California prison guards’ union spends big to oust reformer
No one can accuse the California Correctional Peace Officers Association of subtlety. In one video in September, the prison guards’ union taped crosshairs over the photo of an African American Assembly member, Reggie Jones-Sawyer of Los Angeles, as a narrator talked about increasing crime and violence against California’s peace officers.
The powerful union claimed it was merely making political districts its target. But it quickly pulled the advertisement after Jones-Sawyer, who has advocated criminal-justice reform, complained to the attorney general that he felt threatened by the video.
Now CCPOA is back again after raising more than $900,000 to target Sen. John Moorlach, a Republican from Costa Mesa. Despite its rhetoric about “public safety,” its likely beef with the conservative senator centers on his efforts to address the state’s fiscal problems. Public sector unions of all types have long despised Moorlach – and his opponent’s list of supporters is a who’s who of those unions.
This race is of statewide importance. Moorlach, the Legislature’s only certified public accountant by training, has been remarkably effective at spotlighting the state’s growing pension debts. As our editorial board noted in our endorsement in September, Moorlach is not only the Capitol’s best numbers-cruncher, but his “innovative ideas, thorough research and ideological consistency force unpopular ideas onto the agenda.” No wonder unions prefer someone more pliable.
Polling suggests Republicans are facing potential losses in a Legislature where Democrats already control supermajorities – the result of changing demographics and a likely pushback against President Trump.
But as pension liabilities crowd out public spending and drive up taxes, the state desperately needs its few truth-tellers, rather than additional legislators who serve as the cat’s paw for the unions that already have outsized influence in the Capitol.
This level of independent campaign spending is astounding in a state legislative race, and the ads paint a picture of Moorlach at odds with his stellar record and collegial personality. Unions’ targeting of Moorlach is not as vile as the video targeting Jones-Sawyer, but voters need to keep in mind the real reason they are so intent on denying him re-election.