Nassau police unions switch political sides

Nassau's police unions, major financial contributors to Republicans for years, have made an about-face and now are giving heavily to Democrats, who opposed GOP plans for police job cuts and a reduction in precincts.

State campaign finance records show that last year, the 1,600-member Police Benevolent Association joined the detectives and superior officers unions in forming a political action committee that gave more than $500,000 to Nassau Democrats -- and nothing to Republicans.

The spending represents a sharp departure from at least a decade-long practice by the unions of funneling more than half -- and in some years as much as 90 percent -- of their campaign contributions to Republicans, according to a Newsday analysis of campaign records dating to 1999.

The new contribution patterns illustrate the dramatically changed relationship between the unions and the major political parties in Nassau, and have the potential to help alter the political calculus by pumping up Democratic coffers as the party tries to retake the county legislature next year.

Where the PBA once paid for huge campaign banners for former GOP County Executive Thomas Gulotta, the union this year has staged rallies against Republican Executive Edward Mangano's plans to consolidate eight county police precincts, a measure he says will save taxpayers more than $20 million annually by eliminating some 100 police positions.

"Law enforcement is falling on deaf ears when it comes to the Republican legislators," said PBA president James Carver. "We support people that have been supportive of law enforcement."

Democratic legislators say they welcome the union resources but are still trying to determine the impact.

"It's so new for us, we're not sure how it will work out for us," said Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick).

Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin said Democrats are doing the police unions' bidding as they continue to oppose cost-saving measures.

"The special interests who seek to control Nassau's purse strings clearly tell the county Democrats where to sit, what to say and how to vote," Nevin said.

The PBA, the county's largest police union, made contributions totaling $1.7 million between 1999 and 2012, with 60 percent going to Republicans. The Superior Officers Association gave $998,110 during that time, while the Nassau Detectives Association contributed $530,709 -- with two-thirds ending up with Republican candidates.

The pattern ended last year.

Angered by Mangano initiatives in 2010 that forced unions to agree to a total of $150 million in cost-cutting concessions or face layoffs, the police unions created the Safe Nassau PAC, which last year donated $550,000 to Democratic candidates, primarily in three key legislative races: $172,000 each to Democrats Delia DeRiggi-Whitton and Legis. Joseph Scannell, who both won their races, and to Adam H. Moser, who lost to freshman Legis. Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence).

Meanwhile, contributions from the individual unions were split about evenly between Republicans and Democrats. The PBA, for instance, contributed $74,925 to Democrats and $65,850 to Republicans.

Nassau and State Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs said that while the increase in Democratic campaign contributions means more money and manpower as the party tries to break the Republican 10-9 majority in the legislature, it's unclear how the police union support will play with voters.

"There are a lot of people who support law enforcement -- it's important," Jacobs said of the police support for candidates. "On the other side, of course, there are people who believe that unions do too well for their members. Sometimes it's a double-edged sword when unions support a particular candidate."

A contentious relationship

Mangano has had a contentious relationship with the police unions since taking office in January 2010.

The problems stem largely from the county's multimillion-dollar budget deficit and the effort by the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, a state monitoring board that oversees the county's finances, to force Mangano to cut costs or increase revenues.

Nine months into Mangano's first term, he told the county's four public employee unions, including the Civil Service Employees Association, they would have to make $75 million in concessions to help balance the 2011 budget. Adding to the tension, NIFA has voted to freeze all union wage increases two years in a row.

The PBA fired back at Mangano in September with TV, radio and truck advertisements, saying the concession demand would jeopardize public "safety to pay for political patronage."

Mangano responded in a statement in October: "Rather than waste members' dues on T-shirts and juvenile signs, union leaders would serve their members responsibly by getting their butts to the negotiation table."

In February, Mangano introduced a measure to give the police commissioner more authority to discipline and terminate officers.

Mangano in January proposed a major reorganization of Nassau's eight police precincts. Under the plan, approved by the legislature in March, four precincts will become "community policing centers" with reduced staffing. The plan, scheduled to kick off by May 1, eliminates some 100 police positions, though Mangano says public safety will not be compromised.

"The plan takes 48 police officers from behind desks and places them in the community to fight crime," Nevin said.

The police unions once shared a more peaceful relationship with Republican county executives.

From 1978 through 2000, under administrations of Francis T. Purcell and Gulotta, the unions negotiated wage and benefit increases that led the county's police force to become among the highest paid in the nation.

"Naturally, they always wanted more money, and naturally we couldn't give them what they wanted, but we settled on what was reasonable," said Purcell, 93, who is retired and living in Florida.

Gulotta did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

The unions had a more rancorous relationship with Democrat Thomas Suozzi, county executive from 2002-09, as they battled his attempts to ban overtime pay for police union executive officers and cap police retirement payouts at twice an officer's base salary.

They spent $500,000 against Suozzi as he sought re-election in 2005. They paid for TV ads and a plane that flew over Jones Beach with a banner reading "Suozzi: Bad for the Good Guys, Good for the Bad Guys."

"I respect the police and it's really unfortunate what's happening to the department now," Suozzi said in an interview. "But while I was in office, it was a never-ending fight over the union contract, and unfortunately I couldn't count on one single member of the Republican caucus -- and there were even a few Democrats who wouldn't stand with me -- because the police unions are very powerful and very effective."

Taking aim at Schmitt

More recently, police union leaders have focused on legislative Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt as an example of a Republican who changed his relationship with the police.

Schmitt acknowledged once calling for more police spending, but said: "We were advocating additional resources during a time when the county had additional resources."

He added that for all the support he received from the unions in previous races -- a total of nearly $24,000 from 1999 to 2010 -- it didn't approach the money the union poured into last year's election on behalf of Democrats.

"All of sudden when they got angry at us, they poured $598,000 into three races," Schmitt said. "They never gave $200,000 into one of my races in all of the years that we were quote-unquote friends. They have an agenda now and they haven't stopped."