Would you believe it? Steven Greenhut praised Larry Agran and his fellow Irvine City Council Democrats over at the O.C. Register in an op-ed today. Apparently Agran and company have been fighting the Irvine Police Association, which is up in arms over cutbacks.
Meawhile, over in Costa Mesa, two Republicans joined Katrina Foley in giving firefighters an even earlier retirement, under the guise of saving money.
Here is an excerpt from Greehut’s op-ed:
A month ago, if you asked me which council – Costa Mesa’s, which has a 4-1 GOP majority, or Irvine’s, with its 3-2 Democratic majority (both are officially nonpartisan) – would stand up for fiscal responsibility, I would not have flinched in selecting the former. Call me pleasantly surprised, not just at the vote, but at the way the Agran-led Irvine majority is shrugging off the sort of police-union theatrics that have become commonplace as police associations have mastered the art of hardball politics to a degree that would make the Teamsters blush.
The Costa Mesa Council Members who voted for the pension spike were Wendy Leece and Gary Monahan.
Incidentally, the Irvine Council Republicans, Christina Shea and Steven Choi, voted with the police union.
Is there anything worse than Republican politicians who shill for unions?
Leece and Monahan are as worthless to Costa Mesa and Cathy Green and Debbie Cook are to Huntington Beach.
It’s even more surprising that Deputee Sherf Mansoor voted against it.
#1,
Maybe Mansoor was posturing for his Assembly race. If he does get to Sacramento he will likely vote for the cop and jail guard unions 100% of the time.
My understanding was that it saves money in the short term, that allows more fire and police to remain on the streets protecting and serving residents, during this severe economic climate.
more “police to remain on the streets protecting and serving residents, during this severe economic climate”? For what? My little sister just got a ticket for jaywalking on a red flashing hand and he called for back up, is this how the police in irvine “serve and protect” in fighting against crime? I highly disagree in having more police remaining on the streets in the city of Irvine as crime rates and low, and they are getting paid to give out small things such as “Jaywalking” tickets. Irvine is already one of the safest cities and we do not need more police harassing us for petty things such as “jaywalking” to meet their stupid quota. Furthermore, I would like to argue that members of the Irvine Police force discriminate against non-whites, finding a way to make some of our lives miserable. They need to stop abusing their authority on innocent young people and actually start fighting crime.
Welcome Michael from Irvine!
Here is a little video you may enjoy. The Irvine PoPo swarming the streets with a half dozen cars to some call
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7bhnLqy2h0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo%2Egoogle%2Ecom%2Fvideosearch%3Fsource%3Dig%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1R2GGLL%5Fen%26q%3Dpolice%2520in%2520irvine%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF%2D8%26sa%3DN%26tab%3Dwv&feature=player_embedded