Free Republic

California's prison officers union is getting a loan from taxpayers – interest-free – to settle a multimillion-dollar debt it owes the state. The deal sealed on Wednesday closes the books on what the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said was at least $4.5 million the California Correctional Peace Officers Association owed for wages and benefits paid to CCPOA leaders while they were away from their state jobs tending to union business. CCPOA, which represents about 30,000 correctional and parole officers, refused to settle the so-called "union paid leave" tab that has been running since...

A Sacramento federal judge has ruled that the California Correctional Peace Officers Association can put up four properties it owns, including its West Sacramento headquarters, as collateral for several million dollars it owes from a defamation verdict while it appeals the decision.But Judge Lawrence Karlton ordered the union to pay $500,000 every three months to a court-controlled account while the appeal plays out.Karlton's decision Thursday was the latest twist in a federal lawsuit in which a jury decided CCPOA had defamed businessman Brian Dawe and two other people. The jury awarded a total $12 million to the plaintiffs, an amount...

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association may have to start making $500,000 payments every three months and put up its West Sacramento headquarters and other property as it appeals its loss in a federal defamation case. After hearing arguments this morning, Judge Lawrence Karlton is still deciding what to do about CCPOA's inability to buy a bond to cover a judgment rendered last October in his Sacramento courtroom -- eventually reduced from a total $12 million to $5 million by the court -- while the union appeals to San Francisco's 9th Circuit Court. Plaintiff Brian Dawe is appealing to the...

History should record the late 1970s as an era of pivotal socioeconomic change in California – a new wave of inter- national migration, a shift from an industrial to a post-industrial economy, and a new baby boom. Political events also abounded, topped by passage of Proposition 13 but including collective bargaining for public employees, expansion of mail voting, a decline in major-party registration, and the eruption of crime as a powerful issue. By happenstance, Jerry Brown was governor as this socioeconomic tsunami crashed into California and played a central role in its political aspects. The crime issue was especially vexing...

Gov. Jerry Brown has axed cellphones, sold off state cars and canceled state swag orders. Clearly, this is a governor who knows the value of symbolism. But did he miss an opportunity to score a few more points with the labor deal he closed last month with the state's correctional officers? The contract – already controversial because it didn't hit savings targets that Brown agreed on with the Legislature – includes "fitness incentive pay." It's the kind of benefit that makes members of the public roll their eyes: an extra $780 to $1,560 a year for correctional officers who submit...

Deep in the 200-page contract that Gov. Jerry Brown recently approved for state prison guards is a provision that could generate a cash windfall to the officers when they retire. The guards, who are among Brown's largest political benefactors, would be able to save an unlimited number of vacation days under their new deal. When they leave state service, those days could be exchanged for cash at their final pay rate, which would probably be higher than when they earned the time off. The governor is extending this benefit only to members of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., a...

While he was governor, Gray Davis approved a plum contract for the state's 30,000 prison guards. In 2001, legislators were told that the estimated cost of the 2001-06 contract signed by Davis would be $567 million. It was $2.3 billion. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger worked to wrest back control of the prisons from the CCPOA. But now that he is governor, Jerry Brown is reversing those hard-earned reforms on behalf of a major campaign contributor. Here's just a sample of the potential damage in the proposed contract: * Because of new "days off" provisions, starting employees would have eight weeks of...

Some big targets were left largely untouched in Gov. Jerry Brown's call for shared sacrifice in his proposed budget. In his plan to raise $12 billion in taxes, Brown avoided a source of revenue Democrats have been going after for years: oil severance fees. Extra taxes on alcohol, tobacco and the wealthy, also targets of Democrats in recent years, were also bypassed. And, in a nod to his labor allies, Brown did little to rein in the soaring corrections budget -- a potential area of cost savings that has wide public support -- in a plan that includes sharp cuts...

Runner-up headline: How’s that ‘Sanctuary City’ thingamabob working out? The California residents who elected Jerry Brown should be overjoyed at tomorrow’s news story in the Wall Street Journal: 40,000 state convicts were ordered released so that they can roam the streets. A three-judge panel in a California federal district court ruled in January that overcrowding in the state’s prison system, the nation’s largest, is the main cause of substandard medical and mental health care that violates prisoners’ Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment… The state houses 164,000 inmates in a system designed to hold about...

In the wake of a pension deal Democratic leaders struck with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's prison guards union has dropped $215,000 to oppose Assemblywoman Anna Caballero's quest for the state Senate.Caballero, D-Salinas, is facing Ceres Mayor Anthony Cannella, a Republican, for the 12th Senate District, probably the most contested seat in the Legislature. The race is the top concern for both Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and his GOP counterpart, Senate Republican leader Bob Dutton of Rancho Cucamonga. If Caballero wins, Democrats would likely have 26 seats in the upper house, one short of the two-thirds majority now...

Politics: The prison guards' union has endorsed California's former governor as he tries for a comeback. In the old days, that might have put him over the top. Now it reminds voters who really runs the state. It comes as no surprise that the California Correctional Peace Officers Association this week formally gave its stamp of approval to Jerry Brown, the Democratic nominee for governor. After all, the union is in Brown's debt. In 1978, during his gubernatorial stint, he signed the legislation that gave state employee unions the collective bargaining power they have parlayed into political hegemony. And if...

The union representing the state's prison guards rolled out today its endorsement of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown. . . . "Simply building more prisons is not the solution," he said in a statement. "We need a governor that understands the nuances and is willing to bring all of the stakeholders to the table in a concerted effort to collectively resolve this ongoing problem."

Attorneys for the Schwarzenegger administration on Tuesday filed a brief in Sacramento Superior Court that argues state employee unions shouldn't be allowed to enter the minimum wage fight between the governor and State Controller John Chiang. As reported here, California Association of Professional Scientists and Professional Engineers in California Government on Monday filed a motion to be a party in the minimum wage litigation flying back and forth the last week or so. SEIU Local 1000 and CCPOA have done the same. All the unions are siding with Chiang. A hearing is set for Friday at 11 a.m. The administration's...

Rev up the lawyers. Last month this column reported that the state was prepared to sue the California Correctional Peace Officers Association for nearly $4 million it owes for something called "union-paid leave." Here's the latest: CCPOA didn't meet the March 1 deadline to pay at least half the bill. Instead, the correctional officers' union cut two checks totaling $122,496.27. CCPOA sent the checks with a note that the payments were in keeping with an agreement between CCPOA President Mike Jimenez and Corrections Undersecretary Scott Kernan. "To set the record straight, there was no agreement reached between Mr. Kernan and...

The First District Court of Appeal denied CCPOA's motion to dismiss Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appeal of Alameda Judge Frank Roesch's decision in favor of the union. The denial, issued on Friday, means that the correctional officers and their supervisors that came under the ruling will remain on furlough.

For years, the unions representing prison officers and California Highway Patrol officers have had a not-so-friendly rivalry. It boils up whenever The Bee reports on one or the other. This column reignited the flame last week by revealing that the state could sue the California Correctional Peace Officers Association over a $4 million tab run up over nearly five years. The union owes the Corrections and Rehabilitation Department for wages and benefits paid to union staff on leave from their jobs. Online commentator "lab87" aimed fire, not at CCPOA, but at the CHP officers' union: "WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO...

Four. Million. Dollars. That's how much the union representing California's correctional officers owes the state for something called "union paid leave." The tab goes back to 2005. Now, before you clobber the California Correctional Peace Officers' Association, realize that there's plenty of blame to spread around. But first, a quick primer on this paid leave. Several state worker unions, including CCPOA, have contracts that let employees leave their jobs to do union work. The state – in this case, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and to a lesser degree, the Department of Mental Health – pays their wages and...

The 1st District Court of Appeal has sided with the governor. For now, Judge Frank Roesch's order to restore full pay to correctional officers for time worked is stayed pending more arguments. From the court's Web site: Appellant, the Governor of the State of California, has a filed a petition for writ of supersedeas and request for a temporary stay seeking the stay of a writ of mandate addressing his furlough of certain correctional officers. . . .

The powerful union that represents California prison guards dropped its recall campaign against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday. California Correctional Peace Officers Association spokesman Lance Corcoran said the union decided instead to concentrate on issues on next month's ballot. And even if a recall succeeded, it would knock Schwarzenegger out of office only a few months early, Corcoran said. The union launched its campaign last month in frustration over its lack of a state contract since 2006. Union leaders accuse Schwarzenegger of trying to break the union, which he denies. The secretary of state last week rejected the union's first...

EVIDENCE CONTINUES to mount that California's prison guards, who are threatening Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with a recall, are grossly overpaid and that the governor must reject their push for more raises. The latest data documenting the guards' rich salaries comes from a survey released last week by the state Department of Personnel Administration. It shows that California prison guards' base salary is 39 percent greater than the median of 10 neighboring or large states and the federal government. When most benefits are added in, California still pays its prison guards 29 percent more. To put that in hard numbers, California...