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| Burke, Cockrell and McShane brought order to firehouse Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 4:00 PM PDT You don’t read much about the Coastside Fire Protection District in the Review these days and that is why you should re-elect the incumbent board members – Gary Burke, J.B. Cockrell and Ginny McShane. When it comes to matters of public safety, no news is often good news. Three years ago, fire service on the coast was dangerously deficient – to put it mildly. Turnover was horrible. Interim fire chiefs reported poor staff morale and poorly trained firefighters. A subsequent grand jury report recommended district directors hire an outside contractor to address a truly dangerous situation that included childish bickering among firefighters and $1 million lost to legal fees as a result. Burke, Cockrell and McShane have been pivotal in righting the ship and wresting control of your money from firefighters with a vested financial interest in the good-old-boy system that prevailed for years and years. The CalFire contract, which has saved taxpayers money and made us all safer, is at stake in this election. The challengers are all tied inextricably to the old system. They are all supported by the over-the-hill union that has misrepresented itself as the “local” alternative to CalFire. Perhaps you’ve seen the union mailers imploring you to support “Half Moon Bay Firefighters” and consult savehmbfire.org for the truth. Well, look closely. That’s a photo of an Oakland fire truck on the mailer and that Web domain is registered to someone in Arizona. The union’s campaign has nothing to do with supporting “local” firefighters. It’s as simple as this: Local 2400 can’t afford to lose the Coastside and it will continue to say practically anything to get our firefighters back under its flag. Other strapped municipalities are likely to see that the Coastside has benefited from contracting with the state and that means the union would lose membership, prestige and dues. We generally don’t rubber-stamp slates. And we wouldn’t this time either if we didn’t think the issue vitally important. Despite what you may have heard from the union, your firefighters are adequately compensated and well trained. The firehouse is now in order. Runaway legal fees have been checked. And you can thank Burke, Cockrell and McShane for all of that. They deserve your support. -- Half Moon Bay Review |