Your Questions Asked and Answered

Q:  WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO RUN FOR RECORDING SECRETARY?

A:  The greatest current challenge in union business is keeping the membership engaged and informed. Considering it's 2017 and our union just opened its first website, I think it's fair to say we're significantly behind the times in terms of communication. In almost 2 years as a Sergeant I have never seen the SBA minutes posted for the members to see. While the main job of the Recording Secretary is to maintain a written transcript of our membership meetings, I do think there is far more to do here. Our union is in dire need of a complete communications overhaul and this was the main reason I chose to run for this position using a "hi-tech" platform, including a website and social media.

Q:  WHY WOULD USING TEXT MESSAGES TO COMMUNICATE UNION BUSINESS BE A PROBLEM? ISN'T IT MORE CONVENIENT?

A:  Cell phones are very convenient and a great way to communicate, however, it can be a slippery slope.  We receive many instructions through group text messages via cell phone. That can become problematic if those instructions were called in to question by the job or a higher authority. If your cell phone was subpoenaed by an outside entity, they may scrutinize more than just isolated texts. More so, group text messages sometimes lend themselves to informal commentary which may not be so appropriate for professional purposes. We saw this recently in both the Bridge gate issue and the Texas Arizona incident. As a policy, I would say that official instructions from our union leadership should be done on SBA letterhead and appropriately posted. 

Thanks for your question! 

 Q: I'VE HEARD YOU MENTION IN THE PAST THAT YOU THINK ALL EXECUTIVE BOARD POSITIONS SHOULD BE PUT OUT TO A VOTE ANY TIME THERE IS A VACANCY. WHY?

Simple answer...no elected positions should ever be filled by appointment. That system creates an incredible conflict of interest, where a representative of the membership may be compromised because he or she is beholden to the President that appointed them. There is no reason for this appointment process to exist. It stifles competition and promotes cronyism. Our own 1st Vice President has stated more than once at our general membership meetings that we should all be very glad that the NYS Comptroller title is an elected position, otherwise our pension and economic entitlements may be in the same poor condition as our professional counterparts in NJ. I say we follow that advice and change our bylaws immediately!