LB's Police Union Gave These Contributions To Mayor + Eight Of Nine LB Council Incumbents And Others

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Publisher's note: If the Long Beach Police Officers Association (collective bargaining unit representing LB's police officers) were only involved in wage and benefit issues for its members, LBREPORT.com wouldn't be reporting this story. But that's not the case. The LBPOA has a first amendment right to participate in City of LB elections and it does so. And LBREPORT.com has a first amendment right to report its contributions to those it seeks to install and maintain in City Hall offices where they cast votes on matters impacting LB taxpayers and neighborhoods and we do so below.

(Sept. 12, 2019, 4:40 p.m.) -- LBREPORT.com lists contributions to the re-election campaign accounts and to the "officeholder accounts" of LB's Mayor and Council incumbents by the Long Beach Police Officers Association Political Action Committee (PAC) Those decisions are ultimately made by LBPOA PAC's leadership (not necessarily a voted action of LBPOA's rank and file members.)

The public record data show that Mayor Garcia and eight of nine Council incumbents (all except Pearce) received such sums. Two incumbents (Mungo and Uranga) also benefited from sums independently spent to support their 2018 re-election by LBPOA's independent expenditure committee.

LBPOA's PAC contributed the following sums related to LB city offices:

[Scroll down for further.]

2017
Rex Richardson officeholder account: $750
Al Austin officeholder account: $750
Robert Garcia for Mayor 2018: $800
Robert Garcia officeholder account: $1,000
Lena Gonzalez for City Council 2018: $400
Suzie Price for City Council 2018: $400
Suzie Price officeholder account: $750
Rex Richardson for City Council 2018: $400
Roberto Uranga for City Council 2018: $400
Stacy Mungo for City Council 2018: $400
Roberto Uranga officeholder account: $750
2018
Feb. 15, 2018: Rex Richardson officeholder account: $750
Feb. 15, 2018: Lena Gonzalez officeholder account: $750
April 10, 2018 Al Austin officeholder account: $750
April 18, 2018: Roberto Uranga (re-election): $400
April 18, 2018: Stacy Mungo (re-election): $400
March/April, 2018: Mayor Robert Garcia Committee to support Utility Measure Transfer Measure M (support): $75,000
June 25, 2018: Mayor Robert Garcia officeholder account: $1,000
"Mayor's Fund For Education": $10,000 [marked: "Inaugural Ceremony for Long Beach candidates"]
July 9, 2018: Mayor Robert Garcia/City Auditor Doud Committee for Charter Amendments AAA-DDD: $25,000
Aug, 2018: Suzie Price officeholder account: $750
Nov. 21, 2018: Daryl Supernaw officeholder account: $750
Nov. 21, 2018: Stacy Mungo officeholder account: $750
Nov. 21, 2018: Dee Andrews officeholder account: $750
2019
Jan 31, 2019: Lena Gonzalez for Senate: $9,400
Feb. 6, 2019: Al Austin for Senate 2019: $4,700
Jan. 31, 2019: Rex Richardson officeholder account: $750
March 14, 2019: Mayor Robert Garcia Committee for Charter Amendments [AAA-DDD]: $5,000 [election was Nov. 2018]
March 15, 2019: Suzie Price officeholder account: $750
April 26, 2019: Stacy Mungo officeholder account: $750
May 23, 2019: Al Austin officeholder account: $750
May 15, 2019: Rex Richardson Ballot Measure Committee "Lift Up Long Beach Families": $5,000

Records also show:

In the 2018 election cycle, LBPOA's "Independent Expenditure Committee" spent sums supportive of but separate from the candidates (nearly $12,000) to independently support re-electing Council incumbents Roberto Uranga and Stacy Mungo ($5,918 each).
On Aug. 30, 2019, LBPOA's PAC gave 1st district Council candidate Mary Zendejas $2,500 to fill the Council seat previously held (2014-2019) by Councilwoman (now state Senator) Lena Gonzalez. In that position, Ms. Zendejas would have a vote on policies and spending impacting LB taxpayers and neighborhoods citywide. Ms. Zendejas is the endorsee of Mayor Garcia and its former Councilwoman Gonzalez.
During 2017, LBPOA's PAC gave $800 contributions to the 2018 campaigns to re-elect City Attorney Charles Parkin and LB City Prosecutor Doug Haubert

Context

The Council incumbents who received LBPOA's contributions will publicly vote on Sept. 17, 2019 on a new three year contract for LBPOA's members. We presume they already authorized management to offer the main contractual terms to LBPOA in sessions closed to the public and the press. These terms (now revealed because the matter is agendized for a public vote) include $17.8 million in wage increases/benefits over three years that will come from LB's General Fund that receives roughly $60 million more each year under the Measure A sales tax for which LBPOA was a major campaign contributor.

In December 2016 (roughly six months after LB voters approved the initial "temporary" Measure A), City Hall negotiators announced tentative agreement with LBPOA, and in Jan. 2017 the Council voted to approve, a new (now expiring) LBPOA contract with a then-estimated three year General Fund cost of $14.3 million.

The LB Police Officers Association was the largest single contributor ($225,000 as of June 30, 2016) to the campaign (run by Mayor Garcia) advocating the Measure A sales tax increase. LB voters approved the measure roughly 60% to 40% after the Council voted to display on voters' ballots the following text, drafted by the City Attorney's office: "[all caps in original] "CITY OF LONG BEACH PUBLIC SAFETY, INFRASTRUCTURE REPAIR AND NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES MEASURE. To maintain 911 emergency response services; increase police, firefighter/paramedic staffing; repair potholes/streets; improve water supplies; and maintain general services..."

As part of their Sept. 17, 2019 LBPOA contract vote, the Council incumbents who received contributions from LBPOA will also decide whether to approve this contractual terms:

Section IX - Public Records Requests
When the department receives a public records request for records made available pursuant to Senate Bill 1421 (as adopted on September 30, 2018), the following process will be followed:
1. The department will notify the requestor whether responsive records exist, in accordance with section 6253(c) of the California Government Code.
2. If the department determines responsive records exist, the department shall notify the involved active employee(s) on the same day the requestor obtains notice.
3. Except where the disclosure of such information is prohibited or in the City's discretion is exempted by law, the involved active employee's notification shall include: the date of the request, the requestor name and/or organization, and the nature of the information requested.
4. The department will provide the involved active employee(s) with an opportunity to review the redacted records at least five calendar days prior to public release.
5. The involved active employee(s) will be allowed to retain a copy of the records that are subject to public release.

If approved by the Council, those terms would be interpreted and applied in consultation with the City Attorney's office.

The same Council incumbents voted on Sept. 3 and Sept. 10 to approve a FY20 City Hall budget, recommended by Mayor Garcia, that doesn't restore any of 186 police officers that LB taxpayers had but no longer have despite LB voters' approval (June 2016) of the Measure A sales tax (for which LBPOA's PAC was a major financial contributor.)

LBPOA didn't publicly testify in opposition to Council budget votes (2009-2015) that erased 208 officers (including LBPD's field anti-gang unit) that LB taxpayers previously had. It didn't object to Council budget votes that despite Measure A have restored only 22 officers of the erased officers to date. However LBPOA has publicly announced its support for a March 2020 ballot measure, favored by the Mayor and City Council, that seeks to make the Measure A "blank check" sales tax permanent.

LBPOA's PAC has endorsed the re-election of incumbents who've failed to restore 186 unrestored police officers, including LBPD's former field anti-gang unit, in some districts where residents endure disproportionately high numbers of shootings and homicides.

On Sept. 11, 2019, another news outlet, the Beachcomber filed a Petition for Writ of Mandate seeking to compel the release by the City of previously denied records it alleges are Public Records whose disclosure is required by SB 1421. That Sac'to bill became effective Jan. 1, 2019 and requires disclosure as Public Records of certain peace officer personnel records and records relating to:

An incident involving the discharge of a firearm at a person by a peace officer or custodial officer.
An incident in which the use of force by a peace officer or custodial officer against a person resulted in death, or in great bodily injury;
Any record relating to an incident in which a sustained finding was made by any law enforcement agency or oversight agency that a peace officer or custodial officer engaged in sexual assault involving a member of the public...;
Any record relating to an incident in which a sustained finding was made by any law enforcement agency or oversight agency of dishonesty by a peace officer or custodial officer directly relating to the reporting, investigation, or prosecution of a crime, or directly relating to the reporting of, or investigation of misconduct by, another peace officer or custodial officer, including, but not limited to, any sustained finding of perjury, false statements, filing false reports, destruction, falsifying, or concealing of evidence.

SB 1421 allows the City to withhold records indicating...

...personal data and information to preserve the anonymity of complainants and witnesses, or to protect confidential medical, financial, or other information in which disclosure would cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy that clearly outweighs the strong public interest in records about misconduct by peace officers or where there is a specific, particularized reason to believe that disclosure would pose a significant danger to the physical safety of the peace officer, and also authorizes redaction (deletion) where, on the facts of the particular case, the public interest served by nondisclosure clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure, and allows delay in disclosure for records relating to an open investigation or court proceeding, subject to certain limitations.

The Council incumbents who received contributions from LBPOA will ultimately decide whether to release the requested records as Public Records or instruct the City Attorney to resist disclosing the requested records.

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Support really independent news in Long Beach. No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to development interests, advocacy groups or other special interests; or is seeking or receiving benefits of City development-related decisions; or holds a City Hall appointive position; or has contributed sums to political campaigns for Long Beach incumbents or challengers. LBREPORT.com isn't part of an out of town corporate cluster and no one its ownership, editorial or publishing decisionmaking has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report. LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. You can help keep really independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.

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