The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs has quietly launched an effort to make membership in the union mandatory — a potentially controversial effort given the hundreds of thousands of dollars the group spends on failed political campaigns.
The association, which represents about 1,800 deputies and district attorney investigators, sent out ballots on Nov.1, with a deadline of Dec. 14 for return, according to a memo by county Human Resources Director Carl Crown.
“It is anticipated that the agency shop will pass because AOCDS already has a high percentage of voluntary membership,” Crown wrote.
In a lengthy complaint sent to county supervisors, one union member railed about the association’s political action committee and its track record of funding candidates who fail at the polls. Financial disclosures filed with the county Registrar of Voters show that the AOCDS spent at least $412,286 on the failed campaign of sheriff’s hopeful Bill Hunt in the June election and another $607,704 in that election on supervisorial candidate Harry Sidhu, who lost in the November runoff to Shawn Nelson.
“I do not support the candidates the funds go to and I do not believe my money should be used to make my association a special interest/lobbyist. It breeds corruption in politics,” said the letter signed by Bryan Stevens.
Wayne Quint, association president, did not return requests for comment. However, in a Nov. 18 letter to association membership, he called for support of the closed shop.
“This vote is the beginning step in making sure our association is doing everything possible to be the strongest it can be for the upcoming battles we will face,” Quint wrote.
