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Police union supports strong mayor campaign
by Kathleen Haley, published on January 11, 2010 at 8:12 PM
Storyline: Sacramento City Hall / Politics
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The union that represents Sacramento police officers is supporting Mayor Kevin Johnson’s “strong mayor” initiative, saying it would give the mayor the power to guarantee sufficient public safety funding.
Meanwhile, Bill Camp, the plaintiff who challenged the initiative in a Dec. 1 lawsuit, said a strong mayor form of government could lead to job insecurity for police department employees who are not represented by unions. Camp is the executive secretary of the Sacramento Central Labor Council. He filed the lawsuit as a private citizen.
Sacramento residents will vote on the initiative on June 10. The initiative would give the mayor many new powers and would change the city’s existing council/manager form of government.
The Sacramento Police Officers Association said in a Jan. 10 press release that more than 1,100 police officers, dispatchers and department staff are union members.
“A mayor in Sacramento under this structure of government will have the authority to ensure appropriate levels of funding for public safety, which translates into safer streets for our police officers and citizens,” SPOA President Brent Meyer said in the news release.
Meyer could not be reached by phone Monday afternoon.
A strong mayor in Sacramento would have the ability to hire and fire as many as 800 city employees that are not represented by unions, according to the city’s Charter Review Committee, which studied the strong mayor system of government.
Camp noted that the mayor's hiring and firing powers would extend to unrepresented members of the police department. He argued that a future mayor — not Johnson — could abuse his or her firing authority.
The strong mayor initiative “does not build clean politics,” Camp said.
By contrast, Meyer said in the press release that the strong mayor system would “hold all elected officials more accountable to their constituency.”
Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.
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Public safety ?? or one hand (mayor) washes the other (union)
I don't feel safe having a mayor that is so strong that he doesn't have to answer to the people. Nestle' Waters comes to mind.
Look out for full-body scanners at airports. You will not be safe from cancer causing radiation! I doubt it will have any affect on terrorism either.
The Patriot Act doesn't make me feel safe.
Oh well, the list goes on & on....
I want people in our communities safe and I want officers safe who have to work in areas of neglect where hopelessness translates into lawlessness - but the fact of the matter is, we can't arrest away crime and as Benjamin Franklin once said, "the definition of insanity is to continuously do the same thing over and over and expect different results" our mayor appears to be threading on insanity.
Heck, he has homeland security funding for cameras... federal funding I think 6 million for additional officers and he wants 3 more million for additional officers- As always he's so busy looking at unions and those who can help him advance his career he CONTINUOUSLY fails to see the people in communities exposed and affected by crime. He's not looking at public safety- Public safety takes a back seat to his political desires. Mayor Johnson is not a dove of peace. He's appearing to be a vulture circling over our dead to advance his political career. Shameful
How much did the police dept. pony up for that "Walker Texas Ranger" styled Yukon that they schelpt KJ around in. Wasn't this the guy that portrayed the former mayor in a negative light when they drove her around, in her own car because it was a waste of public safety money?
Remember when RE used to ask the Questions before being on the mayor's staff at 80K?
"Question is who's going to pay for Kevin's taxi? The chauffer service uses retired cops and costs about $67,000 per year. The police department's broke, and the city's pushing towards insolvency. The only person who seems to have money at City Hall is Kevin. It's good to be the king."
From KOVR's the scoop by RE Graswich
http://cbs13.com/thescoop/The.Scoop.KJ.2.889093.html
A mayor with the authority to propose a budget could allocate an additional $3MM dollars to hire 30 more additional police officers.
"kerryjustin1's Comments on: Sacramento mayor vs. mall owner: No deal yet at 12/16/2009 11:51 AM PST on The Sacramento Bee
Strong Mayor could unilaterally order the city manager to clear red tape for developers to create much-needed jobs and to fast-track, downtown revitalization projects."
Scary, especially if true, should the SMI pass.
Why else would the BOSS MAYOR Initiative been crafted in such a way to have all four charter officers serve at the pleasure of the mayor?
Where's the checks & balances you and the other $upporters claim?
Quite frankly the more officers - the more union dues- the more political clout and influence over the budget the union has. This is not about Public Safety it is about politics and greed. It's about KJ wanting SMP and a union wanting more dues...
In 2005 written in RE Grashwich column,. in response to crime in New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina former SPD Chief Najera stated, "it couldn't hapen here in Sacramento, we are prepared..." Sacramento is prepared for massive crime due to a disaster but you think they are not prepared for a killing a week or every other week?? When a shoplifter was accused of having a gun in Florin Walmart the streets were sealed off for blocks- it was SCARY- helicopters, K-9, officers on the street corner with guns as long as my arm directing traffic away from Florin Rd. It was unbelievable (and no gun was found...) IN SPITE OF THIS, with all the little areas breaking off to form their own city the city of Sac should allocate a smaller percentage of its general fund to more officers... FYI, and perhaps you should tell your also clueless brother- the Mayor- that Public Safety goes beyond saturating the streets with officers and PERHAPS he should look for millions to place resources, opportunities, employment... in neighborhoods of neglect to keep the people safe and the officers patrolling the areas safe. In LA their was a crime wave (when factories shut down) and the people demanded more officers and they got them and the crime increased dramatically with unemployment and self-fulfilling prophecy whereas the people were treated like criminals and began to behave more and more like criminals. Sacramento is not going forward in public safety we are going backwards looking to arrest away a crime when other cities are also putting significant efforts in resources not just attempting to ignorantly arrest away crime (but our Mayor can't see the forest through the trees. With Johnson's vision the people will perish and unions will thrive.
check out: http://www.savelocalservices.com/
http://www.saveyourcity.net/index.cfm