AFSCME Council 18 Endorsement
For Republican primary
I am honored to announce that AFSCME Council 18 is proud to endorse me in my primary race. They gathered information about me through a questionnaire that they sent to all candidates for Bernalillo County Clerk. They then evaluated my answers and notified me about the endorsement.
I have a history of indirect involvement with Unions. My step father was a member of the Iron Workers Union in Albuquerque. Through that union he received medical benefits for his entire family including me. As a result, we never lacked for medical care and these benefits came in very handy when my eye was damaged by a stray BB when I was 13. Thanks in no small part to the insurance coverage provided by the union, I was given the best of care and, thankfully, I am able to see quite well out of that eye despite the damage.
I also benefited from union involvement at Sandia National Labs. In the transition of Sandia National Labs from university management to private management in 1949, our first president, who came from Westinghouse, wanted to curtail many of our university benefits and bring us in line with industry standards. Unions were not present at the start of the transition but quickly formed and saved our benefits for all employees, union and non-union. These benefits continued at Sandia even until I joined as a non-union member in 1985.
All of the questions I answered dealt directly with employees of Bernalillo County government. The topics included the following:
BASIC UNION RIGHTS
BUDGET AND STAFFING FAIRNESS
OUTSOURCING, TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY
HEALTH CARE AND RETIREMENT
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
GENERAL QUESTIONS
I provided honest and what I thought were balanced answers. Major themes of my answers included the following:
I believe unions provide workers with a measure of strength when bargaining with employers that they would not have as individuals.
We need to always keep people, their well being, and their happiness in mind when dealing with budgets and staffing. If people are not happy then how can we expect them to be productive and customer oriented which are essential for Bernalillo County Clerk operations?
I firmly believe that functions that are truly government functions should be provided by the government. I know the concept that private organizations are more efficient than government organizations so, the argument goes, we can gain efficiency by outsourcing government functions to private organizations. However, in practice, I have found this can actually lead to waste, fraud, and abuse. In addition, in my personal experience, large private organizations can be just as wasteful and inefficient as any government bureaucracy.
When government services are contracted out, a certain amount of money must be paid to the private contractor in order to reimburse them for their management services. In my opinion, based on my experience, this money could be better spent on employee benefits and on providing better government services which are often reduced when government functions are handed off to private companies.
Government must be accountable to the people so transparency is essential. I think there is a tendency for large organizations to avoid transparency in order to not be held accountable for their actions. This tendency must be resisted and countered.
When we accept employment with a company or agency we agree to work for some sort of compensation. This compensation often comes in the form of wages, health insurance, retirement plans, and other benefits. This is an employment contract that must NOT be broken. If a retirement plan, including health benefits, is part of the employment contract, this post-employment compensation must not be reneged upon. If this contract is broken, individuals have little practical recourse but collective bargaining units do.
When we have surpluses, such as those provided by oil and gas revenues in New Mexico, I think it is better to save most of those moneys to reinforce our financial stability and our ability to meet our future commitments. It makes no sense to squander those resources on short-term pet projects of executives who happen to be in charge at the time of the surpluses. Lets think long-term with these moneys not short-term.
So, given the questions asked and my honest and transparent answers, the council decided to endorse me in this primary race. I am hoping they will also choose to endorse me in the general election.
Clay
Paid for by Clay Pryor for NM