For
FOP President Dean Angelo and his staff, panic has set in.
Blue
Voice candidates in the upcoming FOP election have done their homework and
assembled the relevant facts of Angelo’s administration, citing carefully the
disparity between Angelo’s promises and his actual deeds. It’s what people do
in an election. They compare facts of an administration with its promises.
In
response, Angelo’s supporters have gone berserk, stalking social media and
viciously condemning Angelo’s challengers. Here are a few examples.
From
Greg Bella, recording secretary in Angelo’s administration (unedited):
I have tried to bite my tongue but Kevin Graham
has gone to far. He is running for FOP president. I am running with Dean Angelo
Sr. I just saw Grahams site where he bashes Dean with lie after lie and then he
outright lied about me. Unlike this puke we were brought up knowing all you
have is your reputation…
Vote for these ass clowns and this is the crap the
members will get. The members deserve better than this band of losers.
From
Kevin Kilmer, Financial Secretary:
During this time when the police are blamed for so
many things, it sickens me that police officers would assassinate the character
of fellow coppers just to get elected.
Blue Voice Candidate For President Kevin Graham
How
dare challengers in an election point out the shortcomings of their opponents?
The outrage. The injustice.
It’s
all bluster. With a dismal record representing members, Angelo’s team is left
with little more than bellicose, baseless name-calling on social media that avoids
answering the questions.
Clearly,
the Blue Voice team has hit a nerve. The members of this slate call themselves
the Blue Voice because they want both to speak for the members and keep them
informed.
In
light of that, consider some other relevant background on the Angelo
administration.
Let’s
go back to 2002, an election year. In 2002 something happened that has not
taken place before or since: An entire slate was voted out and replaced by
another.
Why
was this slate, headed by the Bob Podgorny, who was taking over from President Bill
Nolan, voted out? The reason is that members were furious over a provision in
the healthcare that forced members to pay a percentage of their pay for insurance,
not a flat rate. This meant that the more a police officer got paid, the more
he had to pay for insurance. This in and of itself angered members. But it was
also the manner in which the FOP under Nolan negotiated it. To the membership,
it seemed like a backroom deal, away from the watching eyes of the members.
Sound
familiar? It should. As of January 1 of this year, members are now seeing their
healthcare costs rise on a percentage basis.
But
it wasn’t just the rise in insurance costs that infuriated members in 2002. There
was more to it. When confronted by angry members, the Nolan/Podgorny team
dodged the truth until they were finally compelled to fess up.
In
other words, an entire slate of the FOP, an incumbent slate, was wiped out
because members felt as if they had been lied to.
Well,
guess who was a key member of the Nolan/Podgorny’s team?
You
got it, Dean Angelo. Angelo was Chairman of the Trustees and Field Rep at the
time, working closely with Nolan.
After
getting smeared in the election, Angelo took a bunch of guys out to Hooter’s to
lament their loss. Angelo picked up the tab. Nice gesture, right? Well, it
turns out Angelo used the FOP credit card to pay for the night out. He was
later forced to repay the Lodge.
But
to his credit, Angelo did not pass out golf shoes.
So
after losing the election, Angelo rolled up his sleeves and helped out members
in other ways, right? He was like Blue Voice candidate Kevin Graham, working in
peer support or helping members as a Unit Rep, right?
Hardly.
Angelo
was rarely heard from in the three terms Donahue ran the Lodge.
Fast
forward to 2014, the first election after the Shields’
administration. Here was Angelo’s chance to get back in the game, and the
manner in which he did so is crucial for all members to understand.
In
the 2014 election, Angelo couldn’t get the requisite 50 percent of the vote, so
there was a runoff between his competitor, Bill Dougherty, and him.
The
third-place candidate was Tom McDonough, running with Greg Bella.
McDonough
and Bella approached Dougherty and said that he would throw his support to
Dougherty in exchange for a job at the FOP. Dougherty didn’t blink. He said he
couldn’t do that to the members and to the people who had supported and worked
with him.
Next
thing you know, Angelo wins the runoff. Guess who is hired at the FOP for a
lucrative spot in the office?
Tom
McDonough.
Guess
who also got a job at the FOP?
Now
you’re catching on. None other than Greg Bella.
Now
pay close attention. Here’s an important subplot.
After
Shields won and took office, Shields filed a lawsuit against Bella, disputing legal
payments approved by Bella, some $140,000 that was in dispute. This lawsuit was
hanging over the head of Bella. But when Angelo won, guess what happened?
That
lawsuit just went away.
Poof.
This
is just one story of the backroom dealing and patronage that permeate Angelo’s
rise to power and the running of his shady administration that he and his
supporters don’t want members to know about, so much so that they are getting
on social media and viciously attacking anyone who dares bring it up.
But
in these attacks, Angelo and his supporters are badly mistaken. The Blue Voice
is not comprised of members who are easily intimidated. They are not the kind
of Reps who will fly to Washington and ask the Department of Justice how they
can facilitate an investigation that will vilify their own members.
Far
from it.
Whether
it is a washed-out union boss like Angelo or Bella, or contract negotiations,
or a meeting with IPRA/COPA trying to frame a police officer, Blue Voice won’t
be silenced.
