Life without CSLEA & CARII
The following is my account of what transpired before and just after I resigned from the CSLEA Board of Directors and as President of CARII. Some of what I've written are the facts as I recall them; some is my opinion. If anyone has a comment or correction let me know.
Bruce Hotchkiss
It's been just over two years since I resigned as CARII President and CSLEA Board Member. I resigned in September 2009, and retired from the State of California at the end of December 2009.
I think I had a good run as President of CARII. I was President for 12 years. We went from barely having enough money to hold the next meeting to about $60,000 in the bank. We went from being almost an embarrassment at CAUSE (as it was then known) Board meetings to a respected voice at the table.
In my twelve years with CAUSE/CSLEA I supported President Alan Barcelona and the Board in many political decisions I did not personally agree with, mainly supporting Republican candidates who, although they may have voiced support for law enforcement, had little respect for the non-sworn, non-cop side of the house.
My downfall came about when CSLEA supported Meg Whitman for Governor of California. I knew I would incur the wrath of Barcelona when I went against his choice, and he knew I wouldn't like the choice of Meg. And make no mistake, Meg Whitman was Alan's choice, not the Board's.
I was on the Board long enough to know that our endorsement choices were driven by two things; who would win (as Peter Mitchell says, "losers don't legislate") and who Alan want us to back. Not that Alan made the decisions all by himself but with the collaboration of our political consultants.
I missed the gubernatorial candidate interviews in August 2009; I was on vacation. I doubt that it would have made any difference. I got feedback - Meg had no idea what we did or who we were other than a few of the cops, Jerry seemed old.
So when the Board met to vote for who to endorse I knew it would be Meg. I argued hard and long against endorsing her but Alan and his mentor Don Novey would not be denied. (I found it odd that our other paid political consultant, Peter Mitchell, was somewhat quiet on the debate.)
After all the arguing we voted. If memory serves me correctly four of the 19 voted against endorsing Meg. I knew I'd be in the minority; I knew I'd be subjected to the wrath of Barcelona.
As soon as the vote was counted I stated I would resign. I don't remember my exact words but they went something to this effect; "as the Board voted to endorse Meg, and as a Board member must adhere to the Board's decision, I am resigning immediately. I cannot in good conscience go to the CARII Board or our members and say they should support Meg, and that is what I see my duty would be if I stayed on the Board." So I resigned.
Before I left Novey asked me if I was going to "break the news" because they wanted to hold back on announcing the endorsement. I said that I was not going to say anything except to my (CARII) Board because they deserved to know why I resigned. I tried to explain (I thought I had done a good job of it) that I still supported CSLEA I just could not in support their support of someone I thought was out to do us harm.
I called Lillian Hayek and told her she was in charge and to get ready to finish the rest of the Board meeting by phone. I left Sacramento.
The next day I received a telephone call from Alan Barcelona. The conversation was short and bitter. Basically Alan said that because I would not follow the wishes of the Board he was immediately removing me from every appointed position. That was the end of my association with CSLEA.
Now I have no doubt that Barcelona had the right to remove me but his reasoning was pure bull shit. First off most of the appointments I had did not cater to the Board's whims. The Scholarship committee? Nope, we or I often had to fend off attempts by Board members to favor someone for a scholarship (it was never overt but more, "you know so and so's son? He's a really good kid and deserves a look"). Legal Defense Fund? Nope we were charged with making sure the fund was in good shape and to make decision on how should be able to avail themselves of the funds legally. If our decision was challenged, that challenge went over our heads to the E-Board and eventually the complete Board. They could over-rule us be not vice versa.
Let's face it the only reason I was removed was that I had angered Barcelona. He want all his "friends" on the Board to do as he said. Alan Barcelona runs CSLEA almost as a dictatorship. If you disagree with him you are off his list, you are ridiculed, you are persona non-grata.
Just ask John Miller. John made the fatal error of more willing to appear in public than Alan was or is. John is a people person and he loves to talk. John used to be the Senior VP. But John became seen as the voice of CSLEA. I actually had people tell me they thought John was President. So John was out. I bought into Alan's version of why, that John had become to uppity, too self-important. I regret that.
Ask any number of former Board members who dared to challenge Barcelona. Their downfall was usually swift and final.
Or ask Don Novey, Barcelona's former mentor. Don got into a fight with his former union, CCPOA. I'd say Don finally lost but in the process CSLEA was put in the middle. Then Don filed bankruptcy to avoid paying (at least in part) a judgement to CCPOA. CCPOA's attorney's dug through Don's finances and all of a sudden you could not find a connection between Novey, Barcelona and CSLEA. It's like he never existed.
Now back to the Meg/Jerry election. I was told by people in the know that Barcelona and Novey were both told that there was an excellent chance that Jerry was going to win (remember this was in September, two months before the election) and they were advised that at the very least they should abstain of give both candidates some money but neither an endorsement.
In the end I and the unnamed advisers were right, Jerry won. CSLEA's members, like all state employees have taken it in the shorts. Who knows if this would be different if Barcelona had actually listened to reason. Probably not but the question arises everytime CSLEA loses a bill, "Is this payback?"
For some reason there is no love lost between Barcelona and Jerry Brown. It predates the election. I don't know what the problem is or when it started. It shouldn't have gotten in the way of CSLEA's members.
Sometime after the election but before I retired I received a call from Ricardo Sanchez, CSLEA's CFO and Barcelona's right-hand man. Ricardo wanted to know if I was over my snit (not his words but it's how I interpreted them). He said that "they" all knew I didn't mean what I said (resigning) because I was tired. Tired? How about pissed off at the way I was treated? I didn't want to shit on CSLEA for endorsing Meg; I just didn't want to go along with it. And for standing on my principles, something many of my fellow Board members didn't do, I was persona non grata.
How bad was it? Most of the people at CSLEA HQ were told they shouldn't talk to me except if I needed representation. More than once I heard, "can you contact me on my personal cell/email."
I miss CSLEA and CARII. I think, no I know, I tried to always do what was right for our members. I fought the good fight many times. I still support CSLEA. I just wish it was more democratic.
Bruce Hotchkiss
It's been just over two years since I resigned as CARII President and CSLEA Board Member. I resigned in September 2009, and retired from the State of California at the end of December 2009.
I think I had a good run as President of CARII. I was President for 12 years. We went from barely having enough money to hold the next meeting to about $60,000 in the bank. We went from being almost an embarrassment at CAUSE (as it was then known) Board meetings to a respected voice at the table.
In my twelve years with CAUSE/CSLEA I supported President Alan Barcelona and the Board in many political decisions I did not personally agree with, mainly supporting Republican candidates who, although they may have voiced support for law enforcement, had little respect for the non-sworn, non-cop side of the house.
My downfall came about when CSLEA supported Meg Whitman for Governor of California. I knew I would incur the wrath of Barcelona when I went against his choice, and he knew I wouldn't like the choice of Meg. And make no mistake, Meg Whitman was Alan's choice, not the Board's.
I was on the Board long enough to know that our endorsement choices were driven by two things; who would win (as Peter Mitchell says, "losers don't legislate") and who Alan want us to back. Not that Alan made the decisions all by himself but with the collaboration of our political consultants.
I missed the gubernatorial candidate interviews in August 2009; I was on vacation. I doubt that it would have made any difference. I got feedback - Meg had no idea what we did or who we were other than a few of the cops, Jerry seemed old.
So when the Board met to vote for who to endorse I knew it would be Meg. I argued hard and long against endorsing her but Alan and his mentor Don Novey would not be denied. (I found it odd that our other paid political consultant, Peter Mitchell, was somewhat quiet on the debate.)
After all the arguing we voted. If memory serves me correctly four of the 19 voted against endorsing Meg. I knew I'd be in the minority; I knew I'd be subjected to the wrath of Barcelona.
As soon as the vote was counted I stated I would resign. I don't remember my exact words but they went something to this effect; "as the Board voted to endorse Meg, and as a Board member must adhere to the Board's decision, I am resigning immediately. I cannot in good conscience go to the CARII Board or our members and say they should support Meg, and that is what I see my duty would be if I stayed on the Board." So I resigned.
Before I left Novey asked me if I was going to "break the news" because they wanted to hold back on announcing the endorsement. I said that I was not going to say anything except to my (CARII) Board because they deserved to know why I resigned. I tried to explain (I thought I had done a good job of it) that I still supported CSLEA I just could not in support their support of someone I thought was out to do us harm.
I called Lillian Hayek and told her she was in charge and to get ready to finish the rest of the Board meeting by phone. I left Sacramento.
The next day I received a telephone call from Alan Barcelona. The conversation was short and bitter. Basically Alan said that because I would not follow the wishes of the Board he was immediately removing me from every appointed position. That was the end of my association with CSLEA.
Now I have no doubt that Barcelona had the right to remove me but his reasoning was pure bull shit. First off most of the appointments I had did not cater to the Board's whims. The Scholarship committee? Nope, we or I often had to fend off attempts by Board members to favor someone for a scholarship (it was never overt but more, "you know so and so's son? He's a really good kid and deserves a look"). Legal Defense Fund? Nope we were charged with making sure the fund was in good shape and to make decision on how should be able to avail themselves of the funds legally. If our decision was challenged, that challenge went over our heads to the E-Board and eventually the complete Board. They could over-rule us be not vice versa.
Let's face it the only reason I was removed was that I had angered Barcelona. He want all his "friends" on the Board to do as he said. Alan Barcelona runs CSLEA almost as a dictatorship. If you disagree with him you are off his list, you are ridiculed, you are persona non-grata.
Just ask John Miller. John made the fatal error of more willing to appear in public than Alan was or is. John is a people person and he loves to talk. John used to be the Senior VP. But John became seen as the voice of CSLEA. I actually had people tell me they thought John was President. So John was out. I bought into Alan's version of why, that John had become to uppity, too self-important. I regret that.
Ask any number of former Board members who dared to challenge Barcelona. Their downfall was usually swift and final.
Or ask Don Novey, Barcelona's former mentor. Don got into a fight with his former union, CCPOA. I'd say Don finally lost but in the process CSLEA was put in the middle. Then Don filed bankruptcy to avoid paying (at least in part) a judgement to CCPOA. CCPOA's attorney's dug through Don's finances and all of a sudden you could not find a connection between Novey, Barcelona and CSLEA. It's like he never existed.
Now back to the Meg/Jerry election. I was told by people in the know that Barcelona and Novey were both told that there was an excellent chance that Jerry was going to win (remember this was in September, two months before the election) and they were advised that at the very least they should abstain of give both candidates some money but neither an endorsement.
In the end I and the unnamed advisers were right, Jerry won. CSLEA's members, like all state employees have taken it in the shorts. Who knows if this would be different if Barcelona had actually listened to reason. Probably not but the question arises everytime CSLEA loses a bill, "Is this payback?"
For some reason there is no love lost between Barcelona and Jerry Brown. It predates the election. I don't know what the problem is or when it started. It shouldn't have gotten in the way of CSLEA's members.
Sometime after the election but before I retired I received a call from Ricardo Sanchez, CSLEA's CFO and Barcelona's right-hand man. Ricardo wanted to know if I was over my snit (not his words but it's how I interpreted them). He said that "they" all knew I didn't mean what I said (resigning) because I was tired. Tired? How about pissed off at the way I was treated? I didn't want to shit on CSLEA for endorsing Meg; I just didn't want to go along with it. And for standing on my principles, something many of my fellow Board members didn't do, I was persona non grata.
How bad was it? Most of the people at CSLEA HQ were told they shouldn't talk to me except if I needed representation. More than once I heard, "can you contact me on my personal cell/email."
I miss CSLEA and CARII. I think, no I know, I tried to always do what was right for our members. I fought the good fight many times. I still support CSLEA. I just wish it was more democratic.
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