OCEA Hits Cable: Tells Board to Chop at the Top

This just came in to us from Orange County Employees Association:

New TV Ad Urges Supervisors to Layoff the Perks, Not Public Safety Officers, Child Abuse Counselors

SANTA ANA, CA – Challenging the decision of the Orange County Board of Supervisors to keep their perks while ordering the departments they oversee to lay off more than 250 employees, the Orange County Employees Association today launched a new TV ad entitled “Lay Off.” The ad urges county residents to call the Board and demand they first layoff the perks, not public safety officers, child abuse counselors and other social workers.

“When times are tough, we all have to sacrifice,” said Nick Berardino, head of the Orange County Employees Association. “‘That includes Orange County Supervisors who get a free ride, literally, at taxpayer’s expense, and a publicly-paid office remodel only they will enjoy. The Board should lay off the perks, not public safety officers and child abuse counselors.”

The new TV ad details the perks and benefits members of Board of Supervisors receive at taxpayer expense, including $137,318 in salary, a county-provided car with free gas or an annual car allowance of $9,180. The ad also cites reports that the Board of Supervisors was proceeding with a $326,000 remodeling of their offices, including conference and break rooms the public will likely never see. The funding for this project was approved recently, on November 18, 2008, as the county was preparing to lay off hundreds of employees.

“I’ve had to face hard working men and women to tell them they are going to be laid off in the worst economy since the Great Depression,” continued Berardino. “It’s an insult to learn the same people who are putting them out of work are spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer money to remodel their office and to buy new chairs and tables.”

Orange County Supervisors are given $137,318 a year. Supervisors are eligible to receive a $765 per month car allowance that amounts to an additional $9,180 annually. Alternately, the supervisors are eligible to receive a county-provided car and free gas. The Board of Supervisors voted to increase the allowance from $600 to $765 per month in July 2007.

To date, Orange County has sent layoff notices to 210 Social Service workers, and plans to lay off 58 employees of the Probation Department.

“The Board of Supervisors has severely mismanaged taxpayer’s money,” continued Berardino. “Instead of saving jobs, they are spending our money like water as we face a fiscal drought. I urge everyone in Orange County to call the Board and tell them to chop at the top before they lay off another worker.”

The ad will air countywide starting today.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haphzmS8Rf8[/youtube]

5 Comments

  1. Way to go, Nick! These jerks think that we are just going to roll over and take it. Well, now they will know, we are mad as hell and we won’t take it anymore!

  2. Nice inclusion of Mauk and Richardson’s cars from the HOA parking garage.

    Good thing they didn’t take any photos of the garage below OCEA HQ at Ross St or the garages that serve the Sheriff or HCA downtown. That’s where the really nice cars are. Oh Yeah, the ones that are driven by OCEA members. Go see for yourself the many BMWs, MBZs, Lexus and other fine rides.

  3. You really won’t find many expensive cars in the OCEA HQ lot. But there is also one major difference between OCEA members and the Board of Supes and executive managers. OCEA members pay for their cars and their gas out of their own paychecks, the Supervisors and executive managers don’t. OCEA members who have to drive their own vehicles for work have to wait 6 to 8 weeks to get their mileage reimbursed.

  4. Duke the difference between all of those cars and the ones featured in the commercial is that the OCEA members actually pay for their cars out of their own pockets AFTER paying for their retirements.

  5. While you are at it duke go check out the luxurious OCEA lobby, remodeled about 10 years ago and the state of the art 19″ CRT television.

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