TROY, NY – Correction officers at Rensselaer County Jail pushed to register inmates to vote in last fall’s primary and general election as part of an effort to unseat Sheriff Jack Mahar.

State and federal law enforcement agencies have launched broad investigations into the activities of the correction officers, including whether their initiative to garner inmates’ votes violated state or federal laws. The probes are part of a broader investigation that began when a group of correction officers accused their labor leaders of fraud and looting union dues for personal use.

The Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Attorney’s office are involved in the investigation, according to two people briefed on the matter. The investigations follow years of documented civil rights violations inside the county correctional facility, including systemic beatings of prisoners, strip-search policies that were declared unconstitutional by a federal court and sexual assaults of inmates.

Representatives for the U.S. Attorney’s office and the state attorney general declined comment.

Mahar won re-election to his third term as sheriff in November. He was challenged by Gary Gordon, a former Troy police sergeant who is an investigator with the Rensselaer County district attorney’s office. Gordon received strong campaign support, including cash donations, from Mark A. Piche and Kevin Rogers, who were the longtime leaders of a labor organization that represents the jail’s roughly 180 correction officers.

Mahar recently suspended Piche and Rogers from their jobs for undisclosed reasons. A person familiar with the matter said the men were removed from duty because they’re a focus of the outside criminal investigations.

Last October, Rogers allegedly dropped off about 140 voter registration forms at the county Board of Elections, according to an employee there. Many of the registration forms, including one filled out and signed by Rogers, were for people who sought to register in — or change their enrollment to — the Conservative Party.

Gordon, a Democrat, won the Conservative primary over Mahar by a narrow margin. Mahar, a Republican, then won the general election by more than 4,000 votes. The campaign was heated, with both sides accusing the other of misconduct.

Gordon acknowledged that he was uncomfortable with his campaign’s effort to enroll inmates to vote.

“There came a point in time during my campaign that I became aware of a drive to get Conservative voters, to get people to register,” Gordon said. “Shortly after that there was discussion to talk to inmates, to get inmates to register, and I put a stop to that. … I don’t even know who was in the room when we were discussing it. Piche or Rogers may have been there. The decision was made not to solicit inmates.”

Piche was president and Rogers was vice president of the jail officers’ labor group, Sheriffs Employees Association of Rensselaer County (SEARCO). They could not be reached for comment.

Correction officers are prohibited from soliciting votes from inmates or helping them register to vote. Courts have held that guards have an inherent power over inmates and strict policies limit their interaction. Most correctional facilities use inmate-services’ offices to assist inmates in legal matters, including requests to vote.

Larry Bugbee, the county’s Republican elections commissioner, said “at least four” of the 140 registration forms received from Rogers were for inmates.

One of the forms is attributed to Joseph Esposito, 42, who was incarcerated at the county jail from last June until his release on Jan. 24. The form bears a signature of Esposito’s name and is dated Sept. 28, when he was incarcerated. Like the others, it was a request to enroll in the Conservative Party.

Another enrollment form, dated Oct. 10, carries a signature for John W. Baldauf, 49. Records show Baldauf was incarcerated at the jail from Sept. 16, 2011, until Feb. 2. Details of the arrest records for Esposito and Baldauf were not immediately available over the weekend.

Bugbee said he does not believe the inmate registrations were a factor in the election for sheriff.

“Almost all of them were from people already registered to vote,” Bugbee said. “Most were change of enrollments. It wouldn’t have made a difference in last year’s primary or general election. The ones that were new (voters), they never even voted.”

Bugbee said it’s uncommon for inmates to invoke their voting privileges from jail.

The sheriff’s race grew heated in its final days. Less than a week before the Nov. 8 election, Mahar released recordings of telephone calls that he said were conversations between Gordon and correction officers.

The taped conversations included discussions about the handling of traffic tickets of friends or relatives of the correction officers, and Gordon’s ability to assist in those matters. The calls were recorded by a jail computer server that captures audio of incoming and outgoing telephone calls, even those not involving inmates.

Piche recently said he believes the recordings were made illegally. Many law enforcement agencies have telephone systems that record calls.

Mahar said the conversations centered on whether Gordon could “fix” tickets in exchange for the continuing campaign support of the jail officers. Mahar asked federal authorities and the state attorney general’s office to investigate.

“I’m unsure of how the investigation is going … but I do know it’s going,” Mahar said Saturday.

Gordon said he’s never used his connections as a district attorney’s investigator or former police officer to “fix” a ticket for anyone.

“It was cast that way because that’s how Jack Mahar needed it to be cast. He used that as a vehicle to win this election,” Gordon said, adding that he may run for sheriff again in four years. “I have never spoken to a prosecutor for anybody regarding a ticket, never in my life. … I’ve never spoken to a judge. I wouldn’t abuse my position to do something like that. I don’t commit crimes.”

Gordon said no one from the attorney general’s office has contacted him.

The outside investigations are also examining the finances of the jail officers’ labor organization. Until a few weeks ago, Piche and Rogers headed the organization they helped create in 2004. Officers said they never held elections and didn’t keep minutes of any meetings, nor did they make their financial expenditures available for review.

Piche and Rogers were replaced as leaders recently when a new board of directors was elected in a vote ordered by a state Supreme Court judge.

The judicial order was in response to a civil complaint filed by a group of corrections officers accusing Piche and Rogers of fraud and misappropriation of money.

Banking records obtained by the Times Union show the organization’s leaders spent tens of thousands of dollars of employee dues at restaurants, strip clubs, bars, on parties, cable and telephone bills, and to make contributions to political campaigns and organizations in which they had a personal interest.

From The Times Union.

Posted in: Recent Developments

ATLANTA, GA – An Atlanta firefighters union official Monday denied race has anything to do with its request to Mayor Kasim Reed to enlist outside investigators to look into allegations of cheating on a fire promotion exam.

The request for an independent inquiry follows a civil trial judgment against the city Friday, when a Fulton County jury found the city’s Department of Human Resources didn’t fully investigate the allegations.

The Atlanta chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters has asked Reed to request assistance from the GBI or the state’s Inspector General for a new investigation.

Jim Daws, president of the union’s local chapter, said Monday that Reed ignored the union’s request in June 2010 shortly after concerns were raised about the test results. Now that a jury has found there was evidence of cheating on the exams, Reed should take action, Daws said.

“Only then will we be able to take actions to restore full confidence in the integrity of Atlanta Fire Rescue and limit the negative consequences to those who actually engaged in corruption,” Daws said in a prepared statement.

In an interview with the AJC, Daws said the union’s request for outside investigators is not racially motivated, noting the majority of union members and test takers are black.

“We’re protecting everybody’s rights that took the test above board,” Daws said. “All we want is for the integrity of the test to be protected.”

The issue of race was raised Friday by Robert Godfrey, senior assistant city attorney.

Saying the city was considering an appeal of the jury’s decision, Godfrey said that the plaintiffs’ case “basically centered on the idea that you couldn’t be an African-American in 2010 and do well on a test.”

The union sent a letter to Reed on Saturday requesting the outside investigation. Daws said he had not heard from Reed or the city as of Monday.

The city didn’t respond to requests for comment Monday.

Three Fire Rescue employees — two white and one black — sued the city in July 2010, alleging some firefighters were given the answers to questions before they took a promotion exam earlier that year. The plaintiffs represented nearly 160 other city employees who took the same test in April 2010.

The lawsuit concerned five black firefighters who were members of the same study group and finished among the top eight highest test scorers.

According to the suit, two assistant fire chiefs and members of the Atlanta black firefighters association Brothers Combined provided exam answers to the other black fire employees before they took the test in April 2010.

The lawsuit also accused the city’s Human Resources Department of conducting a “superficial at best” review of the cheating allegations.

The city has denied those allegations.

Lee Parks, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said the jury’s verdict means the city may have to invalidate the results of the old test and hold a retest of the lieutenant’s exam. Firefighters who score high enough for a promotion could then become eligible for back pay and interest dating to the earlier test.

The parties will return to court March 8 to determine what the city owes the firefighters in attorney’s fees. If the two sides can’t reach an agreement, Fulton Superior Court Judge Kelly Amanda Lee will determine the amount of the award.

From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Posted in: Recent Developments

HARTFORD, CT – Efforts to stop the annual Super Bowl flood of “sick” calls among state prison guards largely succeeded in stopping staff shortages and statewide inmate lockdowns while the New York Giants clashed with the New England Patriots.

But unionized guards have now called an illegal procedure, filing about 100 grievances against Department of Correction Commissioner Leo C. Arnone for allegedly changing work rules and requiring doctor’s notes for those who called in sick.

In previous years, corrections officers have reaped overtime on Super Bowl Sundays because of higher than normal absenteeism. In instances where extra guards couldn’t be found for overtime, six or seven of the 16 prisons have been either fully locked down with all inmates in their cells, or partially locked down.

“Typically we do have a number of sick call-ins,” said Brian Garnett, spokesman for the DOC. “There have been times in the past where we have put them in lockdown. What we did this year was put in some temporary restrictions.”

Garnett said that when prisons fall below minimal staffing levels, inmates have to be locked into their cells.

This year, only two prisons were partially locked down, according to state officials. Those inmates who did not have TVs in their cells were able to watch the game in prison day rooms, Garnett said.

“This was done with the cooperation of our unions, and we tried to work very cooperatively,” Garnett said. “Safety and security are important, to make sure everyone comes home safe at the end of the day.”

Garnett said that Arnone and his administrators issued guards “a friendly reminder to think of other staff” who might have to be called in on the day of the big game.

“This wasn’t all a `stick’ approach,” Garnett said, “There was a `carrot,’ too.” Prison officials planned ahead and let prison guards know that they would be keeping track of sick calls, while requiring written medical statements even for single days off.

But Luke Leone, president of AFSMCE Local 1565, representing about half the state’s 5,000 correction officers, including guards at the Bridgeport Community Correctional Center and Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, said Wednesday that the management requests violated union contracts.

“This has nothing to do with Super Bowl Sunday,” Leone said in a phone interview, adding that the 100 people who called in sick on Feb. 5, was about average.

He said that union contracts do not require doctor’s notes for single days off and, in fact, union members are allowed to take up to four consecutive days off sick without the notes. It may take weeks to settle the grievances, union officials said.

From CTPost.com.

Posted in: Recent Developments

CHICAGO, IL – Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff — who said he was “deathly against” closing firehouses or reducing the minimum staffing requirement on fire apparatus — abruptly resigned Wednesday, leaving firefighters without a champion headed into contentious contract talks with Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Hoff, 56, is a third generation Chicago firefighter whose father was killed in the line of duty. He chose to retire — and go out on his own terms — on the 50th anniversary of his father’s death.

Sources said the decision was his. The mayor did not force him out.

“Thirty-five years is long enough. He wants to go teach firemen and keep them safe. That’s what he wants to do,” said a source close to the commissioner.

“He’s grateful that the mayor let him stay on, but it’s time to go.”

That was also Hoff’s message to Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 president Thomas Ryan Jr. On Wednesday, Hoff told Ryan, “It was time to go.”

“We have been adversaries on a few things, but I have nothing but the utmost respect for him and wish him the best going forward,” Ryan said. “The guy always put the firefighters and paramedics of the department first. He comes from a long line of firemen. He lived and breathed this job.”

‘He likes a fight’

Hoff was beloved among the rank and file, but his tenure had its share of rough patches.

Last year, Hoff dumped the deputy commissioner in charge of the Fire Prevention Bureau after firing just four of the 54 firefighters accused of padding mileage expenses to the tune of $100,000 in 2009 alone. Six other firefighters have retired and 43 face suspensions ranging from 30 to 60 days.

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson had recommended that all 54 firefighters be fired and that the Fire Prevention Bureau be disbanded and replaced by civilian employees of the city’s Department of Buildings.

Tensions between the two further escalated when Ferguson dared to recommend sharp cuts to staffing levels of fire apparatus — the issue that touched off the bitter, 1980 firefighters strike.

Yet another unfortunate chapter came when a Chicago Police officer demanded the arrest of the son of a former fire commissioner who allegedly slammed the police officer to the ground during a Nov. 1 river rescue.

As the Internal Affairs Divisions of the Police and Fire Departments launched investigations into the incident, Hoff directed his underlings not to cooperate with the inspector general without reporting to him first.

On Wednesday, sources close to Hoff insisted that the tensions with Ferguson had nothing to do with the commissioner’s resignation.

“He likes a fight. The thing with Joe Ferguson isn’t what brought this about. And the mayor wasn’t a problem, either. It was just time to go,” the source said.

‘Deathly against’ department cuts

Whatever the reason for Hoff’s resignation, the void leaves firefighters without a champion at the worst possible time. Their contract expires on June 30.

When Ferguson dared to suggest that Chicago taxpayers could save $57 million a year by reducing — from five to four — the minimum number of employees required to staff every piece of fire apparatus, Hoff unleashed his anger at the risk of alienating the mayor.

“Not being a firefighter or paramedic, it’s easy to look from the outside in and say, “This is how we save money.’ But I, as fire commissioner, will be adamant when I say this. Any decrease in manning — any decrease in fire companies, ambulances or closing of firehouses — I am literally deathly against,” Hoff said.

“To go below the current amount we have would not be a safe act. . . . Our fire deaths will go up. . . . We’re here to save civilians’ lives, but I also have to think of the paramedics and firefighters. If a firefighter has to do a double function on the fire ground, his life or her life is in danger.”

Emanuel applauded Hoff for his candor but made it clear that he plans to take a hard line in contract talks with Chicago firefighters.

‘I have to live up to his expectations’

When Hoff was just 5 years old, his battalion chief father, Thomas, died in a building collapse at 78th and Dorchester. He was 44.

“I have to live up to his expectations,” an emotional Hoff said in June, 2010, on the day he was appointed commissioner by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley

“I went to the cemetery Sunday on Father’s Day, and never did I believe I’d be standing here being asked to be fire commissioner. It’s a proud day. I can’t wait to get up and go to work every morning. There’s no better feeling than helping people.”

Hoff is one of the most decorated firefighters in department history. He was twice awarded the Carter Harrison Award, the department’s highest honor for bravery.

In 1984, he suffered severe burns in an attic fire and spent 21 days in the burn unit. “The water was temporarily shut down. I was ahead of the hose line. I ventilated the attic, and I was caught in the flashover. I had to go back through the fire to get out,” Hoff recalled. “It was a flashback. . . .

The day I got burned, my son was 5 years old.”

One of Daley’s ‘finest’ appointments

Hoff served as incident commander for the team of Chicago firefighters who went to New York to assist after the Sept. 11 attacks and to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

In 2002, after reviving and revolutionizing firefighter training, Hoff abruptly resigned as director of training in an apparent protest over budget cuts he feared could undermine the city’s ability to respond to disasters.

On Wednesday, that controversy was a distant memory.

Hoff’s appointment was hailed by aldermen as one of former Daley’s “finest.” It was a surprise to no one that he was one of only a handful of department heads retained by Emanuel. He is expected to be replaced by Deputy Commissioner Jose Santiago, the veteran firefighter who once ran the 911 center for Daley.

During Hoff’s tenure as commissioner, Chicago suffered its worst firefighter tragedy in more than decade when two firefighters died when the roof of an abandoned building with a history of code violations collapsed on top of them.

From The Chicago Sun-Times.

Posted in: Recent Developments

PORTLAND, OR – Shortly after Portland voters approved reforms to the city’s unique public safety pension and disability fund, a newly appointed board that oversees Portland police and firefighter pensions changed how officers’ and firefighters’ pensions are calculated.

The board found that the former fund administrator had misinterpreted the City Charter that governs the fund, and in May 2007 and September 2008 made two significant changes to bring the pension calculations in line with the charter. The result: Retirement benefits dropped in most cases.

But now those changes could unravel, and the city’s general fund could be on the hook for what could be thousands of dollars potentially owed to at least 260 police and firefighters who have retired since the changes were adopted.

A Court of Appeals ruling this month found in favor of the Portland Police Association, which had challenged the changes to retirees’ pensions.

The police union argued that the city had to negotiate any changes to its members’ pensions because the fund’s pension recalculations had violated the “existing standards” clause of its contract that governs wages and benefits. In an unfair labor complaint, the union urged the fund to restore the past practice and retirees be “made whole” by the city for all lost benefits.

The city countered that the public safety fund’s board is independent, and its decisions are not subject to arbitration. The city argued that the Portland Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund is essentially like the Public Employees Retirement System, and employers do not arbitrate every benefits change PERS makes. The city argued that the fund’s board made the changes in “good faith,” and the fund is not the employer of union members. The city also pointed out the union never challenged a pension fund decision until this case.

In 2010, a three-member panel of the Employee Relations Board ruled in favor of the union, and the city appealed the ruling to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

“An arbitrator might reasonably conclude that the grievances do not challenge the fund’s authority to reduce benefits; instead, they assert that if the Fund reduces benefits, as it did here, then the city is contractually obligated to hold employees harmless from the reduction, even if the City did not cause the reduction,” the Employee Relations Board found.

The Employment Relations Board said its conclusion wasn’t based on whether the fund’s new calculations were appropriate, but that both sides needed to negotiate the dispute.

Now, the Oregon Court of Appeals has agreed with the state’s Employee Relations Board, finding that changes in pension calculations should have been negotiated. It orders that the dispute be argued before a state arbitrator.

Attorney William Aitchison, who represented the police union before the Employee Relations Board, said the Court of Appeals ruling validated what’s been Oregon law for more than 20 years.

“Changes in retirement benefits have to be negotiated,” Aitchison said. “This is basically a reminder that the city does need to comply with the law.”

Portland city Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who helped push through voter-approved reforms to the public safety fund, called the ruling “disappointing.”

“The Legislature set up FPDR as a totally separate fund,” Saltzman said. He said he’s concerned the decision could affect the city’s general fund. “It’s a very disappointing ruling, in terms of potential exposure to our general fund,” he said. ” I think it should be worrisome to voters, taxpayers.”

In 2007, the fund’s new board reviewed the method the fund administrator had been using to calculate an employee’s “final pay.

The board found that the administrator’s determination of a member’s highest 12-month year of pay was flawed.

Reversing a long-standing practice, the fund’s board voted in 2007 to no longer include a retiree’s last month’s pay in the calculation of a member’s final pay, because the City Charter governing the fund expressly says not to. The charter says the 12-month period ends in the “month preceding” an employee’s retirement date.

For example, if a sergeant with 25 years of service planned to retire May 15 of this year, the 12-month period for determining final pay should be May 1, 2011 to April 30, 2012, and the final annual pay would be $87,843, the board found.

That’s about $914 less than if the 12-month look-back period included the last day worked, from May 16, 2011 to May 15, 2012, as the past administrator had done. Under this method, the sergeant’s final pay would be $88,757.

The change reduces the pension benefits for most retirees. Yet pension benefits, under the new calculation method that adheres to City Charter, actually would increase for members who time their retirement to occur when the final 12-month period includes 27 pay dates, versus the usual 26 pay dates.

Portland police and firefighters have taken notice.

There have been a record number of retirements so far this fiscal year, which has 27 pay dates

Forty-five FPDR members have retired so far this fiscal year, including 25 police and 20 firefighters.

That compares with 41 retirements in the past two fiscal years combined.

The second change to pension calculations came in September 2008, revising a decades-long practice of bumping up final pay calculations by adding salary increases from union contracts ratified after a member retired.

The board stopped that practice, and began following the charter that specifies that the final pay for pension calculations is what’s been “received,” the actual gross in the member’s paycheck.

From The Oregonian.

Posted in: Recent Developments

Ten Republicans broke ranks Tuesday to help Democrats defeat the union-opposed plan to privatize correctional facilities in Central and South Florida.

The Senate voted 19-21 to defeat SB 2038, which would have allowed private companies to bid on running one or all-but-one of 26 correctional facilities as the state sought to save at least $16.5 million a year. The bill included a provision prohibiting any single company from having a monopoly over all of the facilities.

Senate President-designate Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, warned those who voted against the bill they will have a heavy burden in the next few days when going to Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, who oversees the Senate budget.

“The issue for me is, simply, at a time when we are stacking pennies to try to take care of the critical needs of Florida, is there not some way we could find to do our job better?” Gaetz said.

Clearly agitated, Alexander, who also wanted to shake up the Department of Corrections and is seeking to make a 58 percent cut in the state’s direct funding for the University of South Florida, wouldn’t say that those who voted no on Tuesday would face retribution.

He said the bill failed because senators were simply unwilling to accept change.

“Hard change is always hard,” he said.

How the GOP senators voted:

For: Gardiner, Bennett, Altman, Bogdanoff, Alexander, Gaetz, Thrasher, Benacquisto, Detert, Flores, Garcia, Haridopolos, Hays, Negron, Norman, Richter, Simmons, Wise.

Against: Oelrich, Diaz de la Portilla, Latvala, Jones, Fasano, Dockery, Dean, Evers, Lynn, Storms.

No Democrats voted for the measure.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, said further cuts will have to come from education and health care.

While the defeat loomed, Haridopolos said — holding back his emotions — that he went forward with the vote Tuesday because the Senate needs to know where it stands as the budget is pieced together in the next couple of days.

“We need to know if we need to put aside $16 million or not,” he said. “This means we’re going to have to find the savings elsewhere. And clearly there was a lot of people who wanted to get this behind us.”

The outsourcing effort was approved as part of the state budget a year ago, only to be overturned by a Leon County Circuit Court judge who accepted the Florida Police Benevolent Association’s claim that the privatization effort should have been done as a separate bill.

Objecting to the judge’s ruling, the effort to pursue the privatization effort was seen as a priority of Haridopolos.

“I accept the verdict of the Senate,” he said. “We’ll find the savings elsewhere.”

The bill would have affected nearly 4,000 state workers, with a projected savings starting at $16.5 million a year.

As part of the plan, none of the prisons would have been turned over to a private company if the bids failed to provide the state with at least 7 percent savings from the existing costs.

The effort to privatize came as the Department of Corrections is moving forward with plans to close 11 facilities because of an overall drop in the prison population statewide.

The elimination of the privatization effort could be seen as an impediment to efforts by those in Jefferson County to maintain a correctional facility that was on the DOC cut list.

Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who was seen as the leader of the effort to halt the bill, viewed the proposal as a bailout for private correctional companies on par with the federal government’s bailout of Wall Street and the auto industry.

“I think a clear message was sent by 21 of the 40 senators today, that we do not want to privatize public safety,” Fasano said. “We do not want to turn over a half-billion (dollars) of taxpayer paid-for correctional facilities to two corporations and let them earn money on the backs of taxpayers.”

Fasano’s opposition to the privatization already cost him seats on two budget committees, including one chairmanship post. He also expressed concern about Alexander’s proposal to cut USF funding because the school leadership has blocked his efforts to break the USF Polytechnic into a separate university.

Gov. Rick Scott said Monday he expected the measure to pass, but Fasano said Scott didn’t send a message to legislators on the issue since it wasn’t included in the governor’s proposed budget.

For many of those opposed to the bill, the question was more a matter of public safety than cost-cutting.

Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, a former sheriff, said “jailing for profit is not for the public good.”

Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, said the public perception is that the Legislature values a 7 percent savings over employees who have not received a raise in six years.

“I think it’s worth a whole lot more than that,” Jones said.

Jones added that there have been efforts in the past to privatize the Alligator Alley and the Florida lottery, so “where does it end?”

The privatization move was opposed by tea party groups as well as the NAACP.

The private companies would also have been required to give current correctional employees affected by the shift a preference when hiring.

Sen. Steve Oelrich, R-Gainesville, a 30-year law enforcement veteran, said he opposed allowing private companies to take away an individual’s freedom just to save the state money.

“I can’t imagine a system where we had private police that were contracted and we had to show a return on the dollar,” Oelrich said.

Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, said he believes in smaller government, but public safety shouldn’t be run on the cheap.

Sen. Jack Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, said cost comparisons are difficult to judge because private prisons are able to pick which inmates to accept, taking those who would be less of a risk to decrease their costs.

Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, said if the goal was to cut 7 percent, the state should just trim the correctional budget by 7 percent.

Republican Majority Leader Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, praised Haridopolos for bringing the bill forward for a debate.

Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, said without the projected $16.5 million a year saving to prisons the Senate will have to look at cuts to education and health care.

In a release, Teamsters Local 2011, which represents 20,000 Florida Department of Corrections officers, praised the Senate vote.

“We are so grateful that a bipartisan Senate majority decided against this damaging legislation,” Ken Wood, acting president of Teamsters Local 2011, stated. “They supported hard-working corrections officers and their communities, and they protected Florida taxpayers from spending billions on secret contracts with no public oversight.

“The Teamsters are still fighting hard against unnecessary closures of correctional facilities and work camps, but for now, we’re very pleased with the Senate’s action.”

From Sunshine State News.

Posted in: Recent Developments

When the city of Pontiac, Mich., ordered the closing of its fire department in December, Councilman Kermit Williams found out in the morning paper. This was just one in a series of radical realignments for the city, whose elected government has been replaced by one person with unprecedented power over nearly every aspect of city policy.

Public Act 4, a law Michigan passed in March 2011, has cut elected officials like Williams out of the process. It allows Gov. Rick Snyder to give emergency managers unilateral powers over the municipalities and school districts they run.

“They couldn’t get elected if they tried,” said Williams.

Appointed managers can nullify labor contracts, sell public utilities and dismiss elected officials. Michigan cities Benton Harbor, Ecorse, Flint, Pontiac, and two school districts are under emergency management. Detroit, the state’s largest city, is under financial review by the state.

Update Feb. 15, 1:02pm: A Michigan judge suspended the state review of Detroit’s finances, citing violations by the state-appointed team of the Open Meetings Act for public officials. The state’s attorneys are expected to appeal the decision.

Michigan is one of 23 states where the GOP has control of both houses and the governor’s mansion since the 2010 election. With the help of free-market think tanks, the state legislature used its one-party rule to pass a flurry of legislation aimed at the state’s prolonged great recession marked by auto industry flight and compounded by the 2007 housing market crash.

The emergency law, an unprecedented austerity measure, is the centerpiece of their strategy. Gov. Snyder’s supporters say Public Act 4 allows a more efficient and nimble response to the budget crisis than local governments have been able to muster. Critics have filed suit and begun a petition campaign to repeal what they call a power grab that obstructs voting rights. Labor officials say the law is part of a nationwide effort by right-wing think tanks and their corporate backers to break up public sector unions.

“We haven’t seen anything this severe anywhere else in the country,” said Charles Monaco, spokesman for the Progressive States Network. “There’s been nothing in other states where a budget measure overturns the democratic vote.”

Fallout in the cities
Pontiac’s Emergency Manager Louis Schimmel privatized city hall, hiring Mayor Leon Jukowski (who had been fired by a previous emergency manager) as a consultant at half his former salary. The City Council was not so lucky.

Neither were the police and fire departments. Pontiac is now patrolled by the county Sheriff, and nearby Waterford Township will put out fires. In late December, Schimmel put hundreds of city properties, including City Hall, up for sale.

Schimmel says he can do what elected officials have been unable to do: execute a plan for balancing the books quickly. Still, he has run into nagging structural roadblocks.

In February, Gov. Snyder celebrated a rare $457 million surplus in the state budget. But legislators in the Democratic minority say his administration has not eased the financial strain on cities. Changes to the corporate tax code are expected to reduce business tax revenue by $1.7 billion this year, and city governments will see a 10 percent cut to the $1 billion revenue-sharing budget.

“One thing we can’t do is print money,” said Schimmel. “We’re always chasing the dropping knife, fixing something here and losing revenue somewhere else.”

City officials like Williams say the emergency manager approach has been tried, unsuccessfully, for more than a decade. Public Act 4 is a strengthened version of a 1990 law that brought state appointees to several cities beginning in 2000.

Appointed managers and elected officials have pointed the finger at each other for the worsening economic situation in the cities. Neither, however, has been able to provide more than short-term fixes to the long-term flow of jobs, residents and revenue from the cities.

Pontiac has been under some form of state-appointed management for three years, during which time the city’s credit rating has dropped from B to Triple-C. The city is projecting a $9 million deficit for 2012.

“They aren’t creating revenue,” said Councilman Williams. “You can’t just cut your way out of a deficit.”

Williams says the emergency manager’s worst cut has been to the democratic process. With an indefinite appointment and city-paid salary, Schimmel doesn’t answer to anyone but the governor, at whose pleasure he serves. City Council can no longer make decisions but still calls meetings, which Williams says are routinely packed with angry residents.

Mackinac plan
Louis Schimmel brings to the Pontiac job years of experience as an associate of Michigan’s Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The center is part of a national network of free-market think tanks that draw support from the Heritage Foundation and major corporate donors. Among the center’s funders is multi-billionaire Charles Koch, a champion of conservative movements.

Schimmel has pushed Mackinac’s gospel of privatization for decades. He served as the center’s director of municipal finance and its board of scholars.

The organization has played an integral role in the formation of the emergency law. In 2005, Mackinac published Schimmel’s essay calling on Michigan’s legislature to give managers the power to impose contract changes on public employee unions and “replace and take on the powers of the governing body.”

After the GOP won control in 2010, Mackinac reprinted Schimmel’s article. Two months later, Mackinac celebrated when the legislature put its prescriptions into Public Act 4.

Schimmel got those powers when he was hired to run Pontiac in September. He quickly fired the city’s clerk, attorney and director of public works. He contracted out several city services.

“Nearly the whole city has been privatized,” said Councilman Williams, who now works without a city salary.

In 1986, Schimmel also privatized city services when Ecorse, Mich., landed in state receivership.

More than twenty years later, the city is back in debt, and back under state management. In a December planning report, new Emergency Manager Joyce Parker said Ecorse would save $2 million annually by bringing the city’s Department of Works back in house, ending costly contracts stemming from the 1980s restructuring.

Schimmel concedes the privatization strategy can backfire, but blames inept local government. “If you don’t have an overseer of the contractor, privatization can be much more expensive than in-house services,” he said.

Bargain basement
The Mackinac Center has also pushed state legislators to challenge public employee unions. Before the March 2011 emergency bill passed, Mackinac’s Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh laid out the center’s agenda.

“Our goal is [to] outlaw government collective bargaining in Michigan,” he wrote to state Rep. Tom McMillin in an email obtained by think tank Progress Michigan.

In Flint, Emergency Manager Michael Brown promised to restructure collective bargaining agreements in his mid-January report to the state.

Flint has hemorrhaged jobs for decades since General Motors began closing factories in the 1980s. Brown is the second state-appointed manager in a decade.

“We’re on the merry-go-round again,” said Paul Jordan, a longtime Flint resident who has joined a legal effort to overturn the law. “This didn’t work in 2002.”

International Vice President of the AFSCME public employees union Larry Roehrig says city workers agreed to health care concessions in a contract with the elected government, hoping to avoid further cuts when Brown arrived.

“We are holding our collective breath,” said Roehrig. “Sure we’re worried, but what can we do?”

The police and fire unions have no agreement with the city, and have taken a more defiant approach to Brown, who can impose contract changes, and even abolish the entire bargaining agreement with state approval.

“If you can bust the unions, you’ve busted the Democratic Party,” said Brit Satchwell, president of the Ann Arbor Education Association, the teachers union.

The Mackinac Center claims that Michigan could save $5.7 billion if public employees’ wages and benefits were made comparable to sinking private sector wages.

Facing charges of greed, the public employee union leaders say cuts to public sector jobs have only seeded the next phase of economic woes in the state — foreclosures, unemployment, and intensified reliance on state aid programs in cities like Flint, where the jobless rate at the end of 2011 was 17.5 percent.

“It’s an acceleration of the downward spiral,” said Satchwell.

Mackinac and ALEC
Another group that may be influencing state legislators in passing emergency manager type laws is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

The group convenes national conferences with state legislators and corporate representatives to draft model legislation. Elected officials in ALEC pay a minimal fee to join the group, while corporations pay up to $100,000.

Michigan’s Mackinac Center attends ALEC events, as well. James Hohman, a center analyst, was one of 40 private sector representatives at a December 2010 conference on state fiscal policy, months before Michigan passed Public Act 4.

According to minutes from the closed-door meeting, legislators, corporate representatives and think tanks including Mackinac hammered out new model laws to align public and private sector pay and restructure state pensions.

Since 2010, ALEC member Rep. McMillin has introduced several bills taken right from the playbook. One resolution encouraging privatization of public services draws directly from ALEC’s model laws, hundreds of which were leaked to the Center for Media and Democracy last summer.

The model bills have matched up with language found in Arizona’s immigration law and informed Ohio and Wisconsin’s collective bargaining laws.

ALEC’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Director Jonathan Williams did not respond to requests for comment.

ALEC publishes reports on state fiscal policy including the “State Budget Reform Toolkit” and the yearly “Rich States, Poor States” report, written with Koch foundation money. The reports encourage legislators to target public employees, minimize “redistribution of income” through welfare programs, identify privatization opportunities, sell off public holdings like water systems, hospitals, and utilities and slash corporate taxes.

The reports recommend that states create a “centralized, independent, decision-making body to manage privatization and government efficiency initiatives.” Michigan’s law grants far more sweeping powers to one state appointee.

The D.C.-based think tank’s connection with Michigan lawmakers runs decades deep. John Engler was Michigan’s governor for three terms, from 1991 to 2003. ALEC hails him as an early member in the 1970s and a “pioneer” in the movement to privatize state holdings.

When Snyder was elected in 2010, he hired Engler’s former Lieutenant Gov. Dick Posthumous, also a longtime ALEC member, as his special legislative adviser.

Pushback
Detroit’s elected leaders, unions and citizens groups have attracted national support in their opposition to the State Treasurer’s financial review of city finances in December. Members of the City Council responded by demanding that the state repay $220 million owed to the city under a former revenue-sharing agreement.

Michigan’s Democratic Senators asked Gov. Snyder to back away from the law, while a ten-person review board determines whether Detroit is eligible for a manager.

Detroit’s Mayor Dave Bing acknowledges the city’s budget woes — a $200 million deficit — and has proposed raising corporate taxes, laying off 1,000 city workers, and altering city pensions to head off an emergency manager who would put elected leaders out of a job.

The state’s decision whether to install a manager will hinge on the outcome of Bing’s ongoing talks with city unions. In February, the mayor announced a tentative agreement on concessions with public employees.

Meanwhile, Congressman John Conyers has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to review the federal constitutionality of the law. And Michigan residents will deliver hundreds of thousands of signatures to the state on March 2, attempting to put the law up for referendum in November.

Detroit’s Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice has filed a suit claiming the law violates basic sections of the state constitution, including the home rule provision that outlines residents’ rights to elect local government.

“If we win this case, it will give other state legislatures pause before pursuing similar laws,” said Tova Perlmutter, director of the law center.

From iWatchNews.org.

Posted in: Recent Developments

STANISLAUS COUNTY, CA – Cutting 6 percent of Stanislaus County jail guards’ pay would save more than $1 million per year, according to an agreement ratified by custodial deputies, which is going before county leaders this morning.

The Stanislaus County Deputy Sheriff’s Association becomes the eighth of 12 unions agreeing to salary decreases to preserve jobs and provide longer- term contract stability. The reduction would take effect in July, when 5 percent temporary cuts expire, for a net 1 percent decrease.

Although most unions have ratified reductions, holdouts include a majority of county employees. They include American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 10, which represents 1,979 workers, or more than 53 percent of the county’s work force.

AFSCME continues negotiating, and the 67-member Stanislaus County Attorney’s Association is expected to begin bargaining in March. The county’s second-largest union, Service Employees International Union Local 521, with 569 members, and another unit representing 81 nurses have yet to begin talks.

With 3,710 workers, the county is by far the region’s largest employer, despite having shed about 1,000 jobs since the recession began. Despite downsizing payroll and slicing programs, the county continues to face multimillion-dollar deficits and must break an addiction to balancing its budget with one-time funds such as grants and rollovers from previous years, a report says.

Seven unions representing 790 workers previously agreed to lower wages in November, saving about $4.4 million.

Under the current 5 percent cut, workers were given 13 days off each year, amounting to furloughs. They will get only six days off with permanent, 6 percent reductions.

Salaries and benefits account for 37 percent of the county’s budget and 53 percent of its general fund.

From The Modesto Bee.

Posted in: Recent Developments

A state board says it will seek a court injunction to keep the city of San Diego’s 401(k) initiative off the June ballot until it makes a final determination on whether Mayor Jerry Sanders violated labor law by crafting and advocating for the measure as a private citizen to avoid negotiations with employee unions.

In response to a complaint filed last month by the city’s largest union, the state Public Employment Relations Board will ask a Superior Court judge to table the initiative while it expedites an administrative hearing to determine if an unfair labor practice occurred. Even if a violation is confirmed, a judge would still have to agree.

Les Chisholm, a division chief with the board, said there were no findings of fact made, but there was “reasonable cause” to believe labor law has been violated in the case.

The board’s move, made late Friday, opens the possibility that the “Comprehensive Pension Reform” initiative may not go before city voters although supporters say the board action is preliminary and remain confident the measure will withstand legal scrutiny and stay on the ballot. The initiative — crafted by Sanders and City Council members Carl DeMaio and Kevin Faulconer — would replace guaranteed pensions for most new hires with a 401(k)-style plan.

Sanders, who was in Washington, D.C., Monday to tout the city’s recent financial turnaround and the initiative, called the board’s decision unfortunate given the nearly 116,000 city voters who signed a petition to put the measure on the ballot.

“The bottom line is this measure has rightly qualified for the ballot,” he said. “The public deserves the opportunity to vote on this. We will vigorously fight to give voters the right to decide this matter.”

Rep. Bob Filner, the lone major Democrat running to replace Sanders, opposes the initiative and calls it unfair because it puts the pension fix on the backs of city workers. He has promised an alternative plan but has yet to release it publicly.

“The PERB ruling changes a lot,” he said. Even if it is deemed legal, Filner said, “The substance of it and the attempt by the mayor and the proponents of this is exceedingly wrong.”

At issue is whether Sanders acted properly by pushing for the initiative as a private citizen.

The complaint filed by the Municipal Employees Association alleged that Sanders created the so-called citizens initiative as a “sham device” to avoid the city’s obligations to meet-and-confer with unions over significant changes to the pension system.

“As the city’s CEO and chief labor negotiator, this mayor has used his city-paid time, resources, power, prestige, visibility and ‘good offices’ to inspire, write, negotiate, endorse and sponsor the proposed citizens initiative which he has described as his legacy as mayor,” the complaint said.

Sanders and City Attorney Jan Goldsmith have maintained that because the initiative is a citizen initiative — placed on the ballot via signatures rather than legislative action — there is no need to negotiate its terms with labor.

Jonathan Heller, a spokesman for Goldsmith, reiterated that the city doesn’t have the authority to make changes to the initiative or keep it from going on the ballot because it is a citizen initiative. He also noted that PERB hasn’t made any formal decision yet.

“PERB has made no findings of fact and could not do so as there was no hearing,” Heller said. “PERB simply took what the labor unions wrote and repeated it. We were given 48 hours notice to provide a written response.”

The initiative was created in response to the city’s decade-long fiscal woes that stemmed from decisions by past city leaders to increase retirement benefits for workers while also neglecting to make full pension payments. The ensuing deficit — currently $2.2 billion — fueled by the recession crippled city finances and led to cuts to parks, libraries and public safety.

DeMaio, Sanders and other raised nearly $1.2 million last year for a six-month-long petition drive to gather enough signatures from registered city voters to trigger an election.

DeMaio said he remains confident a judge will dismiss the lawsuit.

“It is outrageous that government unions and their Sacramento defenders are trying to claim they can veto the citizens’ constitutional rights in this matter, but it provides yet another example of the contempt the government unions have for the taxpayers of San Diego and the lengths they will go to in protecting their unsustainable pension payouts,” he said.

The Municipal Employees Association explained the ruling in a Monday email to its members.

“Now that PERB — the quasi-judicial state agency responsible for enforcing the law related to bargaining and public employees — has agreed to our request to file litigation, the argument has become even more powerful,” it read.

The PERB lawsuit is expected to be filed later this week.

From The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Posted in: Recent Developments

LANSING, MI – A coalition of state employee labor unions sued the state of Michigan on Monday, saying recent changes to the funding of the employees’ retirement systems are unconstitutional.

The suit filed in Ingham County Circuit Court challenges a law approved by the Legislature and signed late last year by Gov. Rick Snyder.

The law requires employees who choose to remain in the state’s defined benefit or pension plan to contribute 4 percent of their compensation toward the system.

The law also eliminated a 3 percent contribution that state workers had been making to help cover retiree health costs. The law instead eliminates retiree health insurance coverage for new state employees hired after Jan. 1, replacing that benefit with a 401(k)-like system for health coverage.

A coalition representing roughly 34,000 state workers said in the lawsuit that the Legislature didn’t have authority to make the changes on its own. The suit argues that the Michigan Civil Service Commission is the agency authorized to regulate conditions of employment for the state employees.

“If they’re going to make changes like that, we should make them at the bargaining table,” said Phil Thompson, executive vice president of Service Employees International Union Local 517M.

Other unions in the coalition include the United Auto Workers Local 6000, AFSCME Council 25, the Michigan Corrections Organization and the Michigan State Employees Association.

Snyder’s spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

From CBSnews.com.

Posted in: Recent Developments

CLEVELAND, OH – Cleveland firefighters have agreed to limits on their trading of work shifts, curbing a practice that has allowed some of them to take off for months at a time.

The restrictions, approved in union voting Wednesday and Thursday, eliminate the unrestricted swapping highlighted in a recent city audit. In the most extreme case, auditors said, a firefighter worked the equivalent of three months in 2 1/2 years but continued to collect his $53,890-a-year salary.

Another firefighter lived for four or five months at a time in San Diego, then made up shifts in bunches. The firefighter did not hide his residency, submitting a form that was approved by supervisors.

The new agreement, separate from the union’s contract, caps the amount of time firefighters could owe or be owed at 144 hours, which is equivalent to six 24-hour shifts. That’s roughly what firefighters work in about three weeks. Firefighters also are prohibited from working more than 48 hours in a row while repaying time.
Capt. Frank Szabo, president of the firefighters union, declined to release the election results, saying he believed union procedures prohibited him from doing so. But he said passage should dispel perceptions of widespread abuse by firefighters.

“There’s no benefit here for them,” Szabo said. “We’re not getting any money out of this.”

Public Safety Director Martin Flask praised the firefighters’ decision, saying: “I think it’s good for the city, the citizens and for most of the firefighters.”
The internal audit, released Nov. 18, found other problems, including failure of firefighters to deduct sick time. Firefighters suggested that many of the problems stemmed from keeping records on paper. The city is computerizing the system.

Auditors have taken a deeper look, assisted by a police investigator and former federal prosecutor who are looking for evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
The follow-up audit had been expected by the end of January, but will not be ready for another two to three weeks, Flask said. The criminal investigation will take longer, he said.

From The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Posted in: Recent Developments

PHILADELPHIA, PA – A retired police captain who was arrested in uniform during an Occupy Wall Street protest last year joined demonstrators on the lawn of Independence Hall on Monday, saying he isn’t breaking any law by wearing his old uniform despite the city police commissioner telling him to stop.

Ray Lewis, who retired in 2004 after 24 years on the force, joined a group of Occupy Philadelphia protesters, again wearing his old uniform — complete with an Occupy button on it. He said he wants to speak out against corporate greed and corruption.

“I have not violated any law” by wearing the uniform, the 60-year-old Lewis said. “I spent my entire career devoted to law enforcement, and I was proud of that.”

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told Lewis in a Nov. 23 letter to stop wearing the uniform, saying that retirees had no authority to do so and that he found Lewis’ conduct “disrespectful.”

The Fraternal Order of Police also asked him to stop wearing it, and its grievance committee is investigating the matter, said John McNesby, president of the local FOP lodge. Depending on the outcome of that investigation, Lewis could lose his FOP membership, meaning that the organization would no longer represent him and that he would lose his life insurance, McNesby said.

“We’re not going to put up with that here,” McNesby said of Lewis wearing the uniform while protesting. “He’s not a cop. He’s a retired cop. … Stop wearing the uniform.”

A police spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In November, Lewis became one of the faces of the Occupy Wall Street movement when he was arrested in full-dress uniform after blocking a street and ignoring police orders to move while demonstrating near the New York Stock Exchange. Last month, he took Manhattan prosecutors’ offer to get the disorderly conduct case closed without jail time or probation if he avoids getting arrested again for six months.

Lewis, who moved to upstate New York after his retirement, said he’s not doing anything illegal by wearing the uniform, noting that he’s not trying to impersonate a police officer.

“I have never tried to influence anybody with any false authority,” he said. “They could easily arrest me for impersonating a police officer. …The thing they won’t get is a conviction.”

Later Monday afternoon, Lewis took his anti-corporate message to the downtown Philadelphia headquarters of cable giant Comcast, which was being guarded by police and building security. He was among about two dozen activists from Occupy Philadelphia at the building, a frequent target of the movement.

Also on site were members of the Washington-based group Rethink Press, which delivered to Comcast a petition signed by more than 23,000 people asking the company to carry the Arab news channel Al-Jazeera.

Lewis said he wasn’t previously aware of the demonstration on Al-Jazeera, but he supported that cause, too.

“If people don’t want to watch it, they don’t have to watch it,” Lewis said. “That’s what freedom of the press is all about.”

Comcast released a statement noting that company officials have met with representatives of Al-Jazeera in the past.

“We regularly examine our channel lineups and talk with a wide range of programmers to ensure that we are bringing the content that our customers want the most,” the statement said.

It also noted Al-Jazeera is streamed for free online.

From The Washington Post.

Posted in: Recent Developments

CHICAGO, IL – The Chicago Police officer’s union is suing three attorneys and a former high-ranking union official for allegedly over-billing the union for work done defending former Calumet Area police Cmdr. John Burge.

The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 claims it agreed to pay all legal fees to defend Burge, who was charged in October 2008 with perjury and witness tampering, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court.

The FOP hired attorneys Richard Beuke, William Gamboney and Mark Martin to defend Burge, who was convicted of the charges in June 2010, according to the suit.

After the conviction, the FOP claims it again agreed to pay all legal fees to appeal the conviction, but this time only hired Martin on the condition that Beuke and Gamboney would not be involved because the union was dissatisfied with their work.

The suit claims the FOP agreed to pay Beuke $60,000 under the new conditions, but Gamboney billed the union $200,000 for legal work.

Gamboney said Saturday that he could not comment on the specifics of the suit, but said he did work on the appeal.

“There is no wrong doing here, and I think it’s just union politics,” Gamboney said.

The five-count fraud suit also lists former FOP third-vice president Greg Bella as a defendant. The suit claims Martin, Bella, former FOP President Mark Donohue, FOP Secretary Richard Aguilar and FOP General Counsel Paul D. Geiger were all present at the face-to-face meeting where Martin agreed to work without Beuke and Gamboney.

Bella’s attorney, Thomas Needham, denied his client did anything wrong, noting that he left the FOP in 2011 after a failed bid to be union president and is currently a detective on the Northwest Side.

“Obviously, he completely rejects any idea that he is guilty of fraud or any kind of misconduct,” Needham said. “We think this lawsuit is ridiculous and will be laughed out of court.

Beuke and Martin could not be reached for comment.

The FOP is seeking monetary judgment from against all four defendants.

From MyFoxChicago.com.

Posted in: Recent Developments

TOLEDO, OH – A public meeting that the Toledo firefighter’s union hoped would resolve a contract dispute has been denied.

Local 92 wrote a letter to the city asking for permission to invite media and area residents to mediate the fact finding meeting. The union is fighting the Bell administration’s push to increase employee health care contributions and pensions.

But city spokesman Jen Sorgenfrei told The Blade that a public meeting would be against the law.

“Under the Ohio Revised Code and the Ohio Administrative Code, union negotiations are between the two negotiating parties and fact-finding is not a public process,” she said. “Ohioans in November said they wanted to uphold the current collective bargaining law as it stands. We’re going to follow the wishes of the voters.”

Union president Wayne Hartford maintains the increased costs would cut the firefighters’ pay by 14.5 percent.

From Northwestohio.com.

Posted in: Recent Developments

PLAINFIELD, CT – The Plainfield police commission voted unanimously on Thursday night to deactivate the department’s Facebook page.

It comes after Chief Robert J. Hoffman used the work “jerks” in a controversial survey that was posted on the page recently.

Part of the survey, which has since been removed from the site, read:

“Don’t mention persons by name, and limit your comments to the service and activities of the department. It would be of no use to tell us that ‘Officer So and So is a jerk’ without telling us why he is a jerk, and chances are we knew that anyway!”

“The police commission felt there was no need to use Facebook as a tool in law enforcement,” police commission chairman Bill Holmes said.

Chief Hoffman, through Facebook, said the sentence that caused concern does not reflect his true feelings or beliefs and he will be meeting “face to face” with every member of the department.

“I have the utmost respect and affection for every member of the department and know how dedicated they are and how hard they work. The thought that my words would cause them any pain is devastating to me. We have all worked too hard together to permit my communication failure to cloud our accomplishments or detract us from the mission,” Hoffman said. “Unfortunately I find that the older I get the less the filter works that weeds out stupid comments or ill chosen phrases. However I did say it and hereby unequivocally rescind it. As a communication tool(,) the last sentence to that letter was a failure. In fact it appears if there has been a jerk in any of this(,) it was I. I humbly apologize for any offense, it was unintended.”

Some residents are defending the chief and said you really would have to know him.

“What he is saying to the public is, if you think that one of our police officers is acting like a jerk, don’t just come up to us with that comment. Come up and explain to us why you think he is acting like a jerk,” Gilles Roberts, of Plainfield, said.

From NBCConnecticut.com.

Posted in: Recent Developments

Labor unions plan to rally in front of the Arizona State Capitol on Thursday afternoon to protest four bills quickly moving through the state Legislature that could make last year’s Wisconsin labor laws look modest by comparison.

Three of the four bills restrict the way unions collect dues and the way workers get paid for union activities. The fourth bans collective bargaining between governments and government workers: state and local. Unlike Wisconsin, it affects all government employees, including police and firefighters.

“It seems as though those employees or at least the unions that represent them don’t care what the burden is on the taxpayer as long as they get theirs,” says state Sen. Rick Murphy, a Republican who is sponsoring the bills.

Murphy says collective bargaining lets public workers put themselves ahead of the public they are working for.

Nick Dranias of the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, a libertarian/conservative think tank that helped Murphy write the bills, says public-sector workers in Arizona make about 6 percent more in salary and benefits than their private-sector counterparts.

“You’re not in government, you know, to collect a fat paycheck,” Dranias says. “You’re in government to serve. And if you get paid reasonably, that’s nice, but the moment you feel the need to organize collectively and create laws like collective-bargaining laws that give you special privileges to negotiate and extract compensation not seen in the private sector, you’ve gone too far.”

Arizona is also different from Wisconsin in that it’s a right-to-work state: No one can be forced to join a union. So unions in Arizona already have less clout. Still, 80 percent of police in the state choose to belong to a union.

Brian Livingston, who represents the Arizona Police Association, which is fighting the bills, says police and firefighters typically get paid less in salary, but he acknowledges that they negotiate better benefits and retirement plans. Livingston says police deserve it.

“By the time we retire, we know that most of us will not live beyond what the average private citizen does,” he says. “And I’m speaking specifically about public safety, the rigors of our occupation, the hazards of our occupation take a lifelong toll on our longevity.”

Democrats in the Arizona Legislature are outnumbered by Republicans 2-to-1 in the House and by more in the Senate.

Senate Minority Leader David Schapira says he is appalled by the bills.

“These bills are clearly the most anti-worker, anti-middle class, anti-union bills in the history of the country,” he says.

Schapira says the bills are purely political. They’re being considered, he says, because union leaders tend to support Democrats over Republicans.

“These are people that the Tea Party leadership at the State Capitol in Arizona disagree with, and so they’re punishing them and that’s the purpose of these pieces of legislation,” he says.

Murphy, the bills’ sponsor, acknowledges that public worker labor unions are a political problem for him. The elected officials labor leaders are negotiating with, he says, are afraid to give in to unions for fear of political reprisal.

“When the unions are the ones who are disproportionately influencing those elected officials, the elected officials are very rarely on the side of the taxpayers in those negotiations,” he says.

The swiftness of this new attempt at cutting the power of public worker unions took labor leaders by surprise. The bills were introduced just last week, passed through committee and are ready for a full Senate vote.

From NPR.

Posted in: Recent Developments

WASHINGTON, DC – A fourth class-action lawsuit has been leveled against the Capitol Police Department, and those involved aren’t backing down.

Approximately fifty officers, civilians and employees have filed a suit in U.S. District Court. They allege that they have been subjected to “continuous, pervasive and egregiously discriminatory actions” by the Capitol Police, as expressed in a statement released Wednesday by the U.S. Capitol Black Police Association.

Hostile work environments, reprisals, denial of promotions, age discrimination and denial of career-enhancing opportunities are just some of the allegations of discrimination outlined in the lawsuit.

“The Chief of Police, Phillip Morse, and members of the Capitol Police Board, have done little, if anything, to eliminate the obvious inequities that have negatively impacted the careers of African-American officers and employees,” the association claims.

In 2001, nearly 300 Black Capitol Hill police officers and employees filed a lawsuit citing discrimination by the Capitol Police Board. The current action lawsuit comes more than a decade after the unresolved dispute.

“The United States Capitol Police Department continues to project a model culture of discrimination as reflected in a ‘modern day version of a 19th Century Southern Plantation in law enforcement,” association member and Capitol Police Lt. Frank Adams said in a previous complaint.

The Black Police Association claims that the case highlights a lack of progress toward racial and gender equality within the U.S. Capitol Police since the case was initiated eleven years ago.

Capitol police aren’t the only Black officers facing discrimination. Just a month ago, the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the NYPD alleging Black officers are not promoted in the department’s intelligence division and that a “secret list” keeps the officers from climbing the ranks.

In addition to their complaint, a civil suit may follow.

From BET.com.

Posted in: Recent Developments