Holy. Mackerel. Is there any bottom to the Orange County Employees Association’s well of cash?
Check out the most recent report for the OCEA’s Issues Committee, which only covers the period between October 1 and October 20.
During that three-week period, the well-moneyed union dropped a jaw-dropping $352,000 into its Issues Committee. After tossing $80,000 into the coin jar of the OC Labor Federation, $252,000 was put into the ironically-named “Taxpayers for Open & Accountable Government” – a committee set-up by the OCEA to fight the attempt by the conservative council majority to make Costa Mesa a charter city. [This is on top of an initial OCEA contribution of about $25,000 in August.]
So what does this have to do with Anaheim?
Well, consider that the OCEA has basically been laying siege to Costa Mesa since Councilman Jim Righeimer and the conservative council majority began pushing for greater outsourcing of city services. The present battle over the proposed charter (“Measure V”) being the latest campaign in that war. OCEA has declared Costa Mesa to be ground zero. The political and prestige stakes are huge for OCEA. It’s the government union’s Vicksburg (or the council majority’s Battle of Tours. We shall see).
To summarize: OCEA has committed $274,000 to defeating the proposed Costa Mesa City Charter (which would liberalize outsourcing), and $300,000 to electing John Leos to the Anaheim City Council.
So what does it tell you that OCEA is committing more money to electing a single candidate in Anaheim, than it is spending on its high-profile, high-priority war against outsourcing in Costa Mesa?
It tells me the OCEA views electing Leos as mighty important to its strategic plans in Anaheim and the county. And that should give pause every thinking conservative.
[and as an aside, what’s up with Jim Lacy? He sold OCEA spots on slates — like “Save Prop. 13” and “National Tax Limitation Committee” — for anti-Measure V messaging, just like he sold spots to OCEA for John Leos.]
