Effects of police union’s endorsement debated

Mike Brumbaugh said Tuesday’s Costa Mesa Police Assn. endorsement of planning commissioner Bruce Garlich and former Councilman Mike Scheafer will not affect his vote in November’s City Council election.

That doesn’t mean he doubts the effect it may have.

“It won’t influence my vote, but I do think it’s an important endorsement,” said Brumbaugh, president of the Halecrest and Hall of Fame Homeowners Assn.

“I have 100% respect for the Police Department. Will their endorsement change my mind? No. I’ll vote for who I think is best,” he said.

Brumbaugh declined to say who will get his vote.

Late Tuesday night, the police association gave Garlich and Scheafer its support for the Nov. 7 election.

The police union is the second public safety group to endorse candidates for the election. Last week, the Costa Mesa Firefighters Assn. endorsed Garlich and Scheafer.

Public safety and illegal immigration are expected to be among the most prominent issues in the election.

The other candidates for the two open seats are Mayor Allan Mansoor, who is running for reelection, parks and recreation commissioner Wendy Leece, business owner Mirna Burciaga, and business owner and author Chris Bunyan.

Mansoor, an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy, downplayed the endorsement’s effect.

“As a deputy sheriff, I am very supportive of law enforcement, and I know that Wendy Leece is also supportive of the public’s safety,” the mayor said. “I know she’s very supportive of the public’s safety and supportive of upholding federal immigration laws locally.”

Mansoor’s reelection campaign has stressed public safety and illegal immigration.

As for what he thinks of the police union’s decision not to endorse Mansoor, parks and recreation commissioner Byron De Arakal said: “I do think it makes him less credible as a public safety candidate because he has the desire to make Costa Mesa safer, which is laudable, but he wants to do it in a way that, I believe, firefighters and police officers don’t agree with. It makes it more difficult for the mayor to affect his policies when the very people that have to carry them out aren’t in agreement with him.”

De Arakal, who supports Garlich and Scheafer, said endorsements from public safety employees are important to voters.

“I do think the endorsement matters to most voters because firefighters and police officers in Costa Mesa, and in most cities, are held in high regard by the citizens they serve,” De Arakal said.

Clint Dieball, chairman of the police association’s political action committee, said Mansoor’s plan to train police officers to check the immigration status of suspected felons did not figure in the union’s endorsement.

Rather, union leaders based their decision on candidate interviews and on responses to a questionnaire, Dieball said. Each candidate was asked 15 questions seeking their positions on topics such as the death penalty and the most important issues facing Costa Mesa.

Although the union has endorsed candidates in the past, this was the first time the association used a questionnaire.

“It’s the first time, quite frankly, we’ve gotten this involved,” Dieball said.

Deciding whom to endorse was difficult, he said.

“We really respect the mayor, but we are hoping for a different direction for the city,” Dieball said.

The police union will begin working on mailers and signs for Scheafer’s and Garlich’s campaigns.

Termed-out Councilman Gary Monahan said the police union has endorsed him in past elections and other times it did not.

“It’s like any other endorsement. It’s nice to have, but it’s not the end all or get all,” Monahan said. “I don’t think it was any surprise to anybody, especially with the mayor’s position on Proposition 75. He was the anti-union poster boy.”

Proposition 75, which did not pass in 2005, would have required unions to ask members’ permission before using dues for political purposes.

“I have great respect for all of our police officers, and I am disappointed that I didn’t get their endorsement,” Leece said. “However, this week, I was endorsed by the Republican Party of Orange County and the Lincoln Club of Orange County.”

Mansoor is also being endorsed by the Republican Party of Orange County.