ANAHEIM : Candidate Cries Foul Over Endorsement

Mayoral candidate Irv Pickler charged Thursday that the Anaheim Firefighters Assn.’s endorsement of Mayor Fred Hunter and City Council candidate Bob Simpson is an effort to persuade voters to elect a new City Council majority that will give in to the union’s contract demands.

“They’re determined to get someone who is beholden to them,” Pickler said during in a press conference at City Hall. Hunter, he charged, is “owned by the unions,” while Simpson, Anaheim’s former city manager, has the union’s sympathy because he is the city’s former fire chief.

The city offered the firefighters a new three-year contract last summer that would give members an 8% raise the first year, 6% the second and 4% the third. It was rejected by the union.

Pickler released a copy of a firefighters’ union newsletter, written before the vote, which said: “The majority of the council members consider this contract to be an excellent offer, and numbers-wise, taking this contract by itself, we would have to agree. However, philosophically, we feel this contract falls short of our goals. . . . If you vote to reject this contract, you should do so knowing that the only way you are going to see a better offer is by obtaining a 3-2 majority on the council in the November elections.”

Pickler said that the firefighters deserve a raise and that he supported the offer. But the union wants more money “while we’re all in a recession,” he said. “They’re saying, ‘Get Hunter elected again, get Simpson on, and we’ll get what we want.’ ”

But Dennis Ivison, firefighters association chairman, said money is not the issue. The firefighters want a shorter contract, he said. He declined to discuss it further but said he will release a chronology of the negotiations today.

Ivison said the union makes endorsements in every election, even when it is not in contract negotiations. The union’s endorsement of Hunter and Simpson carries no guarantees that they will accede to the union, he said.

Three seats on the five-member council are up for election. Pickler, Hunter and Miriam Kaywood are running for reelection. The council often is split 3 to 2, with Pickler, Kaywood and Councilman Tom Daly in the majority against Hunter and Councilman William D. Ehrle.

Pickler said he has enjoyed a good relationship with the city employees in the past. This year, however, he was not even interviewed by the firefighters before they decided to support Hunter and Simpson, he said.

Simpson said the union did interview him but the issue of its contract never came up and he gave the union “no guarantees.” If anything, his experience in city employee contract bargaining has been on the other side of the table, representing management, he said.

“I don’t give away the store to the firefighters, and I’m offended that anyone would imply that,” Simpson said.

Hunter could not be reached for comment Wednesday but said in a previous interview that he thinks “the police and firefighters are happy to have a guy like Fred Hunter who used to be a city employee,” referring to his 10 years as an Anaheim police officer.