Time to Bury the Hatchet.

Published: Nov. 3, 2010
Updated: 12:51 p.m.

Moore: Brea should leave animosity behind

By LOU PONSI

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

BREA – - Looking back on a City Council election considered by many as the most divisive in recent history, re-elected Councilman Roy Moore said laying animosity to rest will be necessary to move forward with city business.

Among the seven candidates competing for three seats on the council, Moore finished first with nearly 20 percent of the vote; incumbent Ron Garcia was second with 17.2 percent and challenger Brett Murdock was third with 15.8 percent.

Paid political advertisements, blogs and e-mails became weapons of attack throughout the campaign and accusations of sign stealing and harassment created rifts among residents and between current council members.

"We've got a city that is divided and we've got to pull together and it has to start with the City Council," Moore said. "We've got to work together or the next election will be just as bad as this one."

Steven Vargas finished fourth, with 14.7 percent of the vote and Ric Clough finished fifth with 13.8 percent.

Close to $120,000 has been spent on campaigns by the candidates and political action committees, including nearly $60,000 spent by Brea fire and police unions endorsing Clough and Moore.

Garcia raised nearly $24,000, the most of any candidate.

Looking forward, priorities include balancing the budget, monitoring the city's recent reorganization efforts — especially in the fire department — and examining the effectiveness of the year-old street sweeping ordinance, Moore said.

When the council voted 3-2 in July to restructure the Brea Fire Department instead of going with a proposal to join with the Orange County Fire Authority, Moore and Marty Simonoff voted against the restructuring.

While campaigning, Moore came across residents inconvenienced by the ordinance requiring residents to move cars off the street before sweepers arrive or risk a $38 ticket.

But many residents are in favor of the ordinance so it might just need to be tweaked, he said

In some cases signs were poorly posted, said Moore, who was one of four councilmen who voted yes on the ordinance about a year ago.

One of Murdock's campaign promises was to do away with the ordinance.

"I'm looking forward to working with (fellow councilmen) Ron and Brett and Marty (Simonoff) and Don (Schweitzer)," Moore said.

The other candidates were Don R. Havard, Jim Grosse and Elleke R. Humphreys.

For City Council election results go to Registrar of Voters: http://www.ocvote.com/live/gen2010/results.htm

Send your comments or questions to breaguy@vzw.blackberry.net

How Does Average Joe Play Tug of War With Unions?

By Cynthia Ward | 9/15/10 | 11:17 PM EDT -- posted on Red County blog (and copied here)

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?

Brea Not Immune from Union Influence

Brea Not Immune Either From Union Influence

Submitted to Red County blog by James Callender (not verified) on Mon, 2010-09-20 10:31 (and reposted here).

 

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?

If you agree with the author, forward this blog address (http://www.brea2010.blogspot.com/) to a neighbor or friend who are Breans, This situation can change the Brea we know forever.
breaguy 

Brea Resident has his say.....

Submitted by Brean.... (received as email)

Friends and Neighbors,

As we approach Election Day, November 2nd, the ugly season is upon us. The attacks and counter-charges, the silly mailers, etc. - we have all seen it before and generally throw the mail box clutter into the trash without reading. I received a mailer today that was particularly despicable but predictable - a large post card from the Brea Firefighters PAC that supports 2 candidates for Brea City Council. The ad attempts to scare the potential voters into voting for their choice of candidates and insinuates that the other council members and candidates don't take public safety seriously or it is not a priority. Can the Brea Firefighters really believe that the other council members and candidates don't support public safety? The Brea Firefighters care about public safety but they care more about their pensions, overtime and work rules. After the election they will expect their supported candidates to return the favor and support their position (turnover of the Brea Fire Department to the Orange County Fire Authority where they will have higher pensions, more overtime and relaxed work rules; all at Brea taxpayers expense. While I am not advocating supporting or not supporting the candidates supported by the Brea Firefighters Union - I can tell you that every serious Republican candidate in Orange County has taken the pledge to not accept endorsements or support from public service unions - it is an inherent conflict of interest when it comes time to negotiate with these unions.

Attached is the flyer with my editorial comments and a letter from a current council member not up for election.
 
Best,

Ralph Heimann

       -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

             -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



following letter is independent of but was submitted as part of above submittal (received as email)

Dear Brea Resident,

My name is Don Schweitzer. I am currently a member of the Brea City Council. The reason for this email is quite simple. I am concerned about the misinformation the firefighter’s union is putting out during this campaign. Please do not base your support or non-support of a candidate on what the firefighters are saying about public safety. Every current councilman and every current candidate places public safety as their number one priority. To suggest otherwise is categorically untrue!

Ask yourself why the union is spending tens of thousands of dollars to get two particular candidates elected. The short answer is that they believe their candidates will give them a majority vote on the council to dismantle the Brea Fire Department and contract with the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA). Is that what you want? Do you want to lose control of our Fire Department that has a 98% public satisfaction rating? I sincerely hope not.

Brea’s new fire department reorganization plan saves the city nearly $1,300,000 per year when fully implemented without compromising public safety. It does this by controlling the firemen’s unnecessary overtime costs. No salary reductions and no layoffs.

OCFA’s plan supported by the firefighter’s union only saved $500,000 per year while losing city control and laying off 18 Brea fire personnel.

When in doubt, follow the money. Our firefighters want to work for OCFA because of higher salaries, better benefits and more opportunity for advancement; not because of providing Brea with better public safety.

Brea is safe. Brea will remain safe and should control its own destiny! Please vote for the candidates that will say NO to the Fire Union’s power play.

If you agree with my opinion, please forward this email to your friends and family. We can’t compete with expensive banners, posters and billboards but we can make a difference by getting the word out.

Thank you,

Don Schweitzer

Brea City Council

　

Brea: Fire Union-Endorsed Candidates Endorse Each Other

Posted on Red County blog: http://redcounty.com/content/brea-fire-union-endorsed-candidates-endorse-each-other

By James Callender 9/22/10 1:35 PM EST

As mentioned in a previous Red County post, the Brea Firefighters Association (aka, Brea Fire Union) is looking to stack the Brea City Council with union “friendly” candidates (aka, those that want to outsource the Brea Fire Department to OCFA). It was learned today that Fire Union-endorsed candidates Ric Clough and Mayor Pro Tem Roy Moore mutually endorsed each other—creating an informal slate (to go along with the “Clough/Moore” signs popping up all over Brea).
It is curious that Moore (now running for his fourth term, even though when he first ran in 1998, it was under an “eight [years] is enough” platform) has endorsed Clough (see Clough’s “supporters” page on his website, which also includes Brea Fire Union steward Dan Gibson).. No one seems to remember a time where Moore has endorsed another city council candidate, much less when he is running in a race for re-election. Moore, generally seen as independent from the fray, seems to be clearly towing a union line to get Clough onto the city council—tipping the scales toward their play to go to the OCFA.

High StakesTo get Moore to endorse his own challenger – Ric Clough -- when he has never done so before, it seems the Brea Fire Union has something over Roy (e.g., free signs, free mail, continued stipends on the Vector Control Board, etc.). Perhaps Republican Roy Moore subscribes to the Brea Fire Union agenda on purely pro-union grounds (e.g. he doesn’t think there are enough six-figure firefighters working the “overtime game”). It’s hard to say. For Clough, his endorsement of Roy Moore must be his heartfelt belief that Councilmember Roy Moore is doing a stellar job on the city council, so much so that Brea residents should elect him to a FOURTH term—“un-change” that you can believe in, right?

More news from little ole Brea shall surely follow. In the meantime, I certainly hope that the Fire Union doesn’t sensationalize any medical emergency tragedies over the next 40 days…claiming that fictional lower service levels are the cause from some poor Brea resident that succumbs a life-ending malady. Frankly, that would be sick.

The Plot Thickens....

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?

OCFA Firefighters' Union Meddling in Brea City Council Election

Are you aware that the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Professional Firefighters Association (union local 3631) is actively involved in Brea's City Council election?

You have the opportunity to share your opinon below.