California Correctional Peace Officers Association
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| California Correctional Peace Officers Association | |
| Founded | 1957 |
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| Members | 31,000 |
| Country | United States |
| Key people | Mike Jimenez, president |
| Website | www.ccpoa.org |
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), founded in 1957 as the California Correctional Officers Association (CCOA), is the prison guards' labor union in California. The CCPOA is widely considered one of the most powerful political forces in California politics. CCPOA president Don Novey established the union's tradition of forming close alliances and friendships with political leaders during the 1980s.
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[edit] Mission
The mission of the CCPOA is “to promote and enhance the correctional profession and to protect the welfare of those engaged in corrections.”
[edit] Membership
The CCPOA has 31,000 members, each of whom pay $59.42 per month to the union. Union dues total $21.9 million per year.
[edit] History
Until the 1980s, unionized prison guards were relatively weak politically in California, with membership divided between the California State Employees' Association and the CCOA. Don Novey led a successful effort during the 1980s to combine California Youth Authority supervisors and parole officers with prison guards, launching the CCPOA's rise to prominence. The CCPOA's membership increased substantially. Novey was an aggressive lobbyist and helped bring the union to a position of great influence in Sacramento politics, eventually becoming one of the most powerful unions in the state.
By 1992, the CCPOA was California's second largest political action committee, contributing over a million dollars to legislative candidates. The CCPOA also contributed over a million dollars to Pete Wilson's successful gubernatorial campaign that year, the largest independent campaign contribution on behalf of a candidate in California history. The CCPOA subsequently backed Gray Davis's successful campaign for governorship in 1998.
The CCPOA has supported campaigns for tougher criminal sentences, including large contributions to the 1994 campaign for Proposition 184, the 'three strikes' ballot initiative, which puts repeat offenders behind bars for lengthy terms.
[edit] Political activity
The CCPOA is deeply involved in a variety of political activities. Most spending is done through political action committees (PACs). Although its membership is relatively small, representing only about one tenth the membership of the California Teachers Association, CCPOA political activity routinely exceeds that of all other labor unions in California. The union spends heavily on influencing political campaigns, and on lobbying legislators and other government officials. CCPOA also hires public relations firms and political polling firms.
As calls for reform of the state's prison system escalated during 2006, putting pressure on current governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to take a more aggressive stance on reform, the union's seemingly friendly relationship with the governor has begun to cool.
[edit] Lobbying
Lobbying efforts and campaign contributions by the CCPOA have helped secure passage of numerous legislative bills favorable to union members. The CCPOA takes the position that correctional officers perform an essential public service that puts in great danger, thus making apologies unnecessary for its aggressive lobbying and contributions to state legislators.
[edit] Political action committees
CCPOA has many political action committees, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.[1]
[edit] Criticism
CCPOA critics assert that the union has become too powerful in California politics, that it has used its power to unfair advantage, and that it has been an impediment to constructive debate and openness about the state of California prisons.
[edit] External links
- CCPOAnet.org - 'California Correctional Peace Officers Association: Representing the Men and Women Who Walk "the Toughest beat in the State"' (official website)
- CJCJ.org - 'Political Power of the CCPOA: The Cycle of CCPOA Influence', Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
