The Real Cost Of The CMCEA Contract

EXPECT HOOPLA TONIGHT
Tonight the Costa Mesa City Council will, during their short meeting, consider the new labor agreement between The City and the Costa Mesa City Employees Association (CMCEA).  It is CERTAIN that there will be much hoopla about this being the first agreement consummated using Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger's bastard offspring - the Civic Openness In Negotiations (COIN) ordinance.  Expect to see dislocated shoulders as Mayor Jim Righeimer, Mensinger and perhaps others as they pat themselves on the back and tout what a wonderful, money-saving tool this has proven to be.

THE "REAL COSTS"...
Well, besides the fact that this agreement - in which the employees had to give up so much -  will almost certainly make it extremely difficult to recruit employees now, your crowing elected "leaders" will certainly omit some important facts that are very relevant to this issue.... some of the REAL costs involved.

KREISLER, THE SAVIOR...
Let's begin with the much-ballyhoo'd hiring of Richard Kreisler of the law firm Liebert Cassidy Whitmore to be The City's labor negotiator.  At the time Righeimer and Mensinger presumed that previous negotiators - the City Manager, Allan Roeder, and the Human Resources staff - were more than willing to give away the store and the future of The City to those "hard-nosed" CMCEA negotiators - folks like our favorite Jiffy Lube Guy, Billy Folsom.  You remember him - the guy who dedicated more than three decades to the city to keep our public safety equipment running so the police and fire folks could respond to your emergencies.  He's now happily retired.

...BUT AT WHAT COST?
The high-powered Mr. Kreisler - who, by all reports, is a competent lawyer and negotiator and a good guy - was hired by our contract City Attorney, Jones and  Mayer, back in April of 2012 - you can read the staff report about that transaction HERE.   Included is a list of fees, which tops out at $300 per hour - or segment thereof - for certain staff positions.  Then, if you peruse the reports available on The City website, you can see just what that cost has been.
Legal Expenses, FY 2011/2012 -   $41,316.00
Legal Expenses, FY 2012/2013 -   $66,560.00
Legal Expenses, FY 2013/2014 - $222,418.00
                                                                    $312,294.00

DEFENDING STUPIDITY
However, that's not all.  Back in September, 2011, HERE, The City retained the uber-powerful law firm of Jones Day - At $495 per hour -  to represent The City in the lawsuit filed by the CMCEA against the city as a result of the bogus, illegal attempt by Righeimer and his pals to layoff more than 200 CMCEA employees - a move that demoralized most of the city staff and resulted in young maintenance worker Huy Pham leaping from the City Hall roof.  Since that time their legal fee meter has been spinning like a slot machine in Las Vegas.  Referring back to those same reports, you will find that Jones Day and Jones & Mayer have been charging large numbers to that litigation:
                                                         Jones Day             Jones and Mayer
Legal Expenses, FY 2011/2012       $999,112                  $16,344
Legal Expenses, FY 2012/2013       $475,469                  $10,849
Legal Expenses, FY 2013/2014       $296,929                  $0.00*
                                                                       $1,771,510               $27,193
These numbers do NOT reflect any charges for FY 2014/2015.  *No specific numbers broken out for this litigation from General Litigation.

EVEN MORE THAN THE MONEY...
So, when the crowing begins this evening, remember that the actual costs of this process are more than they will be telling you.  The tangible ones are reflected above.  However, the intangible costs - in morale of the employees and the diminishing of service to the residents and visitors to this city are not quite as easy to quantify.  We continue to see highly-skilled employees depart for perceived greener pastures and/or retire much earlier than anticipated, taking with them years of expertise and institutional knowledge.  Many of those vacancies have been filled by expensive consultants who, while perhaps well-intentioned, have NO real loyalty to The City and those it serves.

REMEMBER...
These are facts that should be remembered in November....

Righeimer Explains COIN, Sort Of...

MORE ANTI-UNION RHETORIC

Costa Mesa Mayor Jim Righeimer, hot on the campaign trail to attempt to retain his city council seat in November, presented his opinions of his buddy, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger's COIN ordinance to the editors of the anti-union publication Union Watch last week.  You can read the entire entry HERE.

READ IT YOURSELVES
While I know you'll read the entire interview of eleven (11) questions for yourselves, I'm going to share some observations of mine with you.  That's why you're here, right?

WHICH IS IT?
Right off the bat Righeimer is asked what COIN stands for and his answer is, "Civic Openness in Negotiation.  It is also referred to as 'open public employee negotiations'."  OK, so is it going to be "COIN" or "OPEN"?  I mean, this thing is still unproven and now they want to change the acronym?!  Yikes!

GIVING CREDIT, MORE OR LESS
Righeimer gives full credit to the creation of this anchor on negotiations to Mensinger.  He credits him for being the inspiration, and also gives credit to the law firm of "Leesberg Cassidy".  Of course, he meant Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, the highly-compensated law firm who provides us with the negotiating horsepower that, so far, has resulted in NO successful negotiation after more than a year.

TANGIBLE EXAMPLES, PLEASE
When asked about "tangible examples" of the COIN ordinance he admitted that, "The first contract that has been reviewed under the new COIN process hasn't been finalized.  But before it is front of the public, both parties are more reasonable in their offers and counteroffers because they know the public sees it.  In the past, one side might ask for 50 items just to overwhelm the city.  They don't do that any more."  Wow!  Really?  50 items!  How would he know that, since he wasn't privy to any of the prior negotiations?

LONG TERM BENEFIT?...
Question #9 was, "Over time, just how much benefit do you believe can come from tough COIN ordinances?"  His answer just rocked me back.  He said, "Well, a big benefit that could have occurred is that we would not have the pension problem we have today if we had had COIN back when the pension enhancements were being negotiated.  COIN also slows down the ability of unions to come back in the future and repeal agreements they don't like."

...NONE!
OK, his first sentence didn't even come close to answering the question, and the reason is that NOBODY knows yet exactly what the impact of COIN will have downstream - except negotiating and recruitment chaos.  His second sentence implies that the "unions" - we don't have any in Costa Mesa - could repeal a previous agreement.  What?  How?  An agreement is an agreement...

WHO OPPOSES?
Question 10 asks, "Do you consider a COIN ordinance to be of bipartisan benefit, and if so, who opposes COIN ordinances?"  I love his answer to this one!  He says, "For the honest brokers on both sides, transparency is not bad.  The people who are against it are the people who like the system the way it was - they would just make political endorsements or attacks in order to get a vote where a politician would not have any other input.  The guys who like the backroom deals don't like COIN."

BACKROOM DEALS!
Read that last sentence again...  Now recall that he and his majority adamantly refused to consider a COIN-type ordinance for ALL municipal contract negotiations.  Then consider that Righeimer has been going behind the scenes (backroom deals?) negotiating with business owners and developers all over town.  Where does he get that authority?  This is a perfect example of his willingness to ignore the rules, and another perfect example of why the voters should deny him a return to the council and certainly reject the Charter - a tool for even more abuse of the voters and taxpayers of the city.

"THE NEW STANDARD"
At the end he predicts that COIN is "going to be the new standard", and that he expects the "process to become normal procedure, everywhere, within the next ten years."

HOW ABOUT SOME SUCCESS FIRST?
Well, a more prudent politician might wait until there is a track record of success with the COIN process.  So far - as he readily admits in this interview - we have had NO negotiation come to fruition using the COIN process.  In fact, it certainly seems to outside observers that the process is taking a much longer time than in the past.  No, Righeimer can't just wait for facts - not with his political future on the line.  When he loses his seat in November his buddy, Scott Baugh, is going to have to find another job for him.  He may find another gullible town and have him drag his carpetbagging carcass there to see what damage he can do.