California Professional Firefighters

In the fight against Proposition 32, the stakes are high and every vote counts. That was the message delivered this week by IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger during a four-day, 14-stop tour of California fire stations and union halls.  

A secretive out-of-state Super PAC with ties to billionaire oil tycoons the Koch Brothers has dropped $4 million in support of Proposition 32. The deceptive initiative would silence the voices of working families and let Koch-style Super PACs spend unlimited amounts on politics.

A San Jose firefighter who suffered an on-scene heart attack is awake and alert after a week of unconsciousness. Frank Ryan collapsed Aug. 30 while on the scene of a fire at St. Patrick's Cathedral in downtown San Jose.

The big money backers of the so-called "Stop Special Interest Money" initiative have a secret they don't want you to know: Their "fair and balanced" solution gives special exemptions that protect billionaire businessmen and corporate special interests.  

Ending redevelopment will eventually produce $5 billion of additional general fund money for vital services. So says the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's office. According to a new LAO report, local agencies will eventually see an increase of up to 15% in available property tax revenue without redevelopment.

The effort by San Jose city officials to tilt the field in a June fight over pensions has been struck down by the courts. Declaring it "impermissibly partisan and misleading," a unanimous appeals court rewrote biased ballot language drafted by the city for its retirement security rollback measure.

A blistering investigative report suggests that San Jose city officials exerted influence on a supposedly "independent" audit of its retirement system to inflate the fiscal risk to the city. The report also indicates city officials withheld vital information from its Retirement Board.

 The state Public Employment Relations Board has ruled that the San Diego ballot measure to eliminate public pensions violates California's collective bargaining laws, and constitutes an unfair labor practice. The ruling clears the way for San Diego employees to file suit to remove the measure from the city's November ballot.