Thread: ESCONDIDO, CA, POLICE UNION MAILS OUT GANG FLIER

Originally Posted by Skip

AS A CALIFORNIA STATE TAXPAYER I FEEL THAT ALL OF MY TAX MONEY IS GOING TO :

CALIFORNIA STATE PUBLIC WORKERS UNIONS / ILLEGAL ALIENS / OCTO-MOM

SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE

Bravo to that.

EDITORIAL: Escondido cop union's antics, mailer tacky

OUR VIEW: Council correct to trim benefits, pay hikes

By North County Times Opinion staff
Sunday, March 22, 2009 12:10 AM PDT

Misrepresentations, distortions and a lack of class were all on display last week for Escondido residents.

And the guilty party (the Escondido Police Officers Association) failed miserably if it was expecting to win any points with residents for its antics as part of its public battle over compensation cuts with the City Council.

First, there was the tacky (and we're being kind here) mailer that the police officers' union sent out to 17,000 Escondido households featuring an ominous cover photograph of gang members ---- all Latinos (as if all Latinos were gang members or all gang members were Latinos ---- neither is true).

Within the flier, the association played fast and loose with the number of gang members in Escondido in an attempt to show the police force as hopelessly outnumbered. Further, the union misrepresented crime rate as increasing in the city (it has declined, thank you).

Then there was at least one radio talk show interview in which a union spokesman went on at length about how the council was being unfair in its (then) proposed "takeaways" in benefits and how the officers were "the lowest-paid in the county" ---- a matter hotly disputed by city officials who note contrary figures.

We support the council's action Wednesday to apply the same cuts to the police officers that it has applied to the city's firefighters and other employees. Voting to end a city contribution to a secondary retirement account and to suspend automatic pay increases for longevity, education and training (as it has for other city employees) was the only justifiable decision to make.

No one likes losing some (but certainly not all) benefits. No one welcomes the prospect of pay cuts, wage freezes or "work furloughs" (take home less pay, but work fewer hours), either.

But unlike the situation of many of Escondido's taxpayers, no officer is being laid off, and major benefits are still in place.

Reasonable people ought to be able to disagree reasonably; in this case, Escondido's finest did not.

NORTH COUNTY TIMES

ESCONDIDO: Police union may be following nasty blueprint

Leader says tactics not modeled after Web site used by 120 unions

By DAVID GARRICK - Staff Writer | Monday, March 23, 2009 6:43 PM PDT

ESCONDIDO ---- City officials say they are concerned that last week's provocative police union mailer could be part of a nasty and aggressive negotiating blueprint recommended to unions across the state by a San Bernardino County labor attorney.

The blueprint, which is featured on the Web site of the union's attorney, recommends that police labor unions "annoy decision-makers" and "chastise them for their lack of concern for public safety." It also suggests the union act "like a quiet giant in the position of 'do as I ask and don't piss me off.'"

Members of the City Council said some of the union's recent tactics appear to match advice contained on the Web site, which they called "deplorable" and "shocking."

A few days before Wednesday's council meeting, where council members voted to eliminate 401(k) contributions and longevity pay hikes for Escondido's 150 police officers, union officials mailed a provocative flier to 17,000 Escondido homes.

The flier used crime statistics and pictures of an El Salvadoran gang from Los Angeles in an effort to persuade residents that compensation cuts for police would be a bad idea. The flier also accused city officials of negotiating with its unions in bad faith and making poor decisions with taxpayer money.

During Wednesday's hearing, the union's attorney told council members they should expect more of the same if they continue to include reducing police compensation among their plans for balancing the city budget.

But Michael Guerrero, president of the Escondido police union, said Monday that the negative tenor of the union's recent efforts does not mean they are methodically following the Web site's blueprint.

Guerrero said he has never been to the Web site where the strategies and tactics are outlined, and that the union prefers to negotiate based on facts and statistics instead of intimidation and threats.

But Guerrero also said he listens carefully to tactical suggestions from his attorney, Dieter Dammeier, and that he sees no problem with aggressively criticizing city officials for positions they take or mistakes they make.

"I reject some suggestions and accept others," he said.

Dammeier, whose Upland firm represents 120 public safety unions in California, did not return phone calls Monday. The tactics recommended by his firm can be found at www.policeattorney.com/newsletters-94.htm.

Council members said they first became aware of the Web site during Wednesday's public hearing on the compensation cuts. Richard Kreisler, the city's lead labor negotiator, used the site and its tactics to persuade the council to approve the cuts.

City Councilman Dick Daniels said Monday that some of the tactics on the Web site are commonly used by unions, but he also called those tactics deplorable.

"It's a game plan that goes beyond what is civil," Daniels said, suggesting that such strategies could further damage the city's reputation and the relationship between city officials and the union. "I hope whatever they do in the future is not racial and does not create undue fear."

But Dammeier warned the council Wednesday that they should be expecting more of the same.

"This police association is going to continue to educate the community about the lack of public safety being prioritized," said Dammeier, a former police officer. "This flier was just the beginning."

Councilwoman Olga Diaz said Monday that such threats are disappointing and that the union's continued use of aggressive tactics would make her extremely disappointed in union leaders and the city's collective bargaining process. But she also predicted such tactics would fail.

"After all the media coverage last week about the flier, I would hope people won't fall for it," she said.

Guerrero said the union sent the city a letter Monday seeking binding arbitration for their current dispute, but city officials have repeatedly said they would decline such a request.

Contact staff writer David Garrick at (760) 740-5468 or dgarrick@nctimes.com.

NORTH COUNTY TIMES

I am horrified at this whole shebang. Just a thought: include a clause that says persons pictured are not actual gang members, (unless they really are) as there are white, black, Hispanic and Asian gangs. It is the same kind of truth-telling when an infomercial starts out with an announcement the spokesman is not a doctor or lawyer but touts the products as if they were.
I hope Escondido survives as an American city, and I hope the North County Times follows the example of the LA Times, who seems to be pulling no punches about rising drug gang violence and illegal immigration.