03-29-09, Letter from Jim Weling
to Michael Miller, City Editor of the Glendale News-Press,
Regarding the Bruce Philpott Candidacy
Michael,
Here is another letter that
will never be allowed by you in the News Press; I do find your excuses amusing:
SAME OLD TACTICS
Ho Hum; another day, and another
orchestrated attack on Bruce Philpott. That forest of yard signs all over
Glendale, supporting Bruce Philpott has caused sufficient alarm among the fire
department aristocracy that they have resorted to wheeling out all the old
dinosaurs, awash in gold braid, and other symbols of their former titles, to
render apocalyptic pronouncements; death, famine, disease, and destruction
await Glendale if Bruce Philpott is elected to the city council.
Let us get one thing
straight, and perfectly clear at the outset; This has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do
with public safety; Not unlike FDR, who was loathed by the wealthy as a
“Traitor to his Class”, Bruce Philpott falls into the same category; FDR knew
the wealthy, and how they operate, and Bruce Philpott knows the Civil Service
crowd, and how they operate, and is the recipient of the same loathing.
We have three major issues
here; (1) Featherbedding, (2) The present salary/pension plans, and (3) the law
in California. How
many of you remember the demise of the railroads in America, and the
issue of “featherbedding”? The all-powerful railroad unions, with their
compliant allies in congress, had legislation passed that mandated that each
engine had to have twice as many engineers as needed; most of them, drawing
full pay and benefits, slept in the caboose on feather beds, hence the
term. The staggering additional costs drove many of our railroads into
bankruptcy, with the resultant transportation problems we have today.
The salary/pension plans, presently
in place, can easily drive Glendale into a
Chapter 11 situation, not unlike a growing number of cities in California. When
you can retire at a comparatively young age, at virtually 100% of your present
salary, plus all of the other benefits, you have a program that would make any AIG executive
turn green with envy; these 11th hour promotions to enhance the
benefits make this all the more egregious.
In an effort to deflect this
issue, we have the latest PR ploy by the fire department; they announce that
they will “forgo” a salary increase. A synonym for “forgo” is “abstain”,
as in “I will abstain from meat during Lent”. Rest assured that if the
fire department’s selected candidates prevail, the wily Captain Stavros will be
down before the “Four Yesmen” the day after, to reinstate the increase, plus
interest.
What really makes the
aristocracy nervous is that Bruce Philpott has pulled up the existing California case law on
this subject. In the case of
International Association of Firefighters, Local 188 vs City of Richmond,
SF-CE-157-M, the city was allowed to void existing fire department contracts,
in order to avoid bankruptcy caused by bloated salary/pension agreements.
In Fire Fighters Union vs City of Vallejo 12 Cal 3d 608, the California Supreme
Court has held that the employer-municipality, not the union, has the right to
decide the issue of WORKLOAD and SAFETY (emphasis added), and not the
firefighters union.
What is really
interesting/applicable, is, that in Richmond, the
firefighters were criticized for mis-quoting the holding in Vallejo, and in Vallejo, they were
held up for mis-stating the law in Knights Landing School
District vs City. The Glendale fire
Department has the same track record. For years, they opposed traffic
calming in the Rossmoyne-Mountain area. Their first argument was the “one
second” rule, i.e., if they had to slow for one second, crossing a speed hump,
a life could be lost. Medical evidence
shot this plan down, so the fire department then went to the proposition that
the wheels would fall off their little trucks if they had to go over speed
humps. The manufacturer was contacted, and total ridicule was the
response, so, in sullen silence, the department agreed to not further oppose
the project.
This is not about one man; it
is about greed and power; if Bruce Philpott is elected, and Bob Yousefian is retained, there will be two votes to question
this greed factor that is driving Glendale towards
bankruptcy. The future of Glendale is at risk;
do NOT waste the opportunity to save your community; vote your future.
Jim Weling