As everyone knows, this is an election year. As such your Political Action Committee has been very busy and will continue to be so until the general election in November. The political activities of your association are some of the most important, as well as the most misunderstood, business we do. It is important because it has both a direct, and a collateral, impact on our job and benefits. It is misunderstood for a variety of reasons, some of which this article will hopefully clear up.

As deputies, we work for an elected official, the Sheriff; our criminal cases are handled by an elected official, the District Attorney; the judges in our courts hold elected positions; a significant amount of our work involves contract cities, all run and managed by elected mayors and city councils; and finally, we negotiate our salary and benefits with elected officials, the County Board of Supervisors. Our jobs are also influenced and affected by the laws passed at the state level—laws that are drafted and voted on by elected officials, and signed into law by the Governor, another elected official.

Everyone who runs for a political office seeks out endorsements from groups or other elected officials. The endorsement of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of San Diego is viewed more and more as a sought after endorsement. Your board of directors recognizes this as both an opportunity and a responsibility. We do not lightly hand out endorsements.

When a candidate requests our endorsement, they are given the opportunity to be interviewed by the committee. If they are not willing to meet with us, they are not likely to receive our endorsement. (Many times incumbent candidates have even come down from Sacramento to meet with us.) The candidates answer a short questionnaire prior to our interview, and most give us a resume or curriculum vitae. The interviews last about 30 to 45 minutes, and generally consist of an opening statement by the candidate, followed by questions from the committee.

The committee is made up of both directors and members-at-large. We welcome and even solicit comments about candidates from the membership. The deputies who work in the contract cities many times have more intimate knowledge of those seeking office in their cities. The same is true for judgeships. The deputies working in Court Services know and work with the attorneys who will be running for judge, and we encourage them to provide us with any insight they have about these people.

The committee uses the information gained from the questionnaires and interviews to decide who to recommend for an endorsement. This decision is based on a consensus of the committee. However, it is the entire board of directors that makes the final decision whether to give an endorsement or not. This is done at a regular board meeting and is recorded as part of the minutes. In other words, endorsements are not done in secret, but in a way that is open to the membership. The thinking that goes into who to endorse is probably the area that is least understood by the membership.

There is often a dichotomy involved in the political endorsements of the association. Speaking in the broadest of political terms, and with the understanding that there are always exceptions to generalizations, conservatives are perceived as being favorable to law enforcement and liberals are perceived as being favorable to labor. The DSA is a labor organization that represents law enforcement, which puts us in an interesting position politically. No candidate is going to please everybody, and no matter who we endorse for a given office, we are going to upset or offend some members.

We recognize the ramifications to our jobs, and more importantly, our salary and benefits, with each and every endorsement we make. Understand that your board, and the committee, has the best interests of the association and its members in mind when making every political endorsement. 