Perhaps you have thought that the Santa Clara Police Department became the highest-paid police force in California because they are absolutely stellar. Or, maybe you believe they are the best trained, best equipped and more responsive than any police force in the state.
While all of the above could be possible, their salaries have little or nothing to do with their skills, talent or training.
Their compensation was a political trade-off with the police union arranged by none other than Mayor Lisa Gillmor. It’s less about the skills of the officers and more about the political know-how of the Santa Clara Police Officers’ Association and mayor.
The POA and Gillmor know that personal contact made at a resident’s home increases the chances of that candidate being elected. Most of the candidates running for city council can’t afford to personally cover the city. In addition, it’s financially demanding to send mailers and/or post yard signs throughout the city.
However, if Mayor Gillmor could convince potential candidates to run and win by having an army of “volunteers” working for the candidate, making house calls, passing out election materials favoring the candidate, would they run? Absolutely!
The city council sets police compensation, but to get on the council, you need the votes. For the contract year Mayor Gillmor took office, 2016-2018, the police got a cumulative 11% raise that included a retroactive 5% pay bump. Three Gillmor supporters along with Gillmor, all of whom received the support of the Police Officers Association PAC were in office at the time: Debi Davis, Teresa O’Neill and Kathy Watanabe. The previous contract (2015-2016) was a simple 3% raise.
In 2016, the police union PAC increased its campaign spending by nearly 2,500%, with $102,000 supplied by developers.
Coincidence? Doubtful. Legal? Apparently. Ethical? Questionable. Good for the public image of SCPD? Unlikely.
During the coming elections, you may be visited by an off-duty SCPD affiliate promoting one of Mayor Gillmor’s selected candidates. Before you vote, ask yourself why.
Previous Milestones:
Milestones – Now What? – Opinion
Milestones – Well Done Santa Clara – Opinion
Milestones – “Money Talks” and Levi’s Stadium Makes the Case – Opinion
Milestones – Mayor, Mayor in the Hall – Opinion
This type of SCPD/”mayor of sleaze” campaign practice was previously used in Nazi Germany. Sig baby, sig!
What a joke Miles. You say noting of the $1Million (like $7Million over the past six years) the 49er organization has spent on politicians. It makes the POA stuff laughable…just like your column.
And you backed Becker for mayor…what a joke. But I guess you don’t see the problem from where you sit in your compromised seat. You should be ashamed of your writings. It’s an insult to those who get alerted when you write your drivel. You’re a news paper. Lose this compromised and biased opinion crap. You are better than that. I know some of your actual reports are.
Ask any police chief or sheriff in Santa Clara, San Mateo, or Alameda County. They will tell you Santa Clara PD isn’t superior to their officers. In fact, PoliceScorecard.org ranks the Santa Clara Police Department in the bottom half of agencies in Santa Clara County, well behind Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Milpitas, Campbell, Los Altos, Morgan Hill, and even Oakland.
Consider this: Ask officers in neighboring cities to donate their own paychecks to local election candidates, and they would refuse because they want to support their families, and most don’t even live where they work. But run the math on Santa Clara’s model: kicking back a few hundred dollars in PAC donations every election cycle is a tiny tax when it buys semi-regular double-digit pay raises. A single 10% to 15% bump on a $150,000 to $200,000 base salary yields an extra $15,000 to $30,000 every single year, compounding over a career and locking in six-figure lifetime pensions.
That ROI keeps them among the highest-paid cops in California while guaranteeing they get paid back tenfold on every dollar spent. That is exactly what is happening in the City of Santa Clara.
No other employee union representing cops in the county engages in this level of infighting with city council members over a city they don’t reside in. It has always been about salary and pension spiking. As the saying goes: follow the money.