Public Safety Unions Back Holden’s Bid for Council

Three labor unions representing thousands of Los Angeles police officers, firefighters and paramedics spurned Homer Broome Jr., Mayor Tom Bradley’s favored candidate in the June 2 election, and endorsed rival Nate Holden on Wednesday for the vacant 10th District City Council seat.

At the same time, the leader of the Los Angeles Police Protective League--one of the unions supporting Holden--said that the 6,800-member organization will oppose incumbent City Council President Pat Russell, another Bradley ally, in the 6th District.

The Holden endorsements, made in the closing days before the election, mark a political boost for a candidate trying to hold back a strong challenger. Broome is a former LAPD commander, the first black to have attained that rank; he was head of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration under former President Jimmy Carter and is a former city public works commissioner.

Holden announced the endorsements at a news conference in front of Parker Center, headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department, where he was joined by officials of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles Local 112, the United Paramedics of Los Angeles and the Police Protective League.

The three unions represent nearly 10,000 members, and their representatives lauded Holden as someone who would be more receptive to their concerns, especially their desire to add more personnel in the face of continual budget battles with the mayor and City Council.

Fred Hurtado, president of the United Paramedics, contended that, unlike Broome, Holden would be free of the mayor and his policies. “Our own experience as paramedics is that Mayor Bradley has not necessarily been supportive of the paramedics’ issues,” he said.

That same complaint was echoed by George Aliano of the Police Protective League, who downplayed Broome’s experience as a former police officer.

“Past police experience means nothing to us,” Aliano said. “We need somebody who’s independent, who’s not in anybody’s pocket, (who) can get out there and think for himself and who’s not going to be a rubber stamp or be directed by another politician in the city.”

Asked if the endorsement was an anti-Bradley act, Aliano replied: “Mayor Bradley hasn’t done much for us.”

The police union and the mayor have clashed in the past over such issues as police pensions, job promotion policies and work rules. Although obviously referring to Russell, one of Bradley’s closest allies on the City Council, Aliano refused to say whether the league would back newcomer Ruth Galanter in the 6th District. “We haven’t made the final decision,” he said.

However, later Wednesday at a dinner for Holden, Aliano told The Times that his group will endorse Galanter.

The United Paramedics have already endorsed Russell while the firefighters union has remained neutral in the 6th District race.

Although he had sought the support of those same unions, Broome downplayed their effect on his underdog campaign. He said he is satisfied with the “breadth and depth” of the support he has won, including an endorsement from the 700,000-member AFL-CIO Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Broome also stepped up his attack on Holden for pulling out of several scheduled debates.

Holden has refused to appear with his opponent after his rival had blasted Holden’s record as an RTD director on a television show, arguing that his opponent was engaged in “mudslinging.”