’t (but perhaps that’s a “time and place” thing, I hope not).
It’s probably safe to assume that in the vast majority of cities in Orange County, the public safety unions ARE doing the traditional thing… identifying those who support public safety. An endorsement means an “open door” to discuss policy (and contract) issues at a high level.
Yet, there seems to be a short list of hot elections that have the possibility of being skewed by a more nefarious agenda… an election outcome that will result in whether a city council is OWNED by a public safety union or not (toward a obscenely favorable contract or some other self-serving outcome), but certainly not about ACTUAL PUBLIC SAFETY.
Much has been written about the attempted influence of Huntington Beach’s fire union, and rightly so. So much so, it won’t serve any purpose to recount that scene here. But Brea…”little ole Brea”… that’s been relatively quiet… but potentially quite impactful, especially for such a relatively small city…
What’s up in BREA?
In a nutshell, it comes down to money and advancement opportunities for individual firefighters, and not “public safety.” Most of the drama is cataloged in Brea Councilman John Beauman’s measured blog last month. However, in short, the Brea Firefighter’s Association wants Brea to be absorbed by the OCFA. Sure, we’d like to believe that the union leadership loses sleep every night, worried whether Brea residents have the best service or not. Wouldn’t that be great? They pushed for and paid for a fire services study because of their deep concern over Brea residents’ safety, right? Or, maybe, because it is a small fire department (for Orange County standards… but please remember that Brea, at 40,000 residents is bigger than thousands of cities and towns across the country that have their own departments), being absorbed into the OCFA allows union members much greater advancement opportunities by virtue of the sheer size of the agency (and play even more creative “overtime games” by virtue of the sheer size of the OCFA’s service territory).
What does it mean to be endorsed by the Brea fire union in this election? Perhaps “Question 8” of their candidate questionnaire (the most loaded question of loaded questions in the questionnaire) gives some indication:
“If elected to City Council, do you have any plans to re-evaluate Fire Department service levels or the previous fire service options?”
In other words, “If elected, will you do a ‘do-over’ on whether to go to OCFA? Answer ‘yes’, and may get our endorsement.”
Much of the Red County debate, as mentioned, circles around how Republican and conservative bona fides play into public safety union endorsements. So, for the record, the Brea Firefighters Association has endorsed two registered Republicans, Planning Commissioner Ric Clough and Mayor Pro Tem Roy Moore. It is worth noting that the fire union stopped at TWO endorsements when there are three seats open (maybe it is because Republican Councilman Marty Simonoff, who voted “no” on keeping Brea’s Fire Department, is already in their camp—so, that’s the three votes they need to ship fire service to Irvine OFCA headquarters).
This past weekend, fire union paid for “Clough/Moore” signs went up on random properties. Mail to residents began yesterday. Easily the most priceless quote in the “Brea Firefighters to Residents” letter is:
“By voting for Ric Clough and Roy Moore, you will be placing power in the hands of the people of Brea to help ensure and restore our public safety back to our community.”
Translation?
“By voting for Ric Clough and Roy Moore, you will be placing power in the hands of the firefighters to help ensure that our union membership is afforded the greatest opportunity for personal gain while outsourcing Brea’s Fire Department.”
Where is the OCFA Fire Union in all this? Right behind the Brea Fire Union. As pointed out in a blog last week, the BREA fire union endorsement interviews were held at OCFA union headquarters in Santa Ana (see the evidence…). This stunt, while chalk full of moxie, has never occurred before. After candidates Clough and Moore filled out their questionnaires, pledging allegiance to the union agenda, did it ever cross their minds (especially Moore’s, who has been through this process before) that it was odd that they were driving on the 55 Freeway and exiting Warner Avenue to go interview before the “Brea” fire union? Was it a red flag that OCFA union reps were at the interview as well? Well, it should probably come as no surprise that Clough (a former public safety officer) was comfortable with the drive from Brea to Santa Ana. After all, Brea fire union steward Dan Gibson has been listed as a supporter on his website for months. It’s probably a topic for another blog to point out that Clough is the current Brea Chamber of Commerce Chairman. How Republican Chamber of Commerce Chairman Clough reconciles his position as a business leader with such a zeal for heavy handed public employee unions might be worth another blog, but definitely a team of psychoanalysts.
In closing, Brea, oddly, could be foreshadowing of future OCFA union plays…Fullerton, are you next?
