Police Union Boss Promises to Put More Muscle into Picking, Promoting Political Candidates

Portland Mercury:

In the latest edition of the Portland Police Association's monthly Rap Sheet newsletter, union president Daryl Turner shares a recent political epiphany. To strengthen its hand at the bargaining table—facing issues like pay increases, increased oversight, and public contract talks—Turner says the PPA must play a bigger role in selecting and promoting (and then reaping rewards from) political candidates. We have all read about laws passed in recent years that are not pro-police or pro-union. We have also experienced the difficulty during contract negotiations in acquiring the level of wages, benefits and rights that we have earned. These decisions and many more were made by elected officials.... Countless numbers of those seeking political office have come to the Portland Police Association asking for our endorsement of their campaigns. When we do give a political candidate our endorsement, we have to ask, besides giving them the right to say that the Portland Police Association endorses them, what do we do for them?... To increase the influence of our endorsement, we must do everything from talking to our family members and friends about the candidates we endorse to becoming actively involved in their political campaigns. As the President of the Portland Police Association, I will be more actively involved in helping candidates that we endorse. It'll be mildly interesting to see how this plays out ahead of the May primary. It's theatrical, but I don't think i will mean very much. Because the PPA has actually done very little endorsing so far, and there doesn't appear to be much reason for it do any more. [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

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