While the Democratic field for governor has only become larger and more divided in recent months, the primary Republican options have remained Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and political commentator Steve Hilton.
Public opinion polling going back to August shows a familiar pattern of the two essentially neck-and-neck, with one sometimes swinging a few points over the other before it swings back.
Of course, as Republicans in a state with plenty of policy failures to riff on, Bianco and Hilton say a lot of the same things. They don’t like all the taxes and regulations burdening Californians. They vow to make California safer. They vow to bring accountability to homelessness spending. They promote energy abundance. And they support school choice.
But there’s one issue I noticed a lack of discussion about: the role of public sector unions in California politics and governance.
Unlike private sector unions, public employee unions have the unusual labor dynamic of being able to select their own bosses, the people whom they will be negotiating with come contract-time. One can reason through the sort of self-reinforcing feedback loop this establishes. The public employee union gets politicians elected, the politician does what the public employee union wants and so it repeats as a mutually beneficial relationship.
The results of dynamic haven’t been great for anyone but the public employee unions, the government employees represented by those unions and the politicians who have made careers doing whatever the public employee unions want.
Californians pay tremendous amounts in taxes for really subpar government services and are routinely asked to cough-up more because city councils, boards of supervisors, school boards and state legislators don’t know how to say “no” to their union bosses. In the rare times they do, it’s only a matter of time before the unions try to boot them from office.
The teachers unions back school board members who will sign off on raises, reject competition from charter schools and provide as little real oversight as possible. The police and firefighter unions get people into city councils and county supervisorial seats that will sign off on their contracts and not ask too many questions. The state prison guards union throws money at the governor and members of the Legislature to ensure they remain the highest-paid prison guards in the country while getting as little scrutiny as possible.
That’s why it matters how politicians think about public employee unions. While there are indeed Democrats who get it, by default Democratic political machines in California can reliably count on the financial and campaign support of the public sector unions. Republicans are more inclined to not only understand the problems with public employee unions but push back on occasion on behalf of taxpayer interests..
So I reached out to Bianco and Hilton with identical questions about how they think about public employee unions.
Hilton responded promptly. Bianco’s campaign waited until hours before the deadline to acknowledge they received the questions, then went silent.
Hilton’s answers indicate he actually understands the problem.
“Public sector unions have too much power in California government,” he explained. “Their influence extends far beyond workplace representation into budget decisions, regulatory policy, education standards, and enforcement priorities. That concentration of power is a major reason reform has become nearly impossible.”
He continued. “As governor, I would make transparency, accountability, and performance non-negotiable principles. Collective bargaining should be fair, but it must also be honest about long-term costs, pension liabilities, and service outcomes. I will not treat taxpayers like an unlimited ATM. I would audit major programs and demand measurable results. Fair pay and benefits must be earned within a system that delivers results, not protected by political muscle.”
Those are the remarks of someone who actually gets it. It’s also clear Steve Hilton is the only major Republican candidate willing to speak the truth about public employee unions.
Bianco’s silence isn’t a surprise.
His political career was literally jumpstarted at the behest of a public employee union, the Riverside County deputies union which wanted control of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. The result? Bianco’s department has the lowest crime solving rate of any sheriff’s department in the state despite spending more per capita than the average. Jail deaths have surged on his watch and the county perpetually sued for it.
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Republicans should choose wisely. And don’t be distracted by the cowboy hat.
Sal Rodriguez can be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com
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