Whoever said, “A few bad apples can bring the whole place down” knew what they were talking about. Here’s one story that certainly reinforces the that notion. According to The Boston Globe, 20 Massachuetts State Troopers are being investigated for theft of overtime pay. Reporters Mark Arsenault, Travis Andersen, and Shelley Murphy write: “In another black […]
Archive for October, 2016
Slap in the face
In Fort Worth Texas, after a 5-4 vote Tuesday night, the City Council extended the leave-of-absence pay benefits for one Fort Worth police officer critically injured in the line of duty several years ago. Later, in a unanimous decision, council members voted not to extend the benefits of another critically injured officer. Officer Lisa Ramsey, […]
PubSec Film Festival
Make no mistake- a lot of what we know about the world, each other and ourselves we learned from the movies. So PubSec Alliance is proud to present (with a little help from our friends at the Freelancers Union) seven of the greatest labor flicks of all time. If anyone’s still confused about why we […]
A passionate enemy of public pensions
For some people politics trumps everything else. If you’re a dyed in the wool liberal Democrat, you probably would rather not see a serial killer get the death penalty even though it seems appropriate. If you’re a passionate conservative on the other hand there is nothing as important as eliminating public pensions. It’s pretty rare […]
The cost of spiking
Taxpayers and local governments are on the hook to pay nearly $800 million stemming from “legal” pension spiking over the next two decades, the state controller in California said. An audit of 11 state and local government agencies found no illegal pension spiking but concluded that CALPERS, the country’s largest public retirement fund makes itself […]
Medical marijuana advocates versus Chiefs Assoc.
States like Massachusetts, Colorado and Washington have either decriminalized marijuana or outright legalized it. Unfortunately for drug war supporters the sky has not fallen in these states. In fact in Colorado highway fatalities and serious crimes are down and the cops in Denver just got a raise, partially a result of the new revenue stream. […]
It’s a friggin’ miracle!
In Philadelphia, the new F.O.P. contract award gives Commissioner Ramsey what he and past Commissioners had long sought: the right to promote some of his commanders based solely on merit, regardless of how they score on exams. “There are many people who are very qualified, good leaders, but they do not test very well. So […]
They take and take and take
In Connecticut, Police Officer Bob Nappe, president of the local police officers union, says that the union will take to arbitration the Board of Police Commissioners decision to dismiss a grievance opposing the town’s use Department of Public Works employees as traffic flagmen. “I don’t understand why we are being continually punished by this administration,” […]
DeBlaz on NYPD unions: that’s what they always say
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio brushed aside scathing comments from the NYPD officers’ and sergeants’ union leaders who slammed officials for not supporting cops and the medical examiner’s office for ruling the death of Eric Garner a homicide. He called the rhetoric par for the course. “Union leaders will say what union leaders […]
Leak leads to lawsuit
In California, the Berkeley police union filed a lawsuit against the city for allegedly failing to conduct an investigation after confidential information about an in-custody death last year was leaked to the UC Berkeley student newspaper. In May, the Daily Californian newspaper published an extensive news story detailing confidential information about the Berkeley Police Review […]
We need bodies!
In Massachusetts, the union representing supervisors at the Amherst Police Department wants increased staffing to ensure the safety of residents and claims that town administrators have ignored the request. Amherst Police Supervisors Union President Sgt. Gabriel Ting said the union “has serious concerns we choose to share with the community.” He added, “For several years, […]
Police Association draws line in the sand
Only two days after Mayor Ivy Taylor took the oath of office, the San Antonio Police Officer Association released a 4 minute video to its rank and file. Union President Mike Helle is the only person to appear in the video. He said union dues are being increased to fund the campaign after the City […]
Mayor responds to no-confidence vote
In Louisiana, a public feud between the Monroe Police Union and Chief Quentin Holmes boiled over when Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo said the department was riddled with discipline problems, racism and back-biting while digging in with his support for the police chief. Mayo and Holmes were responding to the union’s Monday vote of no confidence […]
Charles Koch: How to really turn the economy around
Charles Koch is one of the world’s richest people. His daddy made his money in Stalinist Russia helping the reds become one of the world’s dominant oil suppliers. Charles Koch is worth more than $40 billion dollars. And because he’s so rich and powerful, Chuck recently took the time to write, or have his staff […]
First they came for the postal service
One public service that people really like and count on is the post office – which literally delivers for us. Antigovernment ideologues and privatization dogmatists, however, hate the very word “public,” and they’ve long sought to demonize the U.S. Postal Service, undercut its popular support and, finally, dismantle it. Their main line of attack has […]
Let’s not knock CalPERS
I just read the latest story on PubSec – “Pension Madness, No Experience” about CalPERS making a $705 million dollar investment in a private equity fund. I don’t think that vilifying PERS is in our best interest. They are actually our strongest partner in fighting those who want to take our pensions away from us. […]
Cops are down on job
Another law enforcement association commissioned a morale survey indicating that pretty much everyone hates their job. It’s one of those things you can always count on – like death taxes and disease-related news stories in the slow news month of August. In Dallas, 80 percent of cops responding to a survey from the Dallas Police […]
President Christie
Chris Christie, along with a sorry assemblage of other hustlers, wants to be the next president of the United States, according to Salon. Governor Tubby McBully is currently selling his wares to rubes in Iowa and New Hampshire as he starts polishing his “reformer” image for the big dance. Christie can’t talk to voters about […]
Another FB horror story
Here’s the latest horror story about a cop screwing up on Facebook. Sgt. Rob Douglas was on paid leave Monday after posting a rant on his personal Facebook page about “useless turd bags” with “unclean bodies” and mouths “full of bling” whom he encountered on the first of the month in a local grocery store. […]
Staffing levels called emergency
In Missouri, the Springfield Police Officers Association is calling the shortage of officers there an emergency. It says the police department is so short staffed there aren’t enough officers to keep up with the City’s crime. Monday, the fight between the Police Union and the City Council came to a head leaving both parties at […]
Battle Royale
Rev. Al Sharpton, a commentator on MSNBC and local gadfly, slammed Patrick Lynch, president of the NYPD PBA, for saying the man who taped the fatal Eric Garner arrest was demonizing the good work of police officers. “I do think that this will be the sickest logic that I ever heard,” Sharpton said. Earlier in […]
They’ll be back
In Ventura, California recently, a judge has ordered an initiative that would phase out the county pension system off the November ballot. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Kent Kellegrew found the measure proposed by leaders of the Ventura County Taxpayers Association could not legally be used to withdraw from a statewide retirement system the county […]
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