Affidavit Shows Cop Union Targeting Foes

A case in California spotlights their political 'playbook'
Steven Greenhut
Dec. 26, 2014

My column last week was about two private investigators who allegedly set up a Costa Mesa councilman for a fake DUI. The PIs worked for a police-union law firm that represented the local union, which was dismayed by the councilman's policies (e.g., pension reform, outsourcing) and hired the firm to provide surveillance of them.

Is this ugly story a case of two rogue investigators or does it say more about the nature of unions?

I believe the latter, although union defenders I heard from insist it's the former. New information -- an affidavit filed by the Orange County district attorney in Superior Court last week -- bolsters my argument. It details the degree to which the Costa Mesa Police Officers Association was involved in political "games."

The PIs are accused of placing a GPS device on one councilman's car, and reporting a DUI on another councilman even though he wasn't drunk. No one alleges the union wanted the investigators to break the law, but the affidavit says some union officials wanted the law firm and its "candidate researchers" to track and embarrass political foes.

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