The California Prison Guards Association (CCPOA) is spending $500,000 on TV ads against Marshall Tuck in the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Why would the largest recipient of state spending on California’s prison-industrial complex care about the identity of the state’s next SPI?
Tuck’s opponent is Tony Thurmond, a state legislator who dutifully voted for compensation increases for CCPOA’s members. After four increases over the last seven years, this year the state will devote $8 billion to salaries and benefits for prison employees. That’s twice as much as Thurmond and the legislature will grant the California State University system. It’s also twice what they will provide the University of California system.
Don’t blame CCPOA. They are a business, just like all the other businesses — realtors, pharmaceutical and hospital companies, dentists, and more —that roam the State Capitol in search of money and favors. Blame legislators like Thurmond, who is among a cadre of hypocritical California legislators who falsely characterize themselves as “progressive” while carrying water for commercial interests.
Govern For California supports elected officials who tell the truth and walk their talk.
