Scott Rate
February, 2010
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank the many of you who took the time to inquire about our participation in the most recent Los Angeles City Council special election. As your representatives, we are here to serve you. It is your support of our efforts, and ultimately our goals, that allows us to make the many gains we have achieved over the years.
As your Political Action Committee chair, I wish that more of you would take the time to ask key questions regarding our involvement in politics, which would clarify any confusion about our intentions as an organization. Our rights are tested, argued against and trampled upon on good days in Los Angeles, but your PAC donations and membership support allow us to participate in the political process, ensuring that your hard-fought rights are upheld. We must continue down our current path — vigilantly protecting the rights of our membership — and build upon our successes.
Over a year and a half ago, we took a hard look at our effectiveness in the legal, political and legislative arenas and came to the conclusion that we must do better. We must not allow the media or elected officials to skew our message, and we must not allow other labor unions to be stronger than us. We must have a more successful voice, and we must especially speak louder than those who wish to silence us.
After self-evaluation, research and thorough investigation, we found a team of political consultants that we felt would train us on how to be more effective in protecting the rights of our members in the political arena — in a sense, fighting fire with fire. This new team has helped the LAPPL ramp up our various political programs. As a result of our increased PAC involvement, we have gained more respect among our elected officials, successfully protected our benefits and stopped legislation that would have been harmful to our members and their families. We have also realized more success with the public and City Council. This success has translated into our favorable contract in a year when other city unions were taking pay cuts and furloughs days. We should all be proud of our increased influence, as well as our legal and legislative victories.
We have created a transparent process by which we continue collecting our precious political contribution dollars, and we have included a new way to utilize those monies when a process has been fulfilled and certain criteria have been met. Specifically, the LAPPL political process requires:
1. All candidates are not favored or disfavored because of partisanship. All candidates must submit written responses to the same candidate questionnaire. They must sign and date their answers and return it by a deadline to be reviewed. An oral interview will then take place with the PAC, LAPPL Board of Directors and other members, like delegates. All candidates are graded fairly and provided an equal opportunity. All candidates will be treated with decency, respect and fairness.
2. All candidates, as mentioned above, must attend an oral interview, except for the rare exception that the Board excuses a candidate from the interview process. This might happen if, for example, an incumbent has been tested; is philosophically supportive, fair and viable; and has no political opposition. In that case, the endorsement may be placed on a consent calendar for support. Open-seat candidates (an election with no incumbent running) must usually appear in person for the interview so that we can examine, cross-examine and inquire as to what they intend to say during their campaign and their justifications for their views.
3. We utilize extensive polling and survey research to determine if a candidate is viable with the voters and to help us determine the messages we might use to support that candidate. We hope the extensive research will aid the undecided voters in choosing wisely.
By utilizing these methods and investing $750,000, we were successful in getting Carmen Trutanich elected as city attorney. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent to help elect L.A. County Supervisor Ridley Thomas, Senator Price, Assembly Member Bradford, Paul Koretz in the special election and almost all of our previous Los Angeles elected officials in May 2009.
Because of the success of this process, we utilized the same method in deciding who to endorse in the recent Los Angeles City Council special election. Christine Essel, at that time, scored slightly higher above then-Assemblyman Paul Krekorian. We felt that she was viable in the polls, yet this time, despite the higher score, Ms. Essel lost.
Unfortunately, the recent City Council contest was the first in two years where our endorsed candidate was not as effective as we had hoped, based upon the interview process. The campaign’s efforts to connect with voters fell short of our expectations. Because we ran an independent-expenditure campaign, we were legally restricted from communicating with the campaign and/or their agents until after the election was over. We know that her opponent, the Honorable Paul Krekorian, is a good person and was a great candidate. But we more strongly believed in the positive and smart nature that Essel promised to bring to law enforcement and all of Los Angeles.
One month before the election, the polls forecasted that Essel was slipping and from there, her numbers continued to slip. While we were not pleased with her campaign results, we learned from the experience. We have congratulated Councilmember Krekorian and we will be working with him on issues important to our members. While this was the first race we lost, we will continue to carefully scrutinize all candidates who desire the League’s support.
Despite this loss, it is necessary for the League to continue making a powerful statement when entering a race. In less than two years, as evidenced by numerous media stories about the LAPPL’s involvement in elections, we have made a significant political name for ourselves. It is widely accepted that the LAPPL is now an imperative part of the campaign process, and incumbents and challengers in key political races are looking for our endorsement. We are participating at one of, if not the largest, contribution levels and aggressively preparing for critical statewide elections in 2010. Many of the issues we face include threats to our current benefits, pensions and other matters that severely impact what we do as law enforcement professionals.
As police officers, we look at things in black and white, distinguishing between truth and lies and law-abiding citizens vs. criminals. In politics, almost nothing is black and white, rather many shades of gray. It is important for you to know that we continue to work hard in assessing ourselves honestly as a political organization. In the world of politics, we are still young, but we are growing at lightning speed. Rather than evaluate a loss as a step back, we make sure to turn it into several leaps forward, thanks to feedback from our membership and a meticulous self-evaluation process that ensures that losses are minimal.
Statistically speaking, it is impossible to win every race. However, we shall continue to be true to our word, and shall aggressively engage and support one candidate over the other — always looking out for the best interests of our membership.
I greatly appreciate the members caring enough to ask questions and dissect what we do on your behalf. It is this helpful criticism that assists us in our pursuit to fully serve our membership. The two-way communication is essential to our growth and success as a union.
Please feel free to contact me at work at (213) 251-4587, on my cell phone at (213)792-0327 or email me at scottrate@lappl.org. Thank you again and happy New Year to you and yours. Be safe.
