Tag Archives: union

No New Taxes – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Marianne Fong

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Mike

Please vote “yes” on Proposition 32 and “no” on all tax and bond measures, including 30 ($6 billion/year income and sales tax hike), 38 ($10 billion/year income tax hike), 39 ($1 billion/year tax hike); L.A. County Measure J (another 30 year sales tax hike), and El Camino Community College District Measure E ($350 million in new bond debt, probably costing about $700 million with interest).

Taxes are too high, and we also pay business taxes which are passed on to us as consumers. Bond measures create additional debt and require taxes to pay principle and interest. Bonds often cost double the amount borrowed with interest. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, California, Elections, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

State Ballot Measures – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Mike

Please vote “yes” on Proposition 32 (bans direct union and corporate contributions to candidates) and “no” on Propositions 30 (income and sales tax hike), 34 (repeals death penalty), 36 (three-strikes dilution), 38 (income tax hike), and 40 (gerrymandered redistricting plan).

Proposition 32 helps prevent El Segundo and other South Bay and California cities from being pushed toward bankruptcy by city employee unions and corporations that buy influence with politicians who then pay them back with our tax money and raise our taxes and fees to pay for it. Typical payoffs are one million tax dollars for every thousand donated.

Corrupt and wildly overpaid firefighter and police unions are spending millions of dollars in deceptive campaign ads to defeat Proposition 32. These unions have been bankrupting our cities and jacking up our taxes and fees, so they can get total compensation of $150,000 to more than $300,000 per year, and retire at age 50 or 55, with a guaranteed pension paying up to 90 percent of their single highest year salary. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, California, El Segundo, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News, Firefighter Union Corruption, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Video – El Segundo City Payroll Gone Mad, featuring Charles Payne and Mike Robbins on Fox Business Network

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Mike


El Segundo City Payroll Gone Mad, featuring Charles Payne and Mike Robbins on Fox Business Network

El Segundo City Payroll Gone Mad, featuring Charles Payne and Mike Robbins on Fox-T1155

This video features a segment from the Fox Business Network Varney & Co. show that was broadcast on August 17, 2010. The segment is an interview of former El Segundo City Councilman Mike Robbins about the wildly excessive and unsustainable city employee salaries, especially those for the firefighter and police employees.

Note that all the salary figures quoted in the Fox interview are Total Earnings only, and DO NOT include the cost of benefits and CalPERS pension contributions. The much larger Total Compensation figures, which DO include benefits and pension contributions, are available from Mike Robbins at PublicSafetyProject.org.

This video is in part an answer to the totally discredited KCET SoCal Connected propaganda video by producer Karen Foshay titled, “Small Town, Big Oil” produced by Karen Foshay. That KCET video dishonestly and unfairly attacked Chevron and the very honorable City Councilman Carl Jacobson in a very classical news media hatchet-job.

Note that the Fox show was broadcast long before the KCET SoCal Connected propaganda video. The KCET video was based almost entirely on false statements made by fired El Segundo city manager Doug Willmore, whom I have learned is very likely a pathological liar and an unreliable person to use as a basis for any news report or video. In fact, I am quite certain that that Willmore’s habitual lying was one of multiple good cause reasons for which he was fired. The KCET video was also based in part on statements made by an out-of-town, anti-oil political activist that nobody in town has heard of before.

The Fox interview helps explain why the fire and police unions endorse candidates for City Council, and contribute thousands of dollars in cash, campaign mailers, and other campaign support to their approved candidates. The police and fire unions endorse and campaign for the candidates who will give them the biggest pay raises, no matter how excessive and unsustainable, and who will raise your taxes and fees to pay for it.

The fire and police unions are the primary cause of our financial problems in El Segundo, not Chevron, as the fire and police unions want us to believe.

Chevron is a taxpayer, and the fire and police unions are tax takers. Chevron pays plenty of taxes, and the fire and police unions take plenty of taxes – about $8 Million extra per year in wildly excessive and unsustainable salaries, benefits, and pensions. The city does not pay to provide city infrastructure and services on the massive 951-acre Chevron property that it pays a fortune to provide and maintain in the residential and other commercial and industrial areas of the city. In fact, for that reason Chevron’s taxes may actually be too high.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: … Continue reading →

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, News, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Video – Cindee Topar is in an official in the militant AFA union which targeted the customers

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Mike

Cindee Topar is in an official in the militant AFA union which targeted the customers

Watch the AFA Union’s CHAOS™ Training Video

El Segundo City Council candidate Cindee Cindee Topar is both an official and a member in the militant Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) union, which targeted customers, canceled randomly selected flights without notice, and stranded passengers to create “CHAOS™” for the customers and their employer. Topar’s union was so proud of their anti-social behavior that they even trademarked the name “CHAOS™”.

Cindee Topar at a City Council meeting.
Cindee Topar at a City Council meeting.
Photo copyright © 2012 by Michael D. Robbins.

How would you like it if Topar’s militant union caused you to miss a job interview, business meeting, expensive vacation cruise, or an important once-in-a-lifetime event such as a family wedding, bar mitzvah, or funeral?

The union’s stated goal was to scare away customers to sabotage their employer’s business without suffering the loss of income that a traditional strike would cause. Her union was so proud of stranding airline passengers without incurring the penalty of lost income for their union members that they trademarked the name CHAOS™! The name CHAOS™ stands for “Creating Havoc Around Our System.” If Topar gets elected, we may have CHAOT – Creating Havoc Around Our Town.

Here is the United AFA union’s official CHAOS™ web page:
http://www.unitedafa.org/afa/chaos/default.aspx

How does CHAOS™ work?

When Cindee Topar’s AFA union creates CHAOS™ for customers and management, the following steps are taken. … Continue reading →

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Vote for independence – Letter to the Beach Reportor by Illeen Joscha

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Mike

Vote for independence

The newly-released city documents and e-mails tell all. The firefighter and police unions were behind this push to extort $10 million per year in new taxes from Chevron, to pay for their astronomical and unsustainable salaries and benefits that have averaged $211,000 ($342,000 maximum) per individual per year for firefighters and $178,000 ($304,000 maximum) for police.

These self-serving safety unions are supporting Scott Houston (who took a police union endorsement, large campaign contribution, and other support in 2010), Marie Fellhauer (a police union member herself), and Cindee Topar (former City Council campaign manager for a firefighter union member and a militant union official herself) for City Council. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Video – Vote NO on Measure P Cartoon featuring FIRE HERO and SMART LADY

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Mike


Vote NO on Measure P Cartoon featuring FIRE HERO and SMART LADY

This very funny cartoon was created by one of our Public Safety Project supporters on February 9, 2011. He took a few liberties in making the video, but it is basically correct. All the title slides containing text information are Mike Robbins’ work and contain correct information.

Measure P will permanently eliminate El Segundo’s three city-operated paramedic ambulances forever, because the Los Angeles County Fire Department does not operate paramedic ambulances, and El Segundo will permanently lose its legal grandfathered status to operate them.

This will force city residents to use out-of-town private ambulance companies with significantly increased hospital transport times and ambulance fees. The City currently only charges residents what their insurance will pay.

The following data shows that El Segundo residents rely far more on their city-operated paramedic ambulances than on firefighters putting out fires. There were zero major residential structure fires (defined as having $100,000 or more in damage) in El Segundo from January 1, 2008 through April 30 2011.

During that same period, there was an average of 828 paramedic ambulance transports of victims to a hospital per year (city-wide).

El Segundo residents will be far worse off if Measure P passes and as a result they lose their three city-operated paramedic ambulances.

This data is from public record documents obtained from the El Segundo Fire Department in May, 2011 by Mike Robbins, former El Segundo City Councilman and director of the El Segundo Public Safety Project.

If measure P passes, residents will suffer reduced paramedic services and reduced fire protection services.

Number of Major Structure Fires per Year ( > $100,000 damage ):
2008: 1 (129 Arena St. – Commercial Building fire)
2009: 0
2010: 1 (1970 E Imperial Hwy. / Raytheon Bldg. R1 – Commercial Building fire)
2011: 1* (2000 E El Segundo Blvd. / Raytheon Bldg. E1 – Commercial Building fire due to Helicopter Crash)
*Through April 30

Number of Paramedic Hospital Transports per year:
2008: 777
2009: 737
2010: 674
2011: 281*
*Through April 30

Video Transcript:

VOTE “NO” ON MEASURE P featuring FIRE HERO & SMART LADY

This is a special presentation of the Public Safety Project
PublicSafetyProject.org
YouTube.com/user/PublicSafetyProject

( Watch the cartoon. ) … Continue reading →

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Video – Scott Houston in Disbanding Our Fire Department 101 with Measure P

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Mike


Scott Houston in Disbanding Our Fire Department 101 with Measure P

El Segundo City Council candidate Scott Houston has completely misrepresented his true record, politics, and agenda. Houston is a tax-and-spend Progressive (ultra-liberal), not a fiscal conservative.

Houston claimed in his campaign literature that he wants to “maintain local control of our fire department”. However, as demonstrated by the video above and the links to the official El Segundo City Council meeting minutes, Scott Houston urged the City Council to enact Measure P as an ordinance that night, without letting the people vote on it, at the February 15, 2011 El Segundo City Council meeting.

Measure P will disband our local City Fire Department and force El Segundo to contract with Los Angele County for a significantly reduced level of fire and paramedic service, for at least ten years under state law, and under price, terms and service levels dictated by L.A. County under an adhesion contract mandated by Measure P, the fire union’s initiative.

Houston read a script nearly identical to the script read by Bryan Partlow, the fire union representative who sponsored Measure P because he is the only firefighter union member that lives in El Segundo. Both Houston and Partlow urged the City Council, to enact Measure P directly into law without an election, and if not then as their second choice, to schedule Measure P for a vote at an early Special Election within only a few months.

That would have given the firefighters’ union a huge unfair advantage, the union can fund and organize their campaign almost instantly, while the residents would be just ramping up their campaign after the election is over. The firefighters’ union can easily raise $100,000 or more almost instantly from among their union members, and they have dozens of volunteers to work their campaign because the firefighters only have to work two out of every six days, and they get paid to sleep.

Scott Houston was clearly upset when he spoke at the second Public Communications period, at the end of the meeting, because the City Council voted 3 to 2 to schedule Measure P for the next regular election, on April 10, 2012, when the he would run for City Council after he lobbied the Council to enact Measure P directly into law without letting the voters vote on it. Those would be the same voters that he would ask to vote for him!

And Scott Houston had proved by his own actions, that he will represent the fire and police unions rather than the voters and taxpayers. … Continue reading →

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Labor union overreach – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Mike

For many months now, the other side has had no substantive arguments, so all they can do is throw hate speech and deceptive pseudo-quotations at me.

If having highly paid workers with tons of benefits were the key to honesty and good performance, then the term “featherbedding” would never have been invented to describe union overreach that included incompetent, lazy, disloyal, dangerous employees who are getting overpaid to do practically no work.

Would we have better, more honest firefighters by paying each one $10 million instead of $150,000 to $357,000 per year in total compensation? … Continue reading →

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, California, Crimes, El Segundo, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Firefighters Commiting Crimes, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Doesn’t like unions – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Marc Rener

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Mike

Neil Snow is the epitome of naivete that unions love in their members.

He knows nothing about the payoff and kickbacks (called contributions) made by unions to the politicians who gave them these ridiculous contracts.

Union integrity? Unions can and do recruit aliens, both legal and illegal, as members? S.E.I.U. ring any bells?

So much for the English-speaking Americans workers the unions claim to protect.

The billions of taxpayer dollars to “save” GM? Stockholder shares became worthless, yet 40 percent went to protect the union pensions.

In his letter to the editor in last week’s paper, he “parrots” from union manuals every propaganda terminology and definition. He writes, “‘scabs’ . . . is an euphemism for someone who cannot get a job on their own merit.”

He writes, “Employees who would accept lower wages, no bargaining rights and no job security do an inferior job. Lateness, no show, stealing.”

“Now just imagine those types of employees who would agree to those terms. And now imagine they are firefighters and police,” writes Snow.

Tell that to the non-union waitress at the Kettle restaurant in Manhattan Beach, or the non-union Federal Express Drivers, secretaries, auto mechanics, every person in the U.S. military, the 80 percent (280 million) of Americans in this country who are non-union. Sainthood of unions? … Continue reading →

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, California, Crimes, El Segundo, Firefighter Union Corruption, Firefighters Commiting Crimes, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off