Thank You to the 90 Percent of Voters who Voted Against El Segundo Measure P, the Firefighter Union’s Initiative

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Mike

by Michael D. Robbins
Director, Public Safety Project

May 18, 2012

Thank you to the 90 percent of El Segundo voters who voted against Measure P, the firefighter union’s initiative, and to those who campaigned against it. I campaigned against Measure P since at least August 2010, and the results are spectacular. The firefighter union gave up campaigning when their professional polls determined it would lose by a wide margin, due to our early and sustained campaign against Measure P. They did not give up as a favor to residents. We continuously campaigned against Measure P to ensure success, because of the likely loss of life if it were to pass.

However, the outcome could have been entirely different had the swing-voter on the City Council, Bill Fisher, swung the other way, and voted along with his friend Mayor Eric Bush to sell the firefighter union an earlier more advantageous election date for up to $65,000 to cover the increased election costs. It required intense pressure to get Fisher to swing our way.

The El Segundo Firefighters’ Association (the firefighters’ labor union) put Measure P on the ballot to maximize their salaries and job security at our expense in lives and money. They probably spent significantly more than $100,000 in campaign money collected from their union members, and from trusting and unsuspecting residents, to put Measure P on the ballot and to campaign for it.

They hired an expensive professional campaign consultant for an extended period of time, probably costing them more than $60,000. They hired an expensive campaign attorney to help write their initiative petition and help complete and file the necessary legal forms to get Measure P on the ballot. They paid for a lawsuit against the City over wording in the sample ballot to maximize their chances of winning the election for Measure P. And they paid for multiple expensive propaganda “push” telephone polls, that probably cost at least $12,000 to $18,000 each, in support of Measure P and the police union’s failed city council campaign to elect Scott Houston and Cindy Mortesen (the two lowest-ranked candidates in my Candidate Ranking).

The firefighters collected the Measure P initiative petition signatures by lying to voters, claiming that Measure P would preserve our local fire department when it would in fact do the opposite. And their ballot arguments in the sample ballot contained many misleading and deceptive statements.

Clearly, the firefighters’ union was committed to spending enormous amounts of money and effort, and engaging in a dishonest campaign to win the election. They could have put a glossy color campaign mailer in every voter’s mailbox every few days throughout the campaign, and could have knocked on every voter’s door multiple times.

That is why the Measure P election outcome could have been entirely different had the firefighters been successful in their attempt to buy a much earlier special election date for up to $65,000 that would have tilted the playing field significantly in their favor. They could have overwhelmed the residents with a short but extremely intense campaign where voters – especially absentee voters – would vote having seen mostly fire union propaganda.

The firefighter union’s campaign consultant advised them to buy a much earlier, more favorable special election date in mid-2011 with a much shorter campaign period, higher voter turnout (i.e., more voters who are less informed on local issues and who could be swayed by a deluge of union campaign mailers), and no City Council election where candidates would have to take a position for or against Measure P, and where some candidates would actively campaign against Measure P.

This much shorter election campaign period would have given the firefighters a significant unfair advantage in winning the election. They could easily raise $100,000 to more than $200,000 within a few days from their richly paid union members, and they have more than 50 union members with lots of free time to volunteer for political campaigns. They only have to work two out of every six days to get paid $150,000 to more than $300,000 per year in total compensation.

Former Mayor Eric Busch and Councilman Don Bran voted for the early 2011 special election date favoring the firefighters, and City Council members Carl Jacobson, Suzanne Fuentes, and Bill Fisher voted for the standard 2012 election date. This played a significant role in determining the outcome of Measure P.

Fisher was the swing vote, and he even suggested at a City Council meeting that the firefighters could pay the additional cost of the much earlier special election that they sought. It took much pressure on Fisher from myself and other residents to get Fisher to swing our way and vote what was best for the community rather than for the firefighters union that provided thousands of dollars in campaign support to help get Busch and Fisher elected.

Thus, even despite our early and sustained campaign against Measure P, it is possible that if one swing-voter City Council member – Bill Fisher – had swung the wrong way, El Segundo residents could have lost their fire department and three paramedic ambulances long before the April 10, 2012 election where Measure P was ultimately defeated by 90 percent of the voters.

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Free CPR training for El Segundo Residents Can Save Lives

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Mike

by Michael D. Robbins
Former El Segundo City Councilman
Director, Public Safety Project

May 17, 2012

Super CPR Saturday in El Segundo is May 19, 2012. This annual tradition of providing “free” cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training to city residents was started in the 1990′s when I and Mayor Carl Jacobson served together on the El Segundo City Council. I put it on a City Council meeting agenda, and the program was implemented and became a potentially life-saving tradition. Carl Jacobson has been instrumental in the program’s success.

It is free to El Segundo residents as an incentive to take the training, but it is not really “free”, because others are paying for it, including Chevron and other local businesses, and volunteers whose time is of value.

The deadline to sign up online for Super CPR Saturday is May 19, 2012 6AM.

CLICK HERE to register for the free 2012 El Segundo Super CPR Saturday class for El Segundo residents:

http://elsegundo.org/CPR

A reservation confirmation will be emailed to the email address you provide on the online signup form. The confirmations must be printed and brought to class registration.

The class will be held at El Segundo High School, 640 Main Street, El Segundo.

You must register in person Saturday morning, 15 minutes prior to the start of your assigned class, to keep your reservation. Registration is in the main hallway outside of the Auditorium.

If you do not register on time in person, your position may be given away to another resident waiting for a class position on standby. Your reservation will be held until 5 minutes before the class starts, and then the open spots are given to standby students.

Standby is available for the 8:00AM, 9:30AM and 11:00AM Sessions.

This is an Adult CPR class and does not cover Child/Infant CPR, which can be taken elsewhere (check with the Red Cross). The class runs about 2 to 3 hours. Each class has four sections, Registration, Lecture, which lasts about 45 minutes, Practice which lasts about 90 minutes and the Test, which can last from 30 to 60 minutes.

The class is certified through the American Red Cross as a Lay Person Adult CPR class. You must attend all class sections and successfully complete the test.

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Thank You – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Helen Armstrong

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, May 3, 2012 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Thank You

I am delighted that Carl Jacobson has been reelected to serve our community and has been selected by four of our five city council members to be our mayor. Only Marie Fellhauer voted “No.”

Carl has selflessly served our community with integrity and distinction for many years, giving much time out of his life for altruistic reasons. He has the experience and motivation, and now enough support on the council with Suzanne Fuentes and David Atkinson, to help get our city back on the right track.

I am also delighted that ninety percent of the voters rejected Measure P, and instead voted to keep our local fire department and paramedic ambulances.

Mike Robbins led an informative and persistent campaign against Measure P since mid-2010. It took much of his time and effort to educate and motivate our community on this important issue, and our city’s future will be better as a result of his efforts.

I am grateful that our community has good citizens who give so much of themselves and expect so little in return. I am also grateful for those in our community who cared and supported them and their efforts.

Helen Armstrong

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, Firefighter Union Corruption, Letters to the Editor, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Vents about Public Employee Unions – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Kip Haggerty

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, May 3, 2012 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Vents about Public Employee Unions

I would like to congratulate the citizens of El Segundo on their stinging electoral rebuke to the public employee unions. To vote Carl Jacobson back in with the most votes after the vicious attack perpetrated upon him and then for the Council to elect him mayor speaks volumes. The shellacking that Measure P took is indicative of the mood that many shared, that the lies the Fire Department pollsters told in their early push poll were irrelevant, only local control mattered.

I saw Marie Fellhauer’s first act was supporting Bill Fisher for Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem. This reminded me of Don Brann’s support for Eric Busch because it was “his turn” to be Mayor. She’ll be a one termer too. While I appreciate that Marie and Don have given up their time to serve, the mindset a public employee brings to the Council is inconsistent with fiscal responsibility and their natural tendency is to represent public employee unions instead of the citizens.

I hope that the public employee unions have learned their lesson. You can’t shake down your neighbors for excessive pay and benefits in a down economy. The money simply isn’t there. I also hope they will listen to Dave Atkinson on pension reform ideas because the same sad fate may befall them as many private sector union members. When their companies went bankrupt, they got only a fraction of their pension from the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.

Kip Haggerty

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, Firefighter Union Corruption, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Progressives Don’t Like Facts – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mary Olinick

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, May 3, 2012 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Progressives Don’t Like Facts

Meredith, an admitted progressive, made an attack against Robbins in your April 19 issue. It was typical progressive diatribe, in which he used personal attacks with no basis in facts. But then it’s difficult to argue against factual evidence showing progressives in YouTube videos demonstrating their true beliefs.

He goes too far in his suggestion that those he disagrees with indulge in cannibalism. Is he really saying that the majority of voters in El Segundo would “eat our young” here? Based on his letter, he’s the one who really needs professional help.

Fortunately, the voters were intelligent enough to have rejected Meredith’s beliefs. Since he doesn’t like El Segundo’s choices, I would invite him to leave and settle in a more “progressive” city such as San Francisco, West Hollywood, or Santa Monica, which would be more to his liking.

Mary Olinick

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The City Manager and Finance Director should NOT be negotiating employee contracts or agreements for salaries, benefits, or pensions

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Mike

Subject: Updated Written public communications for May 1, 2012, 5:00 P.M. City Council meeting
From: Mike Robbins
To: All Council And Clerks; Cathy Domann; Mona Shilling;
Cc: Mike Robbins;
Date: Friday, April 27, 2012 10:48 PM

April 27, 2012

Re: Updated Written Public Communications – The City Manager and Finance Director should NOT be negotiating employee contracts or agreements for salaries, benefits, or pensions.

To: El Segundo City Council, City Clerk, Deputy City Clerk, City Attorney, City Manager, and Finance Director.

From: Michael D. Robbins, long time El Segundo resident.

Here is my updated written public communications for the May 1, 2012, 5:00 P.M. El Segundo City Council meeting.

Please distribute it instead of my previous email to the entire City Council and the City Attorney, City Manager, and Finance Director, and post it instead of my previous email on the official City web site at ElSegundo.org on the City Council Agendas web page, http://www.elsegundo.org/depts/elected/agendas.asp, as is customary.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Michael D. Robbins
(Email address omitted.)

PublicSafetyProject.org
http://PublicSafetyProject.org/

YouTube.com/user/PublicSafetyProject
http://www.YouTube.com/user/PublicSafetyProject

The May 1, 2012 El Segundo City Council meeting, 5:00 P.M. session, has the following #1 under Special Orders of Business:

“1. Consideration and Possible Action to appoint Greg Carpenter, City Manager and Deborah Cullen, Finance Director to represent the City of El Segundo as labor negotiators with the Supervisory and Professional Employees Association (SPEA).”

The City Manager and Finance Director should NOT be negotiating employee contracts or agreements for salaries, benefits, or pensions, for the following SIX reasons:

1) There is an inherent and unavoidable conflict of interest, because their salaries, benefits, and pensions are based directly or indirectly on those of the employees with whom they are negotiating. City employee bargaining groups negotiate their salaries, benefits, and pensions, at least in part, based on the salaries, benefits, and pensions of the other bargaining groups. And the city manager, department heads, and all other managers are given pay raises based on the pay raises of employees below them to avoid “salary compaction”.

2) They are not negotiation experts. The city employee unions have professional labor union lawyers, negotiators, and negotiation resources to support their labor negotiations with the City, and historically, El Segundo city employees have received greatly excessive salary, benefits, and pension increases even during a recession. While this has been especially true for the firefighter and police unions, it is also true to a lesser extent for other city employee unions (“associations”).

3) The city manager and finance director must work with the employees with whom they are negotiating every day during the negotiations and after the negotiations are completed. If they drive a hard bargain for the taxpayers, there will be more employee resentment against them and less cooperation from the employees. Because of that potential resentment and lack of cooperation, there will be a disincentive for them to drive a hard bargain and negotiate in the best interests of the taxpayers.

4) The city manager and finance director are members of the city staff. They spend most of their time in City Hall in contact with other city staff members and little or no contact with the taxpayers. They have developed day-to-day working relationships and friendships with the city staff members but not with the taxpayers. Therefore, they tend to identify and sympathize more with city staff than with the taxpayers.

5) This approach has already been tried and was a total failure under City Manager Doug Willmore and Finance Director Deborah Cullen.

6) It is well worth the extra money for the City to use professional labor attorneys and negotiators directed by a majority of the City Council to best represent the interests of the taxpayers. Any offer made by the City Council negotiators must clearly state that the offer must be approved by a majority vote of the City Council in an open and public City Council meeting, and that if such vote fails, both sides will return to the bargaining process unless there is an impasse.

Furthermore, any new labor union or bargaining group contract(s) or agreement(s) MUST NOT give up the City’s management rights to determine staffing levels, including layoffs, and should not be longer than for one year given the uncertain economy and the City’s poor financial condition and excessive commitments in the existing city employee union contracts.

Any new labor union or bargaining group contract(s) or agreement(s) should incorporate a burden-sharing mechanism, with thresholds and triggers that implements automatic reductions in the total contract cost (e.g., salary/pay rate reductions) and/or re-opens the contract for negotiation if the sum of unbudgeted city revenue declines plus unbudgeted and uncontrollable city expense increases exceeds one or more specified thresholds.

There should be no Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) or other raises, given the state of the economy and the City’s financial condition and financial commitments. If City revenues increase, the extra money should be used to pay for deferred city infrastructure maintenance and to replenish reserve funds spent down during the recession, and not for employee raises.

The city employees have received three different types of pay raises during the recession while private sector employees received salary reductions and layoffs. The city employees received automatic annual general contract pay raises, automatic annual “step” pay raises, and periodic “longevity” pay raises at specified longevity milestones in the previous three-year contracts, and will receive automatic “step” pay raises, “longevity” pay raises, and conditional Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) pay raises based on City revenue increases in the new three-year contracts.

That concludes my public communications for the May 1, 2012, 5:00 P.M. El Segundo City Council meeting.

Posted in El Segundo, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reelecting Jacobson – Letter to the Beach Reporter by Helen Armstrong

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the Beach Reporter newspaper (TBRnews.com) on Thursday, April 26, 2012 in the Letters section. The Beach Reporter has a strict 250-word limit.

Reelecting Jacobson

I am delighted that El Segundo City Councilman Carl Jacobson has been re-elected to serve our community and has been selected by four of our five City Council members to be our mayor. Only Marie Fellhauer voted “No.”

Carl has selflessly served our community with integrity and distinction for many years, giving much time out of his life for altruistic reasons. He has the experience and motivation, and now enough support on the council with Suzanne Fuentes and David Atkinson, to help get our city back on the right track.

I am also delighted that 90 percent of the voters rejected Measure P, and instead voted to keep our local fire department and paramedic ambulances.

Mike Robbins led an informative and persistent campaign against Measure P since mid-2010. It took much of his time and effort to educate and motivate our community on this important issue, and our city’s future will be better as a result of his efforts.

I am grateful that our community has good citizens who give so much of themselves and expect so little in return. I am also grateful for those in our community who cared and supported them and their efforts.

Helen Armstrong
El Segundo

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News, Firefighter Union Corruption, Letters to the Editor, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Election recap – Letter to the Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the Beach Reporter newspaper (TBRnews.com) on Thursday, April 26, 2012 in the Letters section. The Beach Reporter has a strict 250-word limit.

Election recap

Thank you to the 90 percent of voters who voted against Measure P, the firefighter union’s initiative, and to those who campaigned against it. I campaigned against Measure P since at least August 2010, and the results are spectacular.

The firefighter union gave up campaigning when their professional polls determined it would lose by a wide margin, due to our early and sustained campaign against P. They did not give up as a favor to residents. We continuously campaigned against P to ensure success, because of the likely loss of life if it were to pass.

We defeated the two candidates endorsed and funded by the self-serving police union – progressive candidate Scott Houston, who falsely campaigned as a conservative, opposite his true record, and Cindy Mortesen. I wonder how the police officers and firefighters can be trusted on their jobs when they are blatantly dishonest in city election campaigns.

Carl Jacobson is vindicated and is mayor. Cindy Topar finished last. Topar and/or her campaign supporter, Peggy Boulgarides – wife of firefighter Jim Boulgarides – were responsible for the anonymous El Segundo Herald ad urging voters to watch the discredited KCET propaganda video attacking Chevron and Jacobson. Boulgarides called me on March 24 to take responsibility, but may have been covering for Topar.

I campaigned using facts, logical reasoning and proof including videos (at http://PublicSafetyProject.org/) for the best candidates, and against Measure P and the worst candidates. Bruce Meredith and other progressives may find that “dangerous,” but our community is safer as a result.

Michael D. Robbins
El Segundo

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News, Firefighter Union Corruption, Letters to the Editor, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kudos to El Segundo voters – Letter to the Daily Breeze by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the Daily Breeze newspaper Letters section (DailyBreeze.com/letters/) and the Los Angeles Daily News newspaper Letters section on Monday, April 23, 2012. The Daily Breeze and Daily News have a strict 150-word limit. However, the Daily Breeze edited this letter down to only 116 words. Are they trying to model their Letters to the Editor section after Twitter?

http://www.dailybreeze.com/letters/ci_20455703/reasons-re-elect-obama-letters-editor-monday-april

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_20455703/reasons-re-elect-obama-letters-editor-monday-april

Daily Breeze

dailybreeze.com

LAX TO L.A. HARBOR

Letters to the Editor for Monday, April 23, 2012

Posted: 04/22/2012 02:02:23 PM PDT
April 22, 2012 9:27 PM GMT
Updated: 04/22/2012 02:26:15 PM PDT

Kudos to El Segundo voters

Thank you to the 90 percent of El Segundo voters who rejected Measure P. We saved El Segundo City Fire Department from selfish firefighters only interested in maximizing their salaries and job security. Measure P would have disbanded our Fire Department, contracted with Los Angeles County for significantly reduced emergency services and endangered lives. The firefighter union quit campaigning when their professional polls determined it would lose by a wide margin because of our early and sustained campaign against P. They did not give up as a favor to residents. We defeated the two candidates endorsed and funded by the self-serving police union: Progressive candidate Scott Houston who falsely campaigned as a conservative and Cindy Mortesen.

– Michael D. Robbins, El Segundo

Note: This letter was edited down to only 116 words by the Daily Breeze from the original 150 word letter that was submitted. Here is the original letter as it was submitted:

El Segundo Election Victories

Thank you to the 90 percent of voters who voted against Measure P, the firefighter union’s initiative, and those who campaigned against it. We saved our city fire department from selfish firefighters only interested in maximizing their salaries and job security. Measure P would have disbanded our fire department, contracted with L.A. County for significantly reduced emergency services, and endangered lives.

The firefighter union quit campaigning when their professional polls determined it would lose by a wide margin, due to our early and sustained campaign against P. They did not give up as a favor to residents.

We defeated the two candidates endorsed and funded by the self-serving police union – Progressive candidate Scott Houston, who falsely campaigned as a Conservative, opposite his true record, and Cindy Mortesen.

I wonder how the police officers and firefighters can be trusted on their jobs when they are blatantly dishonest in city election campaigns.

Michael D. Robbins
El Segundo

Posted in Daily Breeze Letters, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, Firefighter Union Corruption, Letters to the Editor, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Carl Jacobson selected as new El Segundo mayor, Suzanne Fuentes as Mayor Pro Tem – Marie Fellhauer and Bill Fisher lose first two key votes

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Mike

by Michael D. Robbins
April 18, 2012

The newly elected El Segundo City Council members, City Clerk, and City Treasurer were sworn in at the April 17, 2012 City Council meeting, one week after the April 10 El Segundo General Municipal Election.

Councilman Carl Jacobson, Councilman Elect David Atkinson, and Councilwoman Elect Marie Fellhauer were all sworn in for four-year terms on the City Council.

City Clerk Elect Tracy Sherrill Weaver, who was elected with the campaign help of her mother, a former school board member, and City Treasurer Elect Christopher Powell who ran unopposed, were also sworn in.

Councilman Carl Jacobson was selected to be mayor for the next two years by a majority vote of the new City Council, and Suzanne Fuentes as mayor pro tem, despite strong opposition from newly elected LAPD police union member and Busch-Fisher ally Marie Fellhauer.

And Council members Marie Fellhauer and Bill Fisher lost their first two key votes of the new City Council in the process.

Jacobson Vindicated, KCET Propaganda Video and Karen Foshay Repudiated

Jacobson’s successful re-election campaign, with by far the highest vote count of all eight City Council candidates, and his selection as mayor by a majority of the new City Council, serves well to vindicate him and repudiate the KCET SoCal Connected hatchet-job propaganda video, “Small Town, Big Oil”, produced by KCET propaganda journalist Karen Foshay.

Foshay’s KCET propaganda video attacked Chevron and Jacobson with false accusations made by fired El Segundo city manager Doug Willmore. Willmore has been described as a habitual and pathological liar, and was fired for many good cause reasons including persistent dishonesty, although no reason was needed nor specified because Willmore was an at-will employee.

Karen Foshay interviewed Mike Robbins because he was on the El Segundo City Council during the legal settlement to the MRC-Chevron-El Segundo tax dispute. However, she ignored all of the facts and information he provided verbally and by email, because they contradicted her anti-business bias and political agenda.

The police union and campaign supporters of Robbins’ worst four bottom-ranked candidates – Marie Fellhauer, Cindee Topar, Cindy Mortesen, and Scott Houston – urged voters to watch the propaganda video to dishonestly attack Jacobson’s character and undermine his re-election campaign.

City Council candidate Cindee Topar and/or her campaign supporter Peggy Boulgarides, wife of Jim Boulgarides – a firefighter union member in another city – placed an anonymous ad in the local El Segundo Herald newspaper for four weeks urging voters to watch the propaganda video. Jim Boulgarides may also have been behind that ad.

The police union put a message on their web site urging voters to watch the propaganda video, and sent two mailings to El Segundo voters attacking Chevron directly and Carl Jacobson indirectly, and urging voters to visit their web site so they would see the link to the propaganda video.

And anonymous mass-distribution emails were sent by supporters of the four bottom-ranked candidates to El Segundo residents attacking Chevron and Carl Jacobson, and urging them to watch the propaganda video.

The KCET propaganda video was clearly designed and intended to undermine Carl Jacobson’s re-election campaign, and that is how it was used.

Nominations for Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem

As soon as the newly elected city clerk opened nominations for mayor, Marie Fellhauer quickly spoke up, nominating Bill Fisher, her political ally and supporter, and a political ally of the local police and firefighter unions, for mayor.

After a pause during which there was no second for that nomination, Fisher seconded the nomination to nominate himself, although it was obvious there was not a needed third vote for the nomination to succeed.

The nomination failed by a 2 to 3 split vote, with Fisher and Fellhauer voting “yes”, and Jacobson, Fuentes, and Atkinson voting “no”.

Fuentes nominated Councilman and former mayor Carl Jacobson for mayor, Atkinson seconded the nomination, and the nomination passed on a 4 to 1 vote with Fellhauer alone voting “no”.

Some local residents observed that Fellhauer did not even have the class to vote for Jacobson for mayor even when it was obvious he would be the next mayor, and even though he clearly had the most experience, dedication, and integrity based on his previous years of service as mayor.

The new city clerk then tried to open nominations for mayor pro tem, but Mayor Jacobson politely informed her that as mayor, he now chairs the City Council meeting. Had the new city clerk read the very short City Council meeting agenda before the meeting, she would have known this fact.

Mayor Jacobson then opened nominations for mayor pro tem.

Again, Marie Fellhauer quickly spoke up, nominating her liberal political ally, Bill Fisher, as mayor pro tem. Again seeing there was no second for that nomination, Fisher seconded the nomination to nominate himself even though there would not be a needed third vote for the nomination to prevail.

As with Fellhauer’s nomination for mayor, the nomination failed by a 2 to 3 split vote with Fellhauer and Fisher voting “yes”, and Jacobson, Fuentes, and Atkinson voting “no”.

David Atkinson then nominated Suzanne Fuentes for mayor pro tem, and Jacobson seconded the nomination. The nomination passed by a 3 to 2 split vote with Jacobson, Fuentes, and Atkinson voting “yes”, and Fellhauer and Fisher voting “no”.

Local residents observed that both Fellhauer and Fisher lacked class on this vote. Fisher has already held the mayor pro tem position for two years.

Fellhauer Allied with Eric Busch and Bill Fisher who had Costly Sweetheart Deal with Police and Fire Unions

Bill Fisher has been a close personal friend and a proxy vote on the City Council for outgoing Mayor Eric Busch. Fisher almost always voted in lock-step with Busch as though he had no idea how to vote without direction from Busch.

Busch and Fisher were supported with thousands of dollars worth of campaign cash, campaign mailers, and other campaign support from the biggest campaign contributors in El Segundo city elections – the local police officer and firefighter labor unions (“associations”), and a Los Angeles-based extremist environmental political action committee (PAC) – the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters PAC (LALCV.org).

Fellhauer was selected by Mayor Busch to be his replacement on the City Council. Bush endorsed Fellhauer, appeared prominently in her campaign literature, and did much behind the scenes to help get her elected.

Eric Busch was given $10,900 in campaign cash and other campaign support by the El Segundo police officer and firefighter labor unions in a sweetheart deal in 2008, and Busch and Fisher gave them millions of extra tax dollars per year in return in excessive salaries, benefits, and pensions.

Fellhauer’s Dubious Values and Politics

Felhauer and the police union endorsed Scott Houston when he ran for El Segundo City Council in 2010, even though he had previously run as a self-described Progressive (ultra-liberal, big tax-and-spender) for Democratic Party County Central Committee in the June 3, 2008 election, and even though for many years, Houston has been director of the South Bay Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Center which operates a “youth group” advertised as youth “18 and UNDER Welcome!!!” to Drag Shows and more.

Fellhauer scheduled her campaign fundraisers at a major drinking establishment in town frequented and used by Eric Busch.

Fellhauer had an absenteeism problem on Planning Commission, yet cited her appointment to the Planning Commission as her primary example of “Marie’s Proven Commitment to Community” in her campaign literature, despite her 32 percent absentee rate for the meetings she was obligated to attend.

Fellhauer failed to resign from her Planning Commission appointment even after it was clear that she could not or would not meet her obligations. It appears that she planned on using the appointment as a “credential” and stepping stone to City Council for at least the last four years.

Some local residents have commented that if Fellhauer has a similar absenteeism rate for City Council, she will have less opportunity to vote for special interests instead of what is best for the voters and taxpayers.

Other residents are hoping she will mature while serving on the City Council, break her allegiance to Eric Busch, Bill Fisher, and campaign supporter and large contributor Ron Swanson, and instead uphold her obligation to represent the voters and taxpayers.

Bush Cited His Budget Disaster Legacy as an “Accomplishment”

Outgoing Mayor Eric Busch had a professional photographer present to photograph the presentations, speeches, and festivities at his last City Council meeting after serving for two years as mayor.

Busch read a list of his “accomplishments”, and again falsely claimed that the City budget was “structurally balanced”.

Either the City budget is not “structurally balanced”, or it is meaningless to say that it is.

If the budget was truly “structurally balanced”, then Busch, Fisher, and fired city manager Doug Willmore would not have planned to borrow more than $10 million for twenty years to pay for routine city infrastructure maintenance and capital improvements that traditionally have been paid for using ordinary General Fund revenues.

And they would not have planned to effectively sell and lease back City Hall to use it as collateral for the loan.

However, for many years, Busch and Fisher used the General Fund revenues that used to pay for infrastructure maintenance and capital improvements in a sweetheart deal to pay an extra $8 million per year for greatly excessive and unsustainable police and firefighter union salaries, benefits, and pensions.

Resounding Defeat of the Firefighter Union’s Measure P

Former El Segundo Councilman Mike Robbins spoke briefly during public communications, congratulating Mayor Carl Jacobson, Mayor Pro Tem Suzanne Fuentes, and new City Council members David Atkinson and Marie Fellhauer.

Robbins also thanked those who campaigned early on and later against Measure P, and the 90.1 percent of voters who voted against it.

Measure P, the firefighter union initiative, would have disbanded the local City fire department and forced the City to contract with the Los Angeles County Fire Department for a significantly reduced level of fire and paramedic emergency services for at least ten years under state law.

Measure P would have permanently eliminated the three city-operated paramedic ambulances, forcing residents to use out-of-town private ambulance companies with significantly increased hospital transport times and ambulance fees.

The El Segundo Firefighters’ Association, which is the firefighters’ labor union, put Measure P on the ballot to maximize their salaries and job security at the residents’ expense in lives and money.

The firefighters would have become L.A. County Fire Department employees, with their higher El Segundo salaries intact without reduction. Their salaries would no longer be controlled and subject to reduction by the El Segundo City Council, even though city taxpayers would be forced to pay for them.

Robbins stated that El Segundo residents want to maintain local control of their fire department, police department, and schools, and that local control makes the city special.

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