Whose fight is this?  

The current figures from the Candidates’ Form 460’s show an interesting pattern, and tell you just who’s supporting what in Costa Mesa. (Form 460’s are reports of fund raising and expenditures—they’re required and are public information.)

From citizens

The Three M’s have raised $131,381 from citizens who support them and their beliefs. The Anti-3M’s have raised $62,741 from their supporters. But, before you feel sorry for the three “unwanted” candidates, consider this: Big Labor money!

From outsiders

The total reported by Big Labor PACs is $205,722.  So, of $399,844 raised for this election by everybody, about 33% came from folks supporting Mensinger, McCarthy, and Monahan and favoring the Charter. About 16% came from folks supporting Genis, Weitzberg, and Stephens, and, presumably, against the Charter. That leaves about 51% of the money committed so far coming from Big Labor Political Action Committees!

So, apparently the AFL-CIO and the other labor groups headquartered in Sacramento think Costa Mesa matters are so important that they are putting in more money than all of the interested supporters of all six viable candidates combined!.

Why do they send money here

Why are the Costa Mesa contests so important to Sacramento’s Big Labor headquarters?

It’s unlikely that a Sacramento union official would be very concerned about the health and safety of Costa Mesa’s citizens, or worry about her finances. But it’s very likely they would want to insure their union’s “personal ATM” stays in business -- that’s the political-support donations that they can assess and have automatically withheld from members’ wages. But, if the local union officials had to convince each member to donate in order to get money for their political agendas, well, the income would go down, way down.

I'm paying for what?!

You see, not all of the union members completely support the State union’s political agendas, regardless of how much they might support their local union. And Costa Mesa’s Charter would remove the automatic payroll deduction of “political donations” that the Sacramento Big Labor leaders want – and maybe even need. (Training in the Bahamas is expensive, and so is dominating any city that dares try to face them down.)

 Even more dangers raise their heads: what if other cities were encouraged by Costa Mesa’s Charter success and tried their own brand of independence from Big Labor’s power? Wow, what a disaster.

It's a necessary expense to buy Costa Mesa's election

So it’s worth buckets of money to support the Anti-3m candidates with free delivery, free brochures, free. . . It doesn't matter who the candidates might be, how they think, or what they plan to do, as long as they support Big Labor -- by opposing the Charter.

Spend the dollars in Costa Mesa, maybe

We know what the unions want, and how much they're spending in our election. But doesn't some of that union money at least get back into Costa Mesa businesses? Well, not so much. But more about that in a later blog.

Just to whet your appetite, though, ask the former-mayor, “gray-man” candidate where she’s getting all of that beautiful, and expensive, material printed. Hint: it isn’t in Costa Mesa.

They're not us but they're spending on our election

Whose fight is this? You’d think the answer would be the fight is Costa Mesa’s, and may the majority of the citizens prevail. But, Sacramento’s Big Labor organizations have a different idea who should win this fight – them!