LOCAL 1014 MAKES HISTORIC STATEMENT IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS RACE AND STATE AND LOCAL RACES AS WELL
Senator Mark Ridley Thomas wins big in his bid for the 2nd Seat of the County Board of Supervisors. Local 1014 played a huge role in helping elect Mark to one of the most powerful legislative seats in the State if not the Country.
It has been nearly 20 years since there has been an opportunity to participate in a BOS election, much less a chance to step up and be a major leader in the effort to elect a friend and champion of firefighter issues.
Mark is a personal friend of President Gillotte and the Executive Board and a longtime warrior for firefighters statewide. He authored and helped finally pass our EMS Double Jeopardy Bill which sets strict hiring standards for Paramedics and EMTs with regard to background checks, and also eliminates multiple levels of discipline.
Local 1014 played a major role in the drafting of the language of the bill through our position on the California Professional Firefighters, as the 7th District representative. We pushed hard for and ultimately got two new labor seats on the State Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) bring our total to three seats on the commission once dominated by Doctors, Nurses and private providers.
Mark is an individual that can work in a bi-partisan way to use issue based negotiations to form coalitions of support to successfully pass legislation and garner votes to ratify issues of importance to our membership.
Local 1014 has been part of a very small intimate group of Labor Union representatives who put forward the dream, the vision, the funding and the effort to help elect this great leader. You have all seen the articles in the paper, the television news stories and the television commercials.
This membership should very proud of what it has accomplished, and in fact this is a historic election in that no other Local in the State or the Nation has taken on the task of an election of this magnitude at the level we did.
This seat will have a very dynamic impact on the issues facing our membership not only through this tough economic period we face today, but for years and years to come.
Congratulations to us, congratulations to Mark Ridley Thomas…we are working on the transition team for the office and there is much to do. The membership and the Executive Board worked tirelessly for months to accomplish this task…
POMONA AND LOCAL INITIATIVES - Director Paul Rusin City PAC Director
Local 1014 moves the count to 6 out of 7 Pomona Councilmember’s who are strong supporters of our issues. Two years ago we became very active in Pomona and moved the count from 2 out of 7 to 4 out of seven resulting in restoration of the Light Force staffing…just two years later we help elect a new mayor and councilmember and also retain an incumbent councilmember.
We put forth the bulk of the effort to elect individuals who care deeply about our issues and will continue to support the Firefighters in our east end. Mayor Elliot Rothman was a longtime supporter and friend and was already a councilman. His vacated seat will be up for election next.
Steve Atchly won his re-election campaign and also Danielle Soto claimed victory to make a fantastic addition to the council team. Just two days after the election, the new Mayor, Steve Archly, and Freddie Rodriguez came to a Local 1014 hosted Public Safety Issues Forum to meet and talk with Battalion 15 and other General Members.
Questions were directed to the mayor and his councilmember’s about staffing levels and specific needs in Pomona, and there was very good support indicated from all city leaders.
This was a hotly contested area politically because of the Pomona POA’s involvement to try and counter our endorsements in an effort to continue to try and steal away portions of our budgeted monies. Rest assured we will remain vigilant to these types of tactics and we will also remain open to discussions with their association on the issues, but clearly they know we are in Pomona to stay.
STATEWIDE CONTESTS AND INITIATIVES - Andy Doyle - State PAC Director
We also prevailed on all Los Angeles County Initiatives that dealt with existing tax revenues for our contract cities with a 100 percent pass rate on those measures we backed helping to stabilize our funding in those areas.
We also had a 98% success rate Statewide on our assembly and senate contests. We also helped defeat Proposition 6 – a ballot measure that could have diverted millions of dollars away from firefighter funding much like proposition 172 did many years ago. Local 1014 stepped up and spoke at many press conferences and debates on this issue.
Speaking for CPF, President Gillotte even addressed the LA Times Editorial Board on our position, and in fact the Board ultimately voted to take a NO position on the initiative.
Once again, our position within the state organization and our support of the statewide efforts has had a very significant impact on voter decisions and candidate success.
We have a very strong pro-active political action program for all areas of Local, State, and of Course Los Angeles County politics.
For a complete list of statewide race and measure information check www.cpf.org
IAFF ANNOUNCES A BI-PARTISAN TRIUMP FOR MEMBERS
Americans elected Barack Obama and Joe Biden as the next President and Vice President of our Country. A number of IAFF endorsed Republican and Democratic candidates won their Senate and Congressional seats as well.
Based exclusively on their record and commitment of support on IAFF issues such as collective bargaining, protecting employer-sponsored health care and pension benefits, keeping firefighters out of mandatory Social Security and into mandatory overtime under FLSA, staffing, training and equipment funding, the IAFF supported candidates for their election bids and were highly successful in their efforts.
Results of those elections can be found on the IAFF website at www.iaff.org
Other information on election results can be found at www.lavote.net also.
THANK YOU LOCAL 1014 MEMBERSHIP FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND MONEY AND EFFORT TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED IN THIS ELECTION CYCLE…IT HAS BEEN A TRULY HISTORIC ELECTION FOR OUR LOCAL WITH THESE VICTORIES HIGHLIGHTED BY THE MARK RIDLEY THOMAS AND POMONA CITY WINS.
A DAY TO PROUD FOR US ALL!
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