Ralph urges voting for Ralph Hoffmann, 1st on the Ballot, and Jennifer Price, the sole Incumbent, for Director, SRVFPD Board

By Ralph Hoffmann

A Local Union Shop Shows Mis-Treatment of Rank-and-File By Management (The Board). Two Firefighters on the Board are Redundant; All Boards Strive for a Varied Pertinent Skill Set. The Choice is Obvious; Ralph & Jennifer

Ralph as Director; San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District Board, will Ensure a Highly Educated and Experienced Director. Ralph has Academic Credentials Exceeding Those of his Other Three Opponents Combined, Able to Lead the Rest of the Board to Economically Sound Decisions Which Make Best use of Taxpayer Revenues. Ralph has Over Twice the Industrial Professional Experience of the Two Firefighters (Who Together Represent Only a Minority on the Board & Redundant Experience.) Ralph, with 40+ Years of Political Savvy Useful in Improving Management (Board) Treatment of Firefighters. Ralph's Career Experiences in Oil and Petrochemical Refineries Relate Equally to Those of Firefighters.

Ralph also endorses Union Firefighter Jennifer Price for re-election to retain her experience and gender balance on the Board and further the goal of improving relations between the Board and the rank-and-file Firefighter.

The LWV Smart Voter Sites of information supplied by the 4 candidates bear the above choices out. Ralph has followed SRVFPD Board Meetings for the past 4 years.

Ralph came in 4th in 2004 for Director; SRVFPD Board in an election with 3 open positions. Ralph has believed, since childhood, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." If others call him a "perpetual candidate," as he had never been a candidate for an elected public office before the year 2000, that's their problem.

He Realizes Many Important Decisions are Made Behind Closed Doors, Out of Oversight of Press, Public, and Firefighters. As the Press and Public are not Privvy to these decisions, they are dissuaded from attending Meetings and Reporting on Them. At the October 25 Board Meeting, Ralph recommended that the Closed Session, during which many important decisions affecting Firefighters are made, be held before the Public Session, so that press and public may comment in a timely manner before newspaper deadlines are reached. This is the practice in most every other Publicly Elected Body in the County, except the SRVFPD. Ralph also noted all names and pictures of Firefighters had been removed from a wall display, after he had commented at a previous meeting about the lack of gender and ethnic diversity of employees in proportion to population, a requirement of Federal Law.

In Ralph's Career, He has Worked in Both Union Shops and Non-Union Shops

He Knows Full-Well That a Non-Union Shop is Preferred by Wage Employees, if They are Treated Fairly by Management, in this case,The SRVFPD Board. A Non-Union Shop has Incentives of Eliminating Costly Payment of Union Dues by Firefighters and Wasteful Arbitration of Grievances and Contract Negotiations, Which Instead Could be Applied to Increasing Firefighter Compensation. Firefighters in the SRV are Currently Represented by San Ramon Valley Firefighters Association Union Local 3546. A Recent Multi-Color 8-1/2" x 11" Flier was Sent out of Sacramento by the State Firefighters Union.

In a non-union Petrochemical plant in Alvin, TX, the enlightened management selected Ralph to Chair many Accident Investigation Committees, because Ralph would select one or more operators to serve on the committee with him and others. The result, quite predictably was that the findings of the Committee were unbiased, and didn't always find the cause of the accident to be "operator error." In a unionized plant, of the same company, located in Texas City, TX, management-labor relations were much poorer. A chair, not Ralph, was selected for Accident Investigation Committees, who did not give operators a voice, and invariably concluded the accident was caused by "operator error."

Ralph is wise to the Board's "dirty tricks"

The Recent Glossy, Multicolor, Taxpayer-Paid "Fire Line" Published By the SRVFPD Board, falsely alleged to be printed on recycled paper, was Received by Voters in the US Mail October 14, 17 Business Days before the November 7 Election, In Violation of California Fair Campaign Practice, Prominently Advertizing the Name of the one Incumbent on the Ballot...Another Commonly used "Dirty Trick" by This Board. Ralph, of course, as a Chemical Engineer, knows very well that the paper used was not recycled, as claimed, in an attempt to further deceive the public.

The 2 Union candidates have displayed a huge sign advocating their candidacy, within the Town of Danville, in violation of the Danville Municipal Code, relating to the size of signs. This billboard, not in keeping with Danville's small-town atmosphere, has been removed.