Bill Horn Vows Political Payback for Term Limits

Supervisors' Petty Move to Ban Union Construction Agreements is an Act of Retribution Against Labor for Challenging Status Quo at the County

SAN DIEGO – (Friday, July 9, 2010) – Despite that the County government has never been asked to sign a union construction agreement, County Supervisor Bill Horn has proposed spending $100,000 to place on the November ballot the same exact law to ban project labor agreement requirements that the Supervisors approved just months ago.

The political retribution comes on the heels of San Diego County voters' overwhelming disapproval of Bill Horn and the Board of Supervisors. Horn became the first incumbent San Diego County supervisor in 12 years to fall short of winning reelection in the primary, In addition, a term limits initiative against the supervisors – known as Proposition B – won by a landslide margin (68 percent to 32 percent). The term limits campaign was started by local union workers.

"In June, voters showed they want change at the County, and they're going to start with Bill Horn," said Lorena Gonzalez, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Diego County Labor Council. "It's very petty of him to go after construction workers in retribution for his own political failings."

Horn has proposed spending $100,000 to ask voters to ban the county government from requiring on its public works projects agreements that have ushered veterans and local workers into the construction industry. Those agreements have also allowed local construction workers to receive health care coverage when they otherwise would not.

The Board of Supervisors already passed that ban when it approved a virtually identical ordinance on Feb. 23. Horn's proposal for Tuesday's meeting of the Board of Supervisors is to place the ban on the November ballot. If passed, the new ban would have no new effect on how the county contracts.

"Bill Horn's proposal is retribution for enacting much needed change at the County," Gonzalez said. "This is Bill Horn's fundraising cry for help to the contractors who traditionally bankroll his reelection campaigns as well as these types of discriminatory ballot measures."

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The San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO, includes 127 affiliated unions representing more than 190,000 workers who are making the region a better place to work and live.
For more information, visit www.unionyes.org.