Arnold Schwarzenegger has had many guards. From Gavin de Becker & Associates to the California Highway Patrol to conservative state Senator Tom McClintock, his new best buddy and running mate. It looks like he is also being guarded, in a rather different way, by California’s powerful prison guards union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. For no one is guarding Arnold’s outgoing prison system chief, Rod Hickman, a former guard himself who was brought in with such fanfare.
When the former action superstar came into office, he vowed to clean up the mess that California’s prison system had become and to renegotiate the highly lucrative contract granted the guards union by former Governor Gray Davis. These two things promised to put him on a collision course with the powerful prison guards union, which emerged as a major kingmaker and political intimdator during the 1990s. (Incidentally, they don’t like being called the prison guards union. They prefer “correctional peace officers.” Oh, well, we are what we are.)
Which was interesting, because Schwarzenegger had been something of a darling of the prison guards union. In 2002, when he pushed his prequel to a gubernatorial campaign, the Proposition 49 after school programs initiative, the guards union was an endorser and union officials appeared with Arnold at his campaign events. It was all part of a grand coalition Arnold and his then political team had assembled. Schwarzenegger even attended the guards union convention, where he spent some two-and-a-half hours signing autographs and posing for pictures with happy delegates and union officials.
He might well need security if he attended one of those conventions now. The guards union was part of the ABC (Alliance for a Better California) coalition that shot down Schwarzenegger and his “Year of Reform” special election agenda last year. Yet, while they weighed in heavily by any normal standard, some $3 million spent opposing Arnold, they can do far more.
Which brings us back to Rod Hickman, the outgoing secretary of California’s Youth & Adult Correctional Agency. He has been the highest-ranking black official in the Schwarzenegger Administration, cited in last year’s State of the State address for his effectiveness in beginning reforms of the system. He resigned a few days ago, saying he felt a lack of support for his efforts in the administration. Now, according to his office, which refers calls to the Governor’s Office, he is not talking.
I’m no expert on the prison system. Some insiders say Hickman wasn’t nearly as effective as advertised. That may be. What is known is that the guards union was opposed to him, that the guards union was opposed to Schwarzenegger’s reform efforts, that the guards union was infuriated by Schwarzenegger’s attempt to renegotiate their lucrative Davis-granted state contract, that the guards union was an active member of the anti-Schwarzenegger coalition last year.
And, much more to the point, that the guards union has far more money that it can spend in this year’s effort to gun down the Terminator once and for all. About $15 million, according to inside sources.
We can all do the math.
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“About $15 million, according to inside sources. We can all do the math. ”
This is the obvious problem for Arnold …and who knows the real story about Hickman…BUT yesterday Sen. Jackie Spier conducted one of the best hearings this town has seen in along time ..and the theme :how prison administrators during end of Davis term and during Arnold’s term have abused taxpayer dollars…for a whole lot of reasons the prision issue is a big problem for Arnold but IF Reiner’s abuse of public funds story grows… add in double dipping Susie..some of these stories will impact the course of this 06 election
I find amusing that whatever his faults Reiner provided a funding source for his First 5 Prop while Arnold’s Proposition 49 just sticks a straw in the general fund when a certain mechanism triggers. No wonder there is now a push to undo 49 as the latest budget mandate that handcuffs the state.
I knew Arnold wasn’t the real deal in re fiscal reform when he went girlie man in response to Warren Buffet’s comments on Prop 13 during the recall. Power and $$$ (like the indian casinos and prison guards) call the shots to the detriment of the state and its needs.
Bill I think that I need to get you one of the Screw Arnold pins that they were passing out in the fall. I rather like the photoshopping they did as well. The CCPOA guys can’t stand the governor and they are looking forward to this year’s election.
Julia, as you know, the money is not spent until it is spent. The CCPOA likes to go with winners at the gubernatorial level. They got everything they wanted with Gray and cut him loose in the recall. They liked Arnold just fine then.
Dana, so far not one dime of public money has been wasted on Arnold’s initiative. In contrast …
one out of 10 California prison guards was paid more than $100,000 last year …even Democratic legislators seriously looking at the issue of prison reform (Romero) are critical of some of the antics of the CCPOA…no one denies they are not powerful but where there is power there can be abuse…
Most of the pay increase was due to overtime, as a result of being understaffed by an average of 8% and in some prisons it is as high as 16%. Starting salaries for peace officers are below CHP and police officers. They need more man hours worked because the prisons are bursting at the seems. If they filled up the slots they have open then there would be less officers making salaries above $100,000.
I read the same article you forgot this part: “he Union–Tribune analysis reviewed three years of raw payroll data – 2003 through 2005 – provided by the state controller’s office at the newspaper’s request.
Paul Sutton, a criminal-justice professor at San Diego State University, called the paychecks obscene. ”
The point is they are not always fair or correct in their actions and demands and their demands should not always be supported. and Oh yes, they will most certainly go with the winner…
In re CCPOA and Arnold, of course it is all brutal calculation and self-interest that drive relationships in politics. Was it Harry Truman who said essentially if you want a friend in politics get a dog?
Bill, in my defense I at least noted in re 49 “when a certain mechanism” which hadn’t actually kicked in yet. I am sorry the laudible goals of First 5 are smeared with the taint of scandal.
Isn’t part of the problem setting up Commissions with their own funding source can short circuit accountability? That is at least part of the reason the Stem Cell initiative is bogged down in legal challenges.
Dana, I think you are exactly right about that. Arnold’s Prop 49 is much more accountable because the funding can always be blocked by the Legislature, as he is finding out.
Too many rich dilettantes in our politics.
CCPOA are political thugs.
Bill – Having worked on the NO on 49 campaign, I can tell you that the funding can’t be blocked by the legislature. They are talking about a ballot measure to delay the implementation of Prop 49 (which won’t happen). Not exactly oversight — you could repeal whole sections of the constitution with the same mechanism.
Also, Prop 49 funding can never be effectively cut — you must suspend Prop 98 and then Prop 49 is cut by the percent you cut Prop 98. Billions could be lost for things like class size reduction, while only a few million cut out of Arnold’s pet project.
I believe the No on 49 campaign one the editorial board war something like 35 to 5 — it was a bad initiative, as we are seeing today.