Beating A Dead Horse!

Periodically, I receive editorials, in my e-mail, that have appeared in the Main Stream Media from such outlets as the Sacramento and Fresno Bee.

On March 8, 2006, in, what has become a typical bias in the media, an article entitled "Prison reform fades", once again, attempts to lay the failure of prison reform at the feet of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.

I am not necessarily a great lover of CCPOA, I was once a member and, periodically, disagreed with their actions. However, I do believe that they are being scapegoated unjustly, an action which denies The California Department Of Rehabilitation And Corrections (CalDORC) the ability to improve its operation. CalDORC must accept responsibility for their failings before they admit having the power to change. If they genuinely believe that their failings are being brought about by CCPOA, they remain powerless to change. I do, however, suspect that their stated beliefs are a disingenuous, blame-displacing smoke-screen.

Predictably, the unnamed editorializer quotes individuals on Schwarzenegger's prison task force who state that Management does not control the prisons, the union controls the prisons. He/she then goes on to state that Arnold Schwarzenegger did not accept campaign contributions from the prison guards' union.

Through implication and the omission of relevant facts, the unnamed editorializer wishes to steer the reader into believing that Arnie is clean, pure and free of those nasty campaign donations that have plagued all other politicians. However, such is certainly not the case - let's review (The following is an excerpt, click on the text for the full story):

Giving Millions To Back a Winner

Candidate who denied needing money got lots.

By Alexa H. Bluth, Bee Capitol Bureau
Sacramento Bee, October 12th, 2003

After himself, Schwarzenegger's top donors included Alex Spanos, a Stockton developer and prolific campaign contributor in California who hosted a fund-raiser for Schwarzenegger and donated $200,000 to his bid. Spanos also chipped in $100,000 to the main committee behind the recall effort, according to finance records.

Schwarzenegger also received more than $100,000 each from: William Lyons Homes, a Newport Beach-based real estate developer; the American Sterling Corp., an Irvine-based financial firm; William Robinson, an Idaho-based rancher and investor; the New Majority PAC, moderate Republican business owners; Tim Blixseth, who runs Yellowstone Development LLC; and Paul Folino, chairman of the Costa Mesa-based technology company Emulex Corp.

Clearly this unnamed editorializer is living in a pre-Schwarzenegger/Hickman world. If he/she were living in the present, he/she would have known that Rod Hickman SHUT the California Correctional Peace Officers Association OUT of anything having to do with prison management. This was Mr. Hickman's proudest moment and he made no bones about it!

HOWEVER, you must be careful of that for which you wish. After CCPOA was shut out, CalDORC's demise was, exponentially, accelerated. Dead Correctional Officers, more YA violence, Sex Offenders being shuttled from motel to motel, CalDORC refusing to cooperate with Legislative inquiries! What was CCPOA's role in all of this? What could it have been since they had been locked out immediately after Hickman stepped in???

No Mr. Hickman, you bought CalDORC and refused to share it with anyone and YOU are solely responsible for its failings. It is time for you to stop blaming others.

This was to be a bold experiment, to shut CCPOA out of ALL managerial functions, even Contractually required negotiations for traditional union functions such as wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment, however, it failed.

Rod Hickman's midstream resignation left many with egg on their collective faces as the experiment, obviously, failed. Many of Mr. Hickman's pundits are having to take whip in hand, step down from their cart and beat the dead horse, only to find that they are only getting wet feet and not making any forward progress.

The total shock and embarrassment for hitching their cart to the Hickman horse is not lost on the Main Stream Media. They have a large reputational investment in Mr. Hickman and, even though it makes no sense, they continue to pick up the sword of a crusader and, then, go tilting at windmills. Clearly they are grasping at that which has served them so well in the past, however, the Hickman resignation speaks for itself.

It is time to unhitch the wagon and find another horse.

Lorraine Bradley