POA Board Campaign Statement

By now, many - of not most - of you know that I was recently nominated to run for the POA Board. I wanted to give you all a preview of what I have to say about the things I could bring to the table as a POA director.

First, there are several people running for the board who I believe would be great in that position and many of them in the next few weeks are going to talk about what they would like to do if they were elected to the board and many of their ideas will, no doubt, be good ones.

On the other hand, you will hear me talk about the ideas I've had or participated in developing and what I've had a part in implementing over the past year. I've helped bring to the bay area the My Life, My Power program which has partners with the Los Angeles School District PD, the LAPD gang unit and various players with the Raiders and 49ers.

I have worked on developing contacts and email lists with various community groups and Homeowners'/Neighborhood groups in order to develop more effective/efficient and inexpensive means of outreach from our Law Enforcement community to the citizens of San Jose.

I have developed contacts with leaders in the county, specifically helping to solicit a candidate to run for mayor who will be more of an ally to public safety than Sam Liccardo, who will undoubtedly be making a run for Mayor Reed's position.

I have developed an association with the Sacramento County DSA who provided extensive information from the Law Offices of Mastagni, Holdstedt, Amick, Miller and Johnsen, a firm with extensive (and successful) experiences in the field of public safety wages, benefits, and contract negotiations. They have been an excellent resource documenting the unassailability of vested rights by government employers.

I have developed an association with the Law Offices Adams, Ferrone and Ferrone, a firm which, in addition to bringing expertise in labor negotiations also has extensive expertise in internal affairs investigations, workers' compensation, critical incidents, personal injury and retirement.

Finally, for the last year, I have been a tireless advocate of public safety and an unabashed and fearless critic of City Hall. You can find some of the content of my posts and articles here on my blog.

For the past year, I've been doing all this in the background and, for the most part, anonymously. It is time for me to bring all this to the forefront and to advocate for the Membership of the SJPOA in a public way, at last.