Over in Huntington Beach, Chip Hanlon is concerned with his home town’s Fire Department gaming the system, and I have my own concerns about Anaheim’s Fire unions endorsing GOP candidates after making it very clear that they want to raid Public Utility funds to get what they cannot extract from our General Fund. Now it seems the City of Brea is facing issues with their Fire Department. Apparently the good people of Brea have not been coughing up enough for the firefighters’ six figure salaries-with overtime (for a City with remarkably few fires) and they wish to broker a deal to sell themselves out to the OCFA. Buying City Council candidates who might be amendable to that deal appears to be part of the plan. An excellent home-grown blog by Brea Councilman John Beauman explains much of the battle.
While the Brea City Council already voted to retain their own Fire Department independently of the OCFA, a union generated questionnaire being sent to candidates asks if they “plan to re-evaluate that decision?” Just to drive home the union’s views, they have brazenly held their candidate endorsement interviews at the OCFA union headquarters building!
So what’s the problem? When a City throws in with the OCFA, there is no going back. The City signs over their fire department to the Authority. In short, should you decide you are not getting all the service you wanted, you have no recourse, you are never going to rebuild your own fire department again. The OCFA then has you over a barrel. As the OCFA swallows more municipal departments they create an increasingly more powerful political monster, able to dictate terms to city after city, increasing the unfunded liabilities that are already crushing our local governments. And lest you think your city will be able to stand strong in the face of the giant, once one city gives in to increased demands, others will be forced to follow. Your budget could well be dictated by the decisions of another, better funded government elsewhere in the County after they cut a deal you cannot afford to match. Good luck with that.
Among Brea candidates that appear to have bought into the union hype, Ric Clough, retired Law Enforcement Officer, whose website says, “After many injuries that he sustained on duty, Ric retired early from the career he loved so much.” I do not know about Ric’s pension, but in other similar cases that can often be shorthand for tax-payer funded pension enhancements for on the job injuries. Just what is needed on City Council. Throw in his clear alliance with the fire unions trying to rewrite Brea’s policies, and I do not know that I would trust Ric Clough with my vote, if I lived in Brea (which I don’t)
The other candidate I might keep an eye on is Mayor Pro Tem Roy Moore, who voted against keeping their own fire department and has been endorsed by the same fire unions. He is a shoe-in for re-election, but the voters might still find some way to apply pressure and hold him accountable for that stand on outsourcing.
In a perfect world, the average citizen would educate themselves, so that Fire and Police union endorsements would be seen for what they have become-buying and selling of candidates who appear malleable to back room deals. Sadly, Joe citizen on average does not read a daily newspaper, much less a political blog that might dissect the issues and candidates. So what is the answer? How do the educated few enlighten the masses, who frankly have opted out of watching what is happening at City Hall? Whether it is Huntington Beach, or Anaheim, or Brea, how do we each keep our neighbors in the loop so that Bell does not happen in our own home towns? And when did the public safety workers we saw as the heroes of our youth become the bullies that bankrupt out future?
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