Tag Archives: Joe Harding

by Michael D. Robbins
Director, Public Safety Project, PublicSafetyProject.org

April 5, 2014
Updated April 7, 2014

Three flyers were distributed over the weekend to residents and small businesses in El Segundo.

Click on each of the links below to view, download, and print them. Please share them with your friends and neighbors in case they did not get all of them.

Flyer #1: Vote “NO” on Measure A – Eleven Tax Hikes in One Measure! – Distributed on Saturday, April 5, 2014. (119 KB PDF file)

Flyer #2: 36 MORE REASONS TO VOTE NO ON MEASURE A – Distributed on Saturday, April 5, 2014. (206 KB PDF file)

Flyer #3: Vote “NO” on Measure A, and Against BILL FISHER! – Distributed on Sunday, April 6, 2014. (168 KB PDF file)

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Here are some links to web pages containing information, photos, and links to files, as support and proof for statements made in flyers distributed the weekend of April 5, 2014.

View or download a PDF file containing the El Segundo City Employees Total Compensation + CalPERS Pension Contributions paid by the City, sorted in descending order.

View or download a PDF file containing the CalPERS pension plan contributions as percentages of regular earnings and special compensation that the City of El Segundo and its employees pay towards the Employer Contribution and the Employee Contribution. This data was obtained using a California Public Records Act Request.

View or download a PDF file containing the FPPC Form 460 filed by the “Committee To Continue The Progress Of El Segundo”. (6.71 MB PDF file)

The “City of El Segundo Can Save $3.3 Million Per Year in Employee Pension Costs” web page has documentation on the 11.25% to 32.3% fire and police raises over three years during the Great Recession, and on how the City can save $3.3 Million yearly by requiring City employees to pay half the total CalPERS pension contributions.

The “El Segundo Measure A Co-Chair Joe Harding was Against the Tax Hikes Before He was For Them” web page has a video and transcript of the speech Joe Harding gave at the El Segundo City Council meeting AGAINST increasing the Utility Users Tax (UUT) and Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT).

The “Have the Measure A Supporters Earned Our Trust?” web page has further links to downloadable scanned public record documents in PDF files.

The “El Segundo Firefighters Union is Bankrolling the Measure A Campaign to Hike Taxes” web page has information, photos, and links to web pages with scanned documents.

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SCROLL DOWN TO SEE FIRE AND POLICE UNION SLATE CAMPAIGN MAILER SCANS AND CAMPAIGN YARD SIGN PHOTOS.

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Sandra Jacobs is one of two co-chairs identified on the “Yes on A for El Segundo’s Future” campaign committee website. The other co-chair is Joe Harding, who is also the treasurer of the Yes on A campaign committee. Harding was against the tax hikes before he was for them. He spoke out strongly against the tax hikes at the August 3, 2010 El Segundo City Council meeting when he was the General Manager of the Hacienda Hotel in El Segundo (HaciendaHotel.com). Now he is campaigning on the opposite side, for the tax hikes which hit hotels especially hard, as an ex-employee of the Hacienda. Here is an excerpt of what Harding said as a Hacienda Hotel employee:

“You must say ‘No’ to the hotel killer tax. … A TOT, and a UUT would hit us twice. That’d be like kicking us when we’re down, and then running us over for good measure. … The City must make unpopular and difficult adjustments to their payroll and expenses. Asking businesses to pick up the bill for the City and its residents in this economy is simply is not a fair approach. The Hacienda has been and will remain a stellar business in this community. Help make sure this continues. Leave the TOT where it is. It’s working for us. It’s working for the City. … Thank you.” – Joe Harding, General Manager of the Hacienda Hotel in El Segundo, speaking at the August 3, 2010 El Segundo City Council meeting, before he became an ex-employee of the Hacienda, flip-flopped, and became a co-chair of the Yes on Measure A committee to raise both the TOT and UUT taxes on the Hacienda and all other hotels and businesses in El Segundo, and to impose them on residents.

Sandra Jacobs last ran for City Council together with current Mayor Bill Fisher and former Mayor Eric Busch when they first ran for City Council. They were the three-candidate slate that the El Segundo firefighter and police unions endorsed, funded, and actively campaigned for.

Mayor Bill Fisher and former Mayor Eric Busch started their political careers in El Segundo with tremendous campaign support from the El Segundo firefighter and police unions, and rewarded them well with millions of taxpayer dollars.

See the scanned images below of the campaign slate mailer postcard sent to El Segundo voters by the two unions.

The front side of the campaign mailer shows photos of a firefighter standing next to a fire engine and a police officer standing next to a police car. It reads:

“What do El Segundo Firefighters and Police Officers Have in Common?”

The back side has the photos and names of El Segundo City Council candidates Eric Busch, Sandra Jacobs, and Bill Fisher. It reads:

“Firefighters – Police Officers – Paramedics
Support
BUSH – JACOBS – FISHER
The Best Choice For Public Safety
On April 13th Support
Eric BUSCH – Sandra JACOBS – Bill FISHER
Paid For By The El Segundo Firefighters Association – PO Box 55 El Segundo, CA ID #1231824″

The firefighters and police unions claimed that they endorsed “The Best Choice For Public Safety”. That was a lie. They endorsed the candidates who would give them the biggest pay raises and pension increases, and then raise taxes and fees on the residents and businesses to pay for it all.

Click on each picture for a larger view (will display in a new window or tab).

When then Councilman Bill Fisher was confronted at a City Council meeting about the conflict of interest created from his firefighter and police union campaign support, given that he votes on their pay raises and benefits increases, he claimed he did not know the unions were supporting his campaign!

Notice how the firefighter and police union campaign slate mailer has professional studio photos with color-coordinated matching backgrounds of Bill Fisher and the other two union-endorsed candidates. Clearly, Fisher posed for his professional photo and a copy of it was sent to the unions for use in their campaign mailer. Also, Fisher wants us to believe he did not know who was distributing, installing, and maintaining his campaign signs around the city throughout the his campaign.

Either Bill Fisher is lying, or he is too incompetent to hold any elective office. In either case, is not fit to hold a position of public trust and to be entrusted with spending more than fifty million of our tax dollars every year.

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Firefighters union president Kevin A. Rehm managed the delivery, installation, and maintenance of the campaign yard signs for all three candidates – Sandra Jacobs, Bill Fisher, and Eric Busch. A sticker appeared on every sign with his cellular phone number. It read:

“This sign has been placed with the permission of the owner. If you have any problems with this sign please call: (310) 422-9411 We will fix the problem ASAP. Thank you!”

I called that number during the election campaign and Kevin Rehm answered. I spoke with him and asked him questions about the firefighter union’s candidate endorsements. You can do an Internet search for the following keywords to see that this is Kevin Rehm’s phone number: (310) 422-9411 Kevin Rehm.

Kevin Rehm’s annual CalPERS pension from working as an El Segundo firefighter is $172,516.08 per year according to the CalPERS Database on the FixPensionsFirst.com website at:

http://www.fixpensionsfirst.com/calpers-database/?first_name=&last_name=&employer=EL+SEGUNDO

See the photos of the three candidate’s campaign signs with firefighters union president Kevin Rehm’s cellular phone number on them below. The first two photos show the entire signs at a distance to make it clear the close-up photos of the sticker on the corner each sign are of the same campaign signs.

The El Segundo firefighters union installed triple the campaign signs for City Council candidates Sandra Jacobs, Bill Fisher, and Eric Busch at a house on the east side of town.

The El Segundo firefighters union installed double the campaign yard signs for City Council candidates Sandra Jacobs, Bill Fisher, and Eric Busch at a house on the east side of town.

See the photos below of the campaign signs with firefighter union president Kevin Rehm’s cellular phone number (310-422-9411) on them as the sign placement and maintenance coordinator. His phone number sticker was on all the signs for Bill Fisher, Sandra Jacobs, and Eric Busch.

Bill Fisher’s City Council campaign sign with El Segundo firefighter union president Kevin Rehm’s cellular phone number on it.

Sandra Jacobs’ City Council campaign sign with El Segundo firefighter union president Kevin Rehm’s cellular phone number on it.

Eric Busch’s City Council campaign sign with El Segundo firefighter union president Kevin Rehm’s cellular phone number on it.

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The El Segundo firefighters union even sent out a campaign letter on their official union letterhead, signed by union President Kevin Rehm, 1st Vice President Breck Slover, and 2nd Vice President John Bilbee, threatening senior citizen voters with “the possibility of our paramedics not being available when you need them” if the three candidates approved by the union were not elected!

See the scanned image of this letter and the envelope it was sent in below.

Click on the letter below to see a larger image of it (will display in a new window or tab).

Click HERE for an analysis and the text of the Senior Scare Letter on our old web site. Then click the BACK button in your browser to return to this web page.

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