PPOA has seen significant changes in the last year. The PPOA Board has introduced new directors in Coroner Investigator Joyce Kato, Commander Carlos Marquez, Lieutenant Ryan Vienna and Lieutenant John Satterfield, as well as retired Sergeant Jim Schallert representing our retired members.
As described in previous articles, PPOA will continue to rebrand our organizational status in the political world of Los Angeles County and California. Our Legislative Committee is being restructured to increase participation of our directors and membership, and formal procedures are being created and improved upon to provide a fair and objective analysis to our strategies. You can help! PPOA needs your assistance in order to continue our efforts to protect our interests and defend our salaries, benefits and retirements. For this reason, PPOA is asking everyone to provide a suggested donation of at least $20 (or any amount you can afford) per month to our Political Action Committee (PAC).
Another change for 2020 includes our new lobbying partnership with Lang, Hansen, O’Malley and Miller (LHOM), which provides PPOA with a respected name in lobbying and electoral strategy that will deliver guidance and tactics in navigating today’s very tricky political atmosphere. Capitol Weekly ranked LHOM’s Joe Lang as one of its 2019 Top 100, writing, “If you want to get things done in Sacramento … to hire top lobbying talent, you’ll probably be getting in touch with Joe Lang … his firm — Lang, Hansen, O’Malley and Miller — is always a top biller among lobbying firms and his client list reflects it. Such companies as FedEx, Estée Lauder, the California Business Roundtable, the California Retailers Association, the Port of San Diego, WalMart, DraftKings, etc., etc. We’ve said this before, but it’s true: LHOM is filled with people who should be on this list — Bob Giroux, George Miller IV and Larisa Cespedes, to name a few — but there’s not enough room. Partner Bev Hansen has been on the list before.”
The new decade also represents additional changes under Sheriff Villanueva that will define the landscape of the administration and provide many new opportunities for collaboration. Congratulations to these PPOA members on their recent promotions to:
- Assistant Sheriff: Bruce Chase and Steve Gross
- Division Chief: Brendan Corbett and Kelly Porowski
- Commander: Ernie Chavez, Diana Gealta, Rob Lewis and Sergio Mancilla
- Acting Commander: Laura Lecrivain and Paula Tokar
- Captain: Joe Badali, Tonya Edwards, Yolanda Figueroa, Roel Garcia and Martin Rodriguez
- Acting Captain: Ann Devane
- Lieutenant: Onorato Agrusa, Mark Almonte, Eric Barron, Christine Coles, Richard Crowther, Gregory Evans, Fray Lupian, Ethan Marquez, La Shon O’Bannon, Michael Shaw Jr., John Thorne, John Trojanowski and Dan Vizcarra
As these changes occur, we hope to be united with Sheriff Villanueva on issues we find critical to improving the morale and operation of the Sheriff’s Department: creating a fair and objective promotional process, including a resolution to the Dual-Track process; exploring a career path for non-sworn and greater respect for their contributions to the Department; finalizing the long-promised concealed weapons permit (CCW) policy for our non-sworn members; and increasing staffing numbers of custody assistants within our station jails to better accommodate the exponentially increased workload. Recently, the Sheriff and I met one on one, the beginning of what we hope to be regularly scheduled meetings to clarify our positions and establish a dialogue, further exemplifying the professionalism of both organizations’ attempts to work together.
While PPOA strives to continue improving relationships within the County departments to the benefit of our members, unions and labor organizations are only as successful as member participation. I urge you to get involved. Labor organizations derive strength from unity, and most of our benefits today are a result of union strength and solidarity. Come, participate. Become a delegate. Volunteer for a committee; there are many to choose from: Communications, Delegates, Finance, Insurance, Legislative, Membership, Contract Negotiations, Foundation Fundraising, Scholarship, Elections, Training and Bylaws. Your participation is not only encouraged, it is desired. See what we see: the value of an organization that does everything in its power to protect you, not as union members, but as family members. Thank you for your support, and thank you for being a PPOA member!
We wish you and your family a healthy and prosperous 2020!