Members, Please Read

Written by Francis Kennedy Jr.
Published September 2000, The Fire Fighter

To avoid any misunderstanding, the following statement regarding our political endorsements is offered:

The Hawaii State Fire Fighters Association’s (HSFFA) political endorsement is a recommendation from union leadership to the membership. That recommendation is based upon the leadership’s experience and comes from the point of view of its interests.

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Members pay good money to have the union look out for their interests in collective bargaining and policy issues with the State, the City and the Counties; in legislative issues before the US Congress, the State legislature and City or County Councils. They elect union leadership to deal with these and other political appointees in the fire departments, the civil service and other agencies on their behalf.

This is the time when your union leadership needs to tell you, based on that experience and from its perspective, just who’s been naughty and nice; who’s been fair and open in their relationships with your union and others. In the case of non-incumbents, the leadership will do its best to make judgments as to whether they are folks who will meet their expectations when elected.

What do we expect of endorsed candidates who are elected? We expect them to be interested in our concerns on matters affecting the fire service, fire fighters in particular and other working people; whenever possible, we expect them to be supportive and helpful; when there is a problem or disagreement on an issue, we expect them to be honest and straightforward about it and to give us a chance to justify our position.

Over the years we have had severe disagreements with some of our endorsed and elected officials. However, we continue to endorse them-not because we don’t have a choice-but because they have won our respect and admiration. In some cases, the opposite has been true.

Unfortunately, there are those times when the leadership has to choose from among good (and sometimes previously endorsed) candidates who are now competing for the same office. While it might be easier if no choices were made, the leadership needs to do its job and make the hard decisions these cases require if at all possible.

As far as the general public is concerned, we have found that, as a rule, the public official who is cooperative and fair in his or her dealings with our union is one who does likewise with all people of good will having legitimate interests or concerns to bring to their attention.

There are some “experts” out there who delight in discovering union members who say they don’t follow their union’s endorsements and vote for or support any candidate they please. And on that basis, these self-proclaimed experts conclude that such endorsements are meaningless.

Believe it or not, there really are people like that who obviously think union members are stupid!

All good union members are also good citizens who are certainly intelligent enough to know that they have the right to vote for and support anybody they want. Union members are also wise enough to understand what their union is asking of them through the endorsement process.

As for the value of our political endorsements, the fact is the real experts are the candidates themselves. If our union’s endorsement is meaningless, how come they want it so bad?

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What do we expect of endorsed candidates who are elected?  We expect them to be interested in our concerns on matters affecting the fire service, fire fighters in particular and other working people; whenever possible, we expect them to be supportive and helpful; when there is a problem or disagreement on an issue, we expect them to be honest and straightforward about it and to give us a chance to justify our position.

Francis Kennedy, Jr.
Hawaii Fire Fighters Association Business Manager
1970-2001