Police, firefighters aren’t the only ones in uniform

Should police and firefighter unions get involved in city council races?

Is it a conflict of interest to have them endorse and help elect candidates who ultimately will negotiate their contracts?

And with cities facing unfunded pension liabilities, how can taxpayers be sure these newly elected council members will have their best interests in mind, rather than those of the unions to whom they owe a debt?

As I examined this issue in Costa Mesa last week, readers weighed in.

Though some felt there were inherent conflicts here, the majority did not.

Citing the long-running contentious relationship between the current council majority and these public safety unions, as well as the issue of understaffing, those who didn’t see a conflict felt the firefighter and police unions should endorse candidates.

But Newport Beach has a different political dynamic.

Newport historically has had an amicable relationship with public safety unions. Understaffing hasn’t been an issue residents continually voice concerns about.

So who did the Newport Beach Police Assn. and the Newport Beach Firefighters Assn. endorse ?

Both backed candidates Lee Lowery, Will O’Neill and Brad Avery over Mike Glenn, Jeff Herdman, Fred Ameri, Phil Greer and Shelley Henderson.

I found the union’s choices here interesting since all of the candidates chosen were also endorsed by the Orange County Republican Central Committee and signed the Republican pledge not to accept money from labor.

Since Lowery, O’Neill and Avery are represented by political consultant Dave Ellis, I asked him about this.

“They are not taking union money,” he said, “and are happy to take the endorsements.”

So how do these unions plan on helping candidates they’ve endorsed?

Bobby Salerno, president of the firefighters’ association, says his group hasn’t “decided what will we do to support.” He didn’t provide information on how much the union spent in past races or whether members will walk precincts in this one.

Vlad Anderson, head of the police association, said his organization will “put out fliers” but members are unlikely to walk precincts. And, he made clear, the fliers would not attack candidates who are not supported by the union.

Anderson also had no idea what his union will spend this election cycle.

Though unions aren’t handing checks to candidates, which conveniently gets them around the GOP pledge, I wonder how this will play with staunch Republican voters.

I asked Anderson and Salerno why they chose the candidates they did.

Anderson mostly talked about O’Neill saying he said he “aligned himself with the association, was well versed in finances and had a lot of the information the other candidates didn’t share.”

Anderson confirmed that all the candidates — except one — were interviewed.

“In all the years I’ve been in the association, usually people respond and want to sit down and talk,” says Anderson, but “Shelley Henderson never responded.”

Anderson told me most of the questions asked in the endorsement interview were financial: the current city budget status, future growth, goals and paying off unfunded pension liabilities.

Salerno says the firefighters’ endorsements went to those who they felt “to be the best fit on council and would listen.”

He says council members need to be “educated on what we do”, and that understanding contracts was just a “small piece of the pie.”

Salerno and Anderson feel there is no conflict of interest in their endorsements because their members have a “vested interest in the community.”

“We are more stakeholders than any officers. We are part of the community and take pride in that,” Anderson said, “It’s more than just policing, it’s a partnership.”

How many members of these organizations actually live in the cities they protect?

Anderson says no one in his association lives in the city.

“They can’t afford it,” he said.

Salerno says “very few” firefighters live here.

As I’ve stated before, the big issue facing Newport voters isn’t high crime or understaffing, as it is in Costa Mesa, it’s whether to expand or dismantle the “Team Newport” concept currently driving the council.

It’s clear what public safety unions want to happen here.

O’Neill, Avery and Lowery are part of the “Team Newport” concept, but don’t take my word for it, look at the bottom of the home page of Residents for Reform website- supporter of Team Newport.

These guys are pictured with Councilman Marshall Duffield, eerily dressed alike in white shirts and blue blazers.

Looks like team uniforms to me… www.residentsforreform.com/

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BARBARA VENEZIA lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com.