By Walker Bragman
Years before he was a potential
2020 presidential candidate, Beto O’Rourke was a city councilman in El
Paso—and a leading voice in a high-profile battle with unions
representing police and firefighters.
At the height of the conflict,
O’Rourke publicly mused about disbanding the police union, calling it
“out of control” and lamenting his colleagues’ unwillingness to stand up
to the powerful political force. A year later, he was calling for “better checks on collective bargaining in the public sector.”
The fight came at one of the bleakest
moments of the Great Recession, and the city was stuck in contracts with
the police and firefighter unions which provided for annual raises and benefits.
The city manager was proposing a five percent property tax increase and
other hikes in fees to pay for them, but the city council wanted the
unions to defer some of the wage increases and forfeit some of the
holidays. The Firemen and Policemen’s Pension Fund was in need of more
money, which meant they were open to negotiations, but O’Rourke was
frustrated at how dug in he said they were.
Police unions have increasingly found
themselves in conflict with progressive Democrats in cities across the
country, and are notorious for defending even the worst officers on the
force against charges of assault or murder. Chris Evans, O’Rourke’s
spokesperson, said that when he relayed The Intercept’s inquiry to
O’Rourke, O’Rourke’s first memory of the fight was that police were
demanding a provision that would give officers a 48-hour window after a
police shooting before they would have to answer an investigator’s
questions. That provision is indeed in the contract; O’Rourke’s remarks at the time, however, were focused on officer compensation and El Paso’s strapped budget.
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Source: The Intercept
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