As a follow-up to yesterday’s FR mainpage link to the SFChron Matier & Ross story, here’s today’s announcement as noted by California Special Districts Association….

Correctional Officers Announce Effort to Recall Schwarzenegger

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) announced today that they will begin the process to recall Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"It’s about leadership," said CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran. "Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the worst governor in the history of worst governors …" The union is collecting the 65 necessary valid signatures to serve the governor a notice-of-intent-to-recall. The union would need an additional 1,041,530 signatures to qualify a recall for the ballot.

The Schwarzenegger Administration and the CCPOA have argued over multiple issues, including prison policies and correctional officers’ salaries. In addition, members of the CCPOA have been working without a long-term contract since 2006.

Corcoran added that CCPOA recognizes that the state is in a budget deficit and the union would be willing to put off raises in exchange for improved working conditions. Corcoran insisted that the recall "is not about money."

According to the CCPOA, it was the governor’s executive order to temporarily slash the pay of state workers to the federal minimum wage that caused the union to consider a recall.

The governor issued the executive order earlier this summer in order to conserve cash during the budget impasse, which is at day 70 into the new fiscal year. Some state workers were exempt from the executive order, including public safety officers at the California Highway Patrol. Employees at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation were not.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.