The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, March 1, 2012 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.
A Holiday Prayer
For more than a year, I have written letters to inform residents about the wildly excessive and unsustainable city employee union compensation and pensions that threaten our city’s future. My facts and information come from official sources, mostly City Hall public records, and are independently verifiable.
One positive result has been the voters’ rejection of millions of dollars in new and unnecessary business taxes and residential trash fees. Another has been some, although greatly inadequate, city employee union concessions.
I focused primarily on the fire and police unions, despite my high regard for those professions, because their compensation and pensions are by far the most excessive and unsustainable, as a result of their campaigning for the City Council candidates who will give them the biggest raises.
We now need honest City Council candidates who will represent the voters rather than the city unions and other special interests. And we must defeat Measure P, which will disband our local fire department and contract with L.A. County for a lower level of fire services. Measure P will eliminate our city’s three paramedic ambulances.
Some candidates will say anything to get elected, and will conceal their true politics, allegiance, and adverse agenda. They will claim they are fiscal conservatives and support local control of our fire department when their past behavior was contrary. Scott Houston is one such candidate.
This holiday season, I pray for our City’s future, and for good candidates to come forward.
Michael D. Robbins
El Segundo Police Officers' Association (ESPOA) Exposed