The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, March 13, 2014 in the Letters section on page 7. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.
Fire Union Bankrolling “Yes on A” Campaign
Be sure to read the entire Measure A arguments and rebuttals in the Sample Ballot. Mayor Fisher put Measure A on the April ballot – BEFORE the City Council will negotiate new long-term union contracts later this year. Measure A weakens the Council’s bargaining position, and Fisher wants us to vote before we know the size of pay raises he will put into those contracts. That is bad timing!
The fire union PAC gave $5,000 to the “Yes on Measure A” campaign – just for starters. The fire and police unions spend lots of money in City elections to put a thousand times more in their paychecks and pensions. They ratchet up their pay and pensions – and our taxes and fees!
In 2009, average firefighter annual individual total compensation was $211,000. The highest was $342,000. The average for police officers was $178,000 and the highest was $304,000. Fisher supported big pay raises every year since then. Most of the employee concessions were temporary, but apparently the big pay raises were permanent – just like the Measure A tax hikes!
Fisher started his political career running with “Yes on Measure A” co-chair Sandra Jacobs as fire and police union candidates. The fire union sent a campaign letter threatening seniors with “the possibility of our paramedics not being available when you need them” if their candidates were not elected. See PublicSafetyProject.org.
Please vote “NO” on Measure A and for Suzanne Fuentes and Mike Dugan – for our City’s future.
Marianne Fong
NOTE: Heidi Maerker at the El Segundo Herald printed the above letter in the El Segundo Herald on Thursday, March 13, 2014, on page 7, but she omitted the last sentence of the fourth paragraph, “See PublicSafetyProject.org.”, because she does not want letters to contain any web links.
El Segundo Police Officers' Association (ESPOA) Exposed