After Deadline: Police layoffs didn't have to happen

I must've written a dozen stories over the past month on the standoff between the city and the Modesto Police Officers Association.

All that's left to say is the obvious: The nine cop layoffs didn't have to happen.

You don't have to look far to see the same dynamic playing out. About 100 Sacramento workers are losing their jobs today because of a similar bargaining stalemate.

Perhaps Modesto was too rigid in how it looked at the MPOA's cost-saving ideas. Maybe the MPOA was banking on having more political muscle than elected council members.

Both sides seemed to lose.

Here's where a few more city officials wound up:

The Modesto City Employees Association, Modesto Confidential and Management Association and Modesto City Firefighters Association won some goodwill with the city by agreeing to wage concessions. MCEA in particular had a difficult relationship with the city in the past.

Council candidates Jeff Perine and Robert Stanford tried to support MPOA at public meetings. That could help them with MPOA, but I doubt it will buy them any favors with incumbent electeds.

The next council, actually, is a winner, because this one had to deal with the last thing a politican wants to do: laying off cops.

The incumbents didn't have much on the line in the vote. I doubt someone will challenge Councilwoman Kristin Olsen this fall, so I don't think there will be much of an opportunity to use the vote against her. The others aren't running for office again until 2011. A lot can change by then.

City Manager Greg Nyhoff seemed to bolster his reputation for following through on what he says he's going to do. It's interesting that the MPOA chose to single out the council instead of him as the culprit in the layoffs.

- AA