Text Box: SEIU Local 620’s Board, Staff, and Members working with the Coalition Against the County Split crushed the ill-conceived notion to split our County in half.  The measure first proposed in 2002, which cost the taxpayers at least $1 million dollars prior to the election, was a smoke screen for a power grab by certain special interests in the North.  It lost a lot of steam with the election of Brooks Firestone to the Board of Supervisors in 2004, but the proponents pushed forward in the face of a projected $30 million yearly deficit and growing community distrust.   This concept, which had been first placed on the ballot in 1979 and was roundly defeated then and again in this past June’s election, was politically thrashed about as bad as a ballot measure can be beaten.  The final tally was 82.85% against the measure and 17.15 % for the measure!   Measure H was the highest vote

Text Box: election. You took friends and family to the polls and it showed what we can do when we pull together to make our County a better place to live.   In various phone banks to our membership we were recording over 95% NO responses against Measure H that would have split our Union in half for County of Santa Barbara Members.  This would have produced layoffs, increased taxes, and put our Members pensions at risk.  Good Riddance!    Many thanks are given the Steering Committee of the Coalition against the County Split and to the years of tracking and hard work by former SEIU Field Representative Joyce Howerton and the Campaign Manager for the committee David Landecker, who just would not let the “good old boys” get away with setting up their own County.   - Ed Maschke

Text Box: getter of any candidate or measure on the ballot in Santa Barbara County eclipsing even the race for Governor and a hotly contested countywide Sheriff’s race.  Of the 182,129 eligible voters in this election some 90,382 (or 49.63%) of the electorate voted.  NO on Measure H led all voting in the County of Santa Barbara with some 84,981 voters participating.  County wide the NO vote against Measure H (the County Split) was 70,405 to 14,576 voters in favor of the split.   Even in the proposed new “Mission County” where most of the signatures were collected by paid signature gatherers for $2.00 per head the measure was again beaten to a pulp with 81.35% NO (or 32,158 voters) and only 7,374 voters supporting the measure.   SEIU is proud of all our Members who worked hard to defeat this measure and played such a vocal part in this

Text Box: Public employees are amongst the luckiest workers in the world.  How you might ask… Public employees actually get the opportunity to hire their own “bosses”.  For City employees it means having the ability to elect City Council Members.  For County employees it means having the ability to elect County Board of Supervisors, Judges, and Sheriffs.  All of these Officials make decisions that affect our jobs, our families, and our lives.    SEIU Local 620’s Members

Text Box: need to have a voice in the political process.  That is why SEIU Local 620 encourages our Members to play an active role in local, state, and national politics.  Endorsing political candidates is one of the ways we participate in the political process.  Political endorsements are made through a democratic process within the union and are made on the basis of candidates’ support for issues important to our members regardless of the candidate’s political affiliation.  We encourage our Members to participate in the endorsement

Text Box: process by joining our PAC (Political Action Committee).  A PAC is composed of Rank & File Members.  PAC Members help formulate questions and interview candidates and eventually make an endorsement or no-endorsement recommendation to our Executive Board.    General Elections are right around the corner (November 7, 2006) and there are a couple of closely contested races (Continued on page 7)

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