HUNTINGTON BEACH : City’s Unions Form Alliance to Endorse Candidates

For the first time in Huntington Beach, the Municipal Employees Assn. and the public safety unions have forged a political alliance to endorse candidates for the upcoming City Council race.

The Municipal Employees Assn., the city’s largest union with 448 members, formed a political action committee and will join The Joint Public Safety Committee--made up of police, fire and marine safety unions--in considering candidate endorsements. There are 23 candidates for four seats on the City Council.

Tom Hasty, Municipal Employees Assn. president, said the political action committee was formed because of the “way the municipal employees are getting hammered in this city. It was time to get politically active.”

Richard Wright, president of the Huntington Beach Police Officers’ Assn., said police, fire and marine safety associations banded together in 1989 to form The Joint Public Safety Committee.

Wright said the public safety committee’s purpose is to make recommendations on which candidates to endorse.

“The public generally has a strong confidence in the attitude of police and fire employees,” Wright said.

“But the other employees are just as important. (Now) the public can hear from all city employees as to who they think are the best qualified (to serve) in office.”

Wright said the alliance, which represent more than 90% of all city employees, will conduct interviews of all candidates requesting endorsements.

Hasty said the alliance may or may not choose to endorse the same candidates as The Joint Public Safety Committee.

But he added that the reason for creating the alliance was because “you’re obviously stronger in numbers if you’re endorsing the same people.”

He added that in making endorsements, “We’re not necessarily going to find somebody on the employees’ side, we’re trying to find the best candidates for the city and the taxpayers.”