Firefighter Union’s Tiff Could Burn Hahn

One of Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn’s loyal labor supporters is facing a stiff challenge to his leadership of the firefighters union in an election that could affect how much money and manpower the union will put behind the mayor’s campaign.

Pat McOsker, whose brother is the mayor’s chief of staff, has headed United Firefighters of Los Angeles City since 2002 and this year said the union would tap its $1.5-million political action fund to support Hahn.

But the campaign for president of the more than 3,300-member union has turned increasingly bitter, featuring accusations of assault and political smears.

Union Secretary Don Forrest has filed a complaint with the Fire Department, accusing McOsker of shoving him at the union office after Forrest nominated several other firefighters to challenge McOsker for the union presidency.

After the confrontation, Forrest, who has been a firefighter for more than four decades, went to the hospital with chest pains and stayed for three days. He is now on medical leave.

In a recent interview, McOsker declined to discuss details of the incident, calling it “a relatively minor disagreement.”

McOsker accused Forrest of a politically motivated smear campaign to help a rival candidate.

“This is a political ploy,” McOsker said. “This guy has made some outrageous charges.”

The Fire Department has not decided how it will handle Forrest’s complaint.

But the accusation may complicate McOsker’s reelection campaign and deprive Hahn of vital support as the mayor campaigns for a second term before the March election.

Firefighters backed Hahn in 2001 before McOsker was elected president. But the ties have become closer in the last two years. And in March, McOsker publicly stated that the union would use its money to support Hahn.

That could involve an independent expenditure campaign that would not be subject to the normal $1,000 limit on contributions to mayoral campaigns.

McOsker’s opponents in next month’s union election both said they also appreciate Hahn’s support for firefighters, especially compared with the rocky relationship the union had with former Mayor Richard Riordan.

But Ken Buzzell, who was deposed by McOsker as union president in 2002 and is a longtime friend of Forrest, and Larry Fierro, a union board member, said they would defer to how union members want to spend money on political campaigns.

The full union membership must approve any independent expenditure in support of Hahn’s reelection campaign.

Ballots in the union election are scheduled to be counted Nov. 19.