State Prison Guards Union Endorses Davis

California’s powerful prison guards union formally endorsed Gov. Gray Davis’ reelection Tuesday, after spending $2 million to help elect Davis in 1998 and winning a pay hike from the Davis administration of as much as 37% earlier this year.

The endorsement by the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. will bring with it hefty spending on Davis’ behalf, perhaps adding more than $1 million to the $58.7 million the governor has raised since he took office in 1999.

Davis signed legislation in January granting the union one of its long-held goals--pay parity with the California Highway Patrol and major local police agencies in the state. Depending on the size of raises granted to the CHP and major police departments, the union’s 26,000 members could receive pay raises of as much as 37% spread over five years. Officers’ annual pay could rise to more than $73,000, not including overtime, from the current $54,000.

Two months after Davis signed the legislation, the union donated $251,000 to his reelection. It has since donated $50,000 more to his campaign, pushing the total amount it has given Davis since he took office to $712,000.

Davis defended the contract with the prison workers, and contracts with other state law enforcement agencies and firefighters, and said he “emphatically” denies that campaign donations had bought influence in his administration.

“If you want to attract and retain good people to do this difficult work, you have to pay a competitive wage, and we’ll now be doing that,” Davis said, standing at the union’s headquarters in West Sacramento, flanked by family members of murder victims.

A spokesman for Davis’ Republican challenger, Bill Simon Jr., said the endorsement underscores what Simon characterizes as a “pay to play” atmosphere in Sacramento.

“It’s very clear that, in order to get a pay raise, the correctional officers had to donate to the Davis campaign large sums of money and, even worse, endorse him,” said Simon’s spokesman, Mark Miner. “It is unfortunate that the only way you can do business with the Davis administration is to donate to his campaign.”

Mike Jimenez, who recently took over from the prison workers union’s longtime president, Don Novey, said he would have pushed for Davis’ endorsement even if the union had not won the contract.

“Frankly,” Jimenez said, “there was no comparison” between Davis and Simon.

The California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. has a reputation of siding with winners, unseating legislators who cross it and helping to sway races that otherwise might be tight.

The union offers candidates law enforcement’s imprimatur. It also funds organizations that represent crime victims, who offer their own testimonials for candidates. More important, the union is a major campaign spender and tactically shrewd.

“They’re very good at what they do,” said a Davis campaign strategist, Garry South.

In 1998, the union was particularly active on Davis’ behalf in the Central Valley, a swing part of the state that Republicans had won in recent elections. Davis captured the valley. Also in 1998, the union struck an alliance with Indian tribes that operate lucrative casinos. The Native Americans and Peace Officers Political Action Committee spent $512,000 on Davis’ behalf. As of June 30, the PAC had $550,000 in its accounts.

The union’s signature fund-raiser is the so-called Governor’s Cup Invitational, a golf tournament held at Pebble Beach. Business and labor Interest groups pay as much as $25,000 to participate. The union bundles the money and donates it to the governor. As of June 30, the Governor’s Cup committee had $263,000 in its account, ready to spend.