Tag Archives: El Segundo Police Officers Union

Mike Robbins’ Public Communications at the May 3, 2016 El Segundo City Council Meeting

First, I want to thank outgoing Mayor Pro Tem Carl Jacobson for his many decades of service to the City and the citizens of El Segundo, as Mayor, as Mayor Pro Tem, as Councilmember, on the Planning Commission, and in other capacities.

I had the privilege of serving on City Council with Carl Jacobson as mayor. We agreed on most issues, but when we disagreed, I always knew he was honest, intelligent, competent, and doing what he believed was in the best interest of the City and the citizens of El Segundo.

Second, I would like to congratulate the newly elected City Council Members, Don Brann, Carol Pirsztuk, and Drew Boyles. The City Council election turned out the way I believe will be best for our City. I am disappointed with the passage of Measure B, the 50 percent increase in the Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax.

I hope that increase in City tax revenue will not trigger a clause in the union contracts to give automatic additional COLA pay raises to the City employees. Such a clause existed in the previous union contracts. …

Any change in the way the mayor and mayor pro tem are elected should be based on what is best for the citizens of El Segundo, and should be put before the voters of El Segundo. All of the pros and cons of such a change should be carefully considered before putting the question before the voters. … Continue reading

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), El Segundo Measure B TOT Tax Hike, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter Union Corruption, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Mike Robbins’ Public Communications at the May 3, 2016 El Segundo City Council Meeting

Inherent Conflict of Interest – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins

Inherent Conflict of Interest

The Police Officers’ and Firefighters’ Associations (unions) bankrolled the Measure B tax-hike campaign. FPPC campaign disclosure forms show the police and fire unions spent an overwhelming $39,247.50 in our city election ($19,033.50 police, and $20,214.00 fire) to influence voters on Measure B and the City Council race.

This is nearly four times the $10,000 they contributed to the “Yes on Measure A” campaign in 2014, for eleven tax hikes, on residents and businesses. The fire union probably spent more than $100,000 on their Measure P campaign in 2012, to outsource our local Fire Department to Los Angeles County for a reduced level of service, for their own financial benefit.

None of the firefighters and only about one-fourth of the police live in town. They campaign in our local elections to maximize their pay and pensions, and raise taxes and fees to pay for it, no matter how excessive and unsustainable.

The latest available El Segundo City Employee compensation data, for 2014, at TransparentCalifornia.com, shows the 58 sworn police employees had the following total annual pay and benefits statistics: Minimum=$139,028; Maximum=$358,536; Average=$228,240; and Median (half above and half below)=$214,867.

The 44 sworn firefighter employees had the following total annual pay and benefits statistics: Minimum=$148,235; Maximum=$375,524; Average=$247,646; and Median=$225,882. The firefighters are paid to sleep and eat, including some of those hours at the overtime rate of 150% their regular pay rate.

The union campaigns have nothing to do with safety and everything to do with union greed.

– Mike Robbins


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Posted in California, Economy and Economics, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), El Segundo Measure B TOT Tax Hike, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure A - 5 New Taxes and 6 Tax Inceases, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Inherent Conflict of Interest – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins

Strange Election – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marianne Fong

Strange Election

The police and fire unions are endorsing and campaigning for the three challenger candidates because they want incumbents Marie Fellhauer and Dave Atkinson off the City Council. This makes for a strange election, because Fellhauer and Atkinson should be off the City Council, and challengers Carol Pirsztuk and Don Brann should be elected. The unions usually endorse the worst tax-and-spend candidates.

We must judge the incumbent City Council candidates by their voting record, especially when they had a majority with Bill Fisher and ran amok, not by their campaign rhetoric, false accomplishments, and campaign promises.

Fellhauer and Atkinson have been tax-and-spend politicians. They voted for at least a dozen tax hikes, on residents and businesses, and fee increases, to pay for excessive police and fire union raises handed out by their allies Eric Busch and Bill Fisher.

They played a financial shell game to claim they balanced the City budget. They spent down the City’s Reserve Account, and borrowed large sums from the Equipment Replacement Fund, which is used to save up money over the years to pay for everything from new computers to new police cars and fire engines.

Fellhauer and Atkinson continued the Chevron Shakedown started by Busch and Fisher, and effectively extorted an additional $8.5 million average per year for 15 years from Chevron, without justification.

They are talking like conservatives, and padding their campaign literature, taking credit for accomplishments of the current fiscally conservative majority. Fellhauer is even quoting Ronald Reagan in this masquerade.

– Marianne Fong


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Posted in California, Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, Economy and Economics, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Strange Election – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marianne Fong

No on Measure B – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Jerry Wellfonder

No on Measure B

Read the Argument Against Measure B and Rebuttal to the Argument in Favor of Measure B in the Sample Ballot. You can view or download it at the City website, ElSegundo.org.

Vote “No” on Measure B, the Bait-and-Switch tax hike. The City lured hotels here with a Business Attraction Program and lower hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT). Now after the hotels are built, the City is trying to raise their TOT tax by 50%, from 8% to 12%. This tax, paid by customers, will increase room prices and reduce sales. The TOT is only 10% in adjacent Manhattan Beach.

Measure B will destroy El Segundo’s longestablished reputation as a fair and stable business-friendly city. We may ultimately lose more tax revenue than we will gain, by discouraging businesses from coming and expanding here.

The hotel operators, Councilman Mike Dugan, and former Council Members Mike Robbins, Jane Friedkin and Dick Switz all oppose Measure B.

Government must learn to live within its means. This cycle of handing out big pay raises to the safety unions and management, and raising taxes to pay for it, has increased both the funded and unfunded CalPERS pension liabilities. It has got to stop. Each pay raise increases the pension liabilities. El Segundo’s unfunded CalPERS pension liability – about $106,500,000 – must be paid over many years, as employees retire, over their remaining lifetime, which will average about 25 to 35 years per retiree.

Vote “No” on Measure B to stop this vicious cycle.

– Jerry Wellfonder
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Posted in California, Economy and Economics, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on No on Measure B – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Jerry Wellfonder

The Notorious Measure B – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Edward Ryan

The Notorious Measure B

By now the USPS has brought us all a slick, full-color mailing which tells us to vote approval for the notorious Measure B. What a surprise: it is paid for by the cops’ and firemen’s PAC’s. Once again I urge my fellow residents to vote “No” and reject the 50% increase in the obnoxious TOT. We don’t need more taxes, we need fiscal responsibility. See you at the polls.

– Edward Ryan Continue reading

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Notorious Measure B – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Edward Ryan

Elect Brann and Pirsztuk – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins

Elect Brann and Pirsztuk

I led the successful grassroots campaign against Measure P, the firefighters’ union initiative to hijack our fire department and contract with Los Angeles County for a significantly reduced level of service, all to lock-in and protect their excessive and unsustainable total annual compensation of $150,000 to more than $350,000 per year. I also led the successful grassroots campaign against the residential trash collection fees, because taxes already pay for that, and against Measure A, eleven tax hikes in one ballot measure, on residents and businesses.

City Council candidates Marie Fellhauer, Dave Atkinson, and Drew Boyles all publicly endorsed Measure A and were featured in campaign mailers supporting it. Candidates Don Brann and Carol Pirsztuk are fiscal conservatives who did not endorse or support Measure A.

I support Don Bran for City Council because he is intelligent and fiscally conservative, has no hidden agenda, he listens, and if he makes a mistake, he learns and corrects it. Likewise, I support Carol Pirsztuk.

Brann voted, together with Fellhauer’s allies and supporters Eric Busch and Bill Fisher, to hire the disastrous City Manager Doug Willmore. Willmore cost our city millions of dollars. He wanted to effectively mortgage City Hall for 10.3 million dollars to pay for the 11.25% to 32.3% in raises Busch and Fisher gave to the already overpaid firefighters and police during the Great Recession. Brann realized his mistake and corrected it before leaving City Council, by voting with Carl Jacobson and Suzanne Fuentes to fire Willmore.

– Mike Robbins


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Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA) honors former El Segundo City Councilman Mike Robbins

October 1, 2014

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA), founded by California Proposition 13 sponsor Howard Jarvis, has honored former El Segundo City Councilman Mike Robbins as a “Hometown Hero” for leading the successful campaign to defeat Measure A in the April 8, 2014 El Segundo General Municipal Election. Measure A had ELEVEN tax hikes in one ballot measure!

Here is the article in their official statewide newsletter, Taxing Times, Vol. 40, Issue 3 for Fall 2014:


HOMETOWN HEROES

HJTA was very pleased to receive the following update from former El Segundo councilman Mike Robbins after local Election Day, April 8. Here are excerpts:

We had a great victory in El Segundo last night! The citizens and taxpayers won, and the city-employee unions with lots of campaign money and a significant conflict of interest lost – AGAIN!

Thank you to everyone who helped.

El Segundo Measure A, ELEVEN TAX HIKES IN ONE MEASURE, taxing RESIDENTS and BUSINESSES, lost by 57% NO to 43% YES, despite the “Yes on A” campaign spending a whopping $33,129.87 in small-town El Segundo, including $17,500 from four city-employee unions – $5,000 from the fire union, $5,000 from the police union, $5,000 from the city employees’ union, and $2,500 from the California Teamsters Public Affairs Council in Sacramento (supervisory and professional employees’ union) at a cost of $25.74 per vote.

Measure A would have created new taxes on residents for electricity, water, gas, and all forms of “communications services,” including landline telephones, cell phones, Internet, cable TV, and satellite, to pay for excessive compensation and pensions for city employees. Firefighters and police are paid $150,000 to more than $380,000 each in total compensation per year.

I, together with two other former El Segundo City Council members, and two other long-term city residents, co-authored and submitted an argument against Measure A and a rebuttal to the argument for Measure A, and I authored and distributed two one-page double-sided campaign flyers on Saturday, April 5, and a third on Sunday, April 6.

The HJTA hat is off to Mike and other active El Segundo taxpayers who made this victory possible.

( Continue reading … )


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Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), El Segundo Measure B TOT Tax Hike, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure A - 5 New Taxes and 6 Tax Inceases, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Elect Brann and Pirsztuk – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins

Overpriced and Imperfect – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins – With proof and background information

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, August 27, 2015 in the Letters section on page 3. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.


Overpriced and Imperfect

The El Segundo police and fire unions have retired fire department employees extolling their perfection to defend huge pay raises. They’re overpriced, and usually do a good job, but not always. Here are some examples.

One police officer took an unauthorized and unreported hour break reading a newspaper in a patrol car at the beach during patrol duty. Another left a patrol car unattended with the engine running and windows down, in front of City Hall on Holly Ave., across from Stuft Pizza where kids hang out. That attractive nuisance could have cost lives and millions of tax dollars had a kid taken it for a joyride and crashed.

El Segundo police sergeant Rex Fowler caused an accident that killed Hawthorne police motorcycle officer Andrew Garton, during escort duty in Torrance for a royal funeral procession for Manhattan Beach police officer Mark Vazquez, who died of cancer. Garton’s widow sued El Segundo for $25 million for wrongful death, and Hawthorne filed a $718,655 claim for damages against El Segundo.

Firefighter Michael Archambault was arrested, convicted, and sentenced for shoplifting five products totaling $354.95 from Costco. He was allowed to retire early with a $110,251/ year pension.

An El Segundo resident, a firefighter for another agency, suffered permanent disability because, he said, the paramedics claimed he was okay and refused to transport him to the hospital while he was having a stroke, allowing them to get back to the fire station to watch a big sports game on TV.

– Mike Robbins


Here is proof and background information for the statements and examples in this letter.

This information was updated on April 21, 2015 to add the annual CalPERS pension income for retired El Segundo Fire Battalion Chief David K. Sharp for 2014 – a whopping $177,841.56 – not even counting benefits!

This information was also was updated to add the annual CalPERS pension income for retired El Segundo Fire Engineer (and firefighter union member) Michael J. Archambault for 2014 – a huge $111,937.56 – not even counting benefits!


The El Segundo police and fire unions have retired fire department employees extolling their perfection to defend huge pay raises.

David K. Sharp submitted an “op-ed” column which which was published on page 3 of the June 11, 2015 edition of the El Segundo Herald. It was basically an advertisement defending the excessive and unsustainable salaries and pensions of the El Segundo Firefighters’ Association (union) and their managers. He is a retired El Segundo firefighter who was a fire union member for most of his career, until he achieved his final rank of Fire Battalion Chief. He retired in 2007, and received $171,335.76 in 2012 and $174,770.76 in 2013 from his taxpayer-funded CalPERS pension after working for only 31.76 years.

Here is proof for David K. Sharp’s California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) pension. It is provided by the TransparentCalifornia.com website. They obtained it from Public Records Act requests made to CalPERS.

Here is my summary and formatting of Sharp’s CalPERS pension information in the TransparentCalifornia.com database (I added his last position):

City Employee:     David K Sharp
Agency:            City of El Segundo, California
Last Position:     Fire Battalion Chief
Retired in:        2007
Years of service:  31.76
Pension:           CalPERS
2014 Total*        $177,841.56
2013 Total*        $174,770.76
2012 Total*        $171,335.76
  * Excluding benefits.

Note that public employee retirees in CalPERS get automatic pension Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) raises each year. Also, CalPERS pensions are a defined benefit pension plan and not a defined contribution plan like a 401(k), so CalPERS payments are guaranteed by the taxpayers regardless of investment portfolio performance and any risky investment portfolio mismanagement.

See David K. Sharp’s CalPERS pension information in the TransparentCalifornia.com database here:

http://TransparentCalifornia.com/pensions/search/?q=David+K+Sharp&a=&y=&s=

Rosemarie Radomsky, who submitted the “Who You Gonna Call?” letter to the editor of the El Segundo Herald, published on page 3 of the August 20, 2015 edition, is a retired City of El Segundo employee who worked as an administrative analyst in the fire department, according to a former El Segundo fire department employee. She is listed in the CalPERS pension database at TransparentCalifornia.com as a retired City of El Segundo employee with 10.85 years of service with the city. She retired in 2001.

See Rosemarie Radomsky’s CalPERS pension information here:

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Posted in California, Crimes, El Segundo, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Firefighters Commiting Crimes, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, News, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Overpriced and Imperfect – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins – With proof and background information

Measure P Costs More For Less – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Measure P Costs More For Less

Voters must reject Measure P this April, or we will lose our local fire department, including firefighters, apparatus, and equipment; and we’ll pay more for less emergency services.

Measure P is not a merger of City and County fire departments, but a liquidation of the City fire department and a complete takeover by L.A. County. If Measure P passes, fire and paramedic services will be greatly reduced. El Segundo will permanently lose its three paramedic ambulances, because L.A. County does not operate paramedic ambulances, and El Segundo will lose its legal grandfathered status to operate them.

Residents will be forced to use and pay out-of-town ambulance companies, significantly increasing hospital transport times and costs in money and lives. … Continue reading

Posted in El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Measure P Costs More For Less – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins