Tag Archives: ESPOA

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

Long memory – Letter to the Beach Reporter by Mary Olinick

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Mike

I laughed when I learned Jan Cruikshank criticized Michael Robbins’ “Candidate Ranking” letter. I will be voting for Robbins’ three top-tier candidates: Carl Jacobson, Dave Atkinson, and Dave Burns.

It’s not surprising Cruikshank supports Robbins’ bottom-tier candidates – Cindee Topar, Cindy Mortesen, and Scott Houston. Houston is allied with the firefighter and police unions. He took police union money and their endorsement in 2010. He read a script almost identical to the fire union representative’s script at the Feb. 15, 2011 City Council meeting, pressuring the city council to enact Measure P into law without letting the people vote on it. And Topar was campaign manager for a firefighter.

Cruikshank was the firefighter union’s candidate back in 1992. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, El Segundo Election Coverage, 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 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Long memory – Letter to the Beach Reporter by Mary Olinick

Save Our City – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Mike

SAVE OUR CITY

The El Segundo firefighter and police unions are putting our city at risk for their Royal Family sized paychecks and pensions. At the Feb. 7 City Council meeting, City Manager Doug Willmore explained how City Hall will be sold and leased back for twenty years, as collateral for a $10.3 million loan to pay for street resurfacing, other routine infrastructure maintenance and capital improvements.

El Segundo used to be a pay-as-you-go city, paying for infrastructure maintenance and capital improvements with General Fund revenues. But that was before the safety unions became very active in City Council campaigns, hired their own bosses, and ratcheted up their salaries, benefits, and pensions to ridiculous and unsustainable levels. … Continue reading →

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, 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, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Save Our City – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

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

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Mike

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

City Council Rescinds Tax Hike Proposal – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Arthur Christopher Schaper

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Mike

City Council Rescinds Tax Hike Proposal

The El Segundo City Council has finally seen the light, the light of limited government that does not pawn off expenses on successful corporations.

The Council may not have yet mustered the political skill to curtail the outrageous pension liabilities that threaten to bankrupt the peaceful community south of LAX, but at least they have rescinded the option of floating a foolish tax hike that would harm a local and very national business in the city’s backyard.

Instead of trying to raise revenue, the El Segundo City Council needs to cut spending, cut entitlements, and cut any other unnecessary fiscal outlays. Like many, I respect the role of public safety officers, but local representatives, who receive a stipend to serve their communities, must step up and cast votes that represent the needs of the current community and future inhabitants, not just placate powerful public unions. … Continue reading →

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on City Council Rescinds Tax Hike Proposal – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Arthur Christopher Schaper

A Holiday Prayer – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Mike

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. … Continue reading →

Posted in El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A Holiday Prayer – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

New Contracts Unsustainable – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Mike

New Contracts Unsustainable

Councilman Fisher claimed city employee unions took a nine percent salary cut. This is untrue. The new union contracts are still excessive and unsustainable. They don’t even rollback the huge 11 to 23 percent pay raises Councilmen Busch and Fisher gave the fire and police unions during the recession, on top of their already excessive and unsustainable salaries and pensions. And the new contracts include three different pay raises plus a guarantee of no layoffs for three years.

The maximum and average total annual compensation were $338 thousand and $202 thousand for firefighter union members, and $304 thousand and $178 thousand for police union members (previous contract). The city paid maximum and average individual annual pension contributions of $66 thousand and $40 thousand for firefighter union members, and $77 thousand and $41 thousand for police union members.

The firefighter and police union pension costs are excessive and unsustainable because they are based on excessive and unsustainable salaries and pension benefit formulas. All firefighters and police can still retire at age 55 with up to 90 percent of their single highest pay year as their annual pension benefit … Continue reading →

Posted in El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on New Contracts Unsustainable – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Unions influencing El Segundo – Letter to the Daily Breeze by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Mike

Unions influencing El Segundo

As I predicted last July, El Segundo Mayor Eric Busch and his City Council majority approved new city employee union contracts in secret, letting the new and unproven city manager do the negotiating, then rushed the contracts through a public City Council vote as a mere formality.

Busch tried to rush the official contract approval with less than 24 hours for the public to even see the contracts, because the contract terms are still excessive, unsustainable and almost entirely one-sided in favor of the fire and police unions.

The contracts give automatic longevity and annual step pay raises, and excessive and unsustainable six-figure compensation and pensions, including redundant special compensation and automatic overtime pay. They also guarantee no layoffs for three years, even if it bankrupts the city.

This bankruptcy trap ties the hands of the current and next City Council, taking away their most effective cost-control and bargaining tool. … Continue reading →

Posted in Daily Breeze 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, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Unions influencing El Segundo – Letter to the Daily Breeze by Michael D. Robbins

El Segundo, We Have a Problem – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Mike

El Segundo, We Have a Problem

The City Council has been negotiating new contracts with the City employee unions in secret for months now, but will only allow the citizens 24 hours to see these long, complex contracts before final approval. Mayor Busch has set a phony deadline of October 1, start of the new fiscal year, to approve the contracts. There is no legal or other requirement to do so.

Mayor Busch scheduled final contract approval for Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 5:30 PM. This non-standard day and early meeting time reduces public oversight even further. If Mayor Busch and the city employee unions were acting in good faith, they would provide the citizens sixty days, or thirty days as a minimum, to review and debate the union contracts they will be forced to pay. … Continue reading →

Posted in El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on El Segundo, We Have a Problem – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins