Ventura, October 27, 2009

Ventura Police Officers Association attacks Neal Andrews in retaliation for his opposition to their 17.5% pay raise!

The Ventura Police Officers Association once again has launched a tawdry, self-serving attack. In essence they want the voters to believe that I am negligent in my duties and waste taxpayers’ money. Neither is true.

Before I tackle the false and misleading accusations they make, let’s examine what this effort by the police union to smear my name and reputation is really all about.

It’s about money, of course.

After the voters turned down the proposal for a sales tax increase in 2006, the police union was willing to jeopardize your safety and the efficiency of the 911 emergency access system by charging you an illegal tax for use of that basic emergency service. Their goal was to get enough money to pay for the 17% salary boost they had just gotten from your City Council.

I was the only Council Member to oppose their demands and vote against their contract. I was also the only Council Member who voted against their 911 fee scheme, and I worked hard and finally got it repealed.

They accuse me of only pretending to be a fiscal conservative and the taxpayers’ watchdog. Now you tell me who is the pretender here?

Since my election in 2001 I have consistently argued that we need to reform the public employee pension system, or it will ultimately bankrupt the City, as happened in the City of Vallejo last year. This year when the Council granted the firefighters a 50% increase in their pensions, I led the fight to oppose this outrageous increase, and this time two other Council Members voted with me.

I only need one more Council vote on my side of this fight to change this unsustainable system. It almost certainly will not be one of the candidates endorsed by the police union. You can bet on that!

The police union understands that if they do not defeat me, their gravy train is in jeopardy. They are desperate and will stoop to any low blow to stop me.

That’s why they have named me their “Public Enemy Number One”! In this case I am proud to bear the brunt of their childish name-calling. I am proud to fight on your behalf. I hope you will support my efforts with your votes.

That’s what this is really all about. Don’t be fooled by the misleading garbage in their letter or their other smear efforts.

They accuse me of spending more than other Council Members on travel. Well, let’s look at that...

First, I am the only Ventura Council Member with a national policy committee appointment.

I serve on the National Policy Steering Committee on Community and Economic Development. This committee is made up of elected officials from municipalities all around the country who are considered experts in municipal finance and economic development. With all the member cities of the National League of Cities behind its recommendations, it is one of the most important advisory bodies to Congress and the President of the United States in the area of community economic development. It was directly responsible for saving Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds during the Bush Administration, which had proposed to eliminate this important source of funds for cities, and it is because of the work of this committee that the CDBG program this year includes an additional $700 million for cities across the country, including Ventura and the Ventura Housing Authority. In addition, my advocacy on this committee helped get Congressional authorization to use funds from the original stimulus bill (TARP) to assist cities that had investment losses due to Federal actions that forced corporate bond issuers, like Lehman Brothers, into bankruptcy. If the Secretary of the Treasury uses that authority as intended, Ventura stands to recover the $5,000,000 it lost from its portfolio with the Lehman collapse.

The bottom line is that taxpayer money is not wasted if it secures a return on the investment. You have received a very good return on the City’s investment in my travel.

So just how much travel is involved?

This national committee meets four times a year. As a condition of appointment members are asked to attend all meetings. The reason for this requirement is that the membership is carefully chosen to assure a balanced mix of cities across the nation. All geographic regions are included, all sizes and types of cities, all ethnic groups and all political parties, so that the cities of the country are all represented fairly. If any member fails to participate, that voice for that element of the country is lost. For that reason it is essential that all the members do attend and participate. Because of this carefully balanced representation this group has credibility and respect from Congress and the President.

Before I accepted the appointment, I asked for the City Council's approval for the necessary travel (the so-called blanket approval), because in Ventura any Council Member traveling out of State has to have Council approval. (If you travel in-State, no consent is required.) I did not want to find my Council colleagues in disagreement over the investment of time and money to perform the duties required. Your Council approved this assignment and the associated expense unanimously at the time.

I have served on this body since December of 2007, and without doubt I have traveled out of the State as a result more often than other Council Members during that period. (They, on the other hand, have done much more travel in the State, as I have deliberately cut my in-State travel to compensate for the national travel.)

The cost of travel for this national committee assignment averages about $8,000 per year. This year alone Ventura will probably receive as much as $400,000 more for our Housing Authority. You tell me if it was worth it.

As the City’s representative on the Board of Directors of the Regional Defense Partnership for the 21st Century (RDP-21), I also travel once per year to Washington DC as a part of a team supporting Naval Base Ventura County. RDP-21 is composed of all local cities and the County. It’s mission is to assure continued operation of the Naval Base, which provides 17,000 local jobs and $2 billion annually in regional revenue.

We work to get greater Federal investment in our Naval Base. This trip, which generally involves three or four days of very intensive meetings at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill with Congress, and with high-level members of the Administration, has a typical total cost of about $2,000.

Twice in the last decade there have been efforts to close our Naval Base and move the jobs to other communities. RDP-21 was established to make sure that did not happen. The Naval Base of course is a vital element of our local economy. The Naval Surface Warfare Command, which is just one unit from among 80 on the Base, for example, charges $3 million on its Visa cards in our local communities every year.

Over the last eight years that I have served as the City’s representative on this Board of Directors we have brought an additional $4-10 million a year to the regional economy by securing or stimulating additional investment from the Department of Defense in Naval Base Ventura County.

These are the activities that have cost a little less than $20,000 since 2007 as described in the police union smear letter. The simple truth is my travel has in fact returned a great deal in added revenue to the City and served both our community interest and the national interest well and responsibly.

I do have some data from prior years before I accepted the national assignment. For example, in 2006 my total travel expense for all purposes during the entire year was $4,827. I ranked a distant fourth among the Council Members and just $321 more than Ms. Weir who ranked fifth. Mr. Brennan in that year spent $7,800, Mr. Fulton $6,771, and Mr. Morehouse $5,928. None of them in that year had a national assignment, while nearly half of my expenditure was for the annual RDP-21 trip in that year. Obviously the VPOA chose their dates carefully to pick the years where my expenses were higher than others. If you look over the last eight years of my tenure on Council, I can assure you that you will find 2006 to be more reflective of the typical case than the years VPOA selected to discredit me.

And, finally, anyone who even casually watches the City Council meetings knows that, contrary to the insinuations of the police union, I miss very few meetings.

I trust that this helps you understand the facts and appreciate what this smear campaign by the police union is really all about. I ask you to reject their self-serving insinuations and allegations and stand for truth and integrity. 

Please vote for me on Tuesday, November 3rd.

Neal Andrews