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 Political Muscle for Children:
The PROTECT-CCPOA California Partnership
Imagine if a group of children, all of them victims of sexual assault, went to the most powerful special interests in America for help...
"The law doesn't protect us," the children say. "And no one will listen. We don't have any money. We have no way to be heard. We can't even vote.
"But you are powerful," the children plead. "You have huge warchests of money and roomfuls of lawyers and lobbyists. You have powerful friends. It wouldn't take much of your time or too much of your money."
There in the well-appointed offices of the drug companies and trial lawyers, the gun lobby and the "smart growth" environmentalists, what would happen?
Nothing.
Politics isn't a children's story, and if you're a powerful political lobby, you don't loan your power out to abused and exploited kids. Unless you're California's strongest union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, that is.
PROTECT and CCPOA Join Forces
With over 30,000 members throughout the state of California, CCPOA is a strong union. But its strength in the state Capitol is legendary. While it might surprise those outside of California, there is simply no organization or special interest lobby that commands more political respect in Sacramento.
PROTECT began talks with CCPOA in 2005, after two tough legislative sessions when influential friends were few and far between. On issue after issue, CCPOA and PROTECT agreed and began to build alliances.
Yet it was more than simply policy positions that forged a bond between the two organizations, it was an attitude and an approach as well.
PROTECT—an organization made up of parents and cops, bikers and punk rockers, flaming liberals and staunch conservatives—is not your grandmother's child advocacy organization. And CCPOA—a union made up of tough men and women who see the worst humanity has to offer—knows firsthand about the wreckage caused by the abuse and neglect of children. Both groups fought to get where they are, and the more they talked, the more they liked the idea of fighting side by side.
A Fast Start in 2006
Put the financial backing and political muscle of CCPOA behind a pro-child, anti-crime agenda like PROTECT's and what do you get? A fast start.
Building a Grassroots Base
In less than a year, the PROTECT-CCPOA partnership has begun to change the political landscape for child protection in California. In the spring, the groups launched the California Real Safety Coalition. The Coalition will be the heart of a multi-year campaign to build a massive, grassroots network of citizens' groups calling for an end to the practice of dumping child sexual predators into unsuspecting communities with little or no surveillance and restrictions.
Campaigns and Elections
Then, with the approach of election season, PROTECT and CCPOA established a political action committee, opening up the union's mighty campaign coffers to support candidates who were strong on PROTECT's pro-child, anti-crime issues. Using independent campaign expenditures, the PAC sent campaign mailings out for a bipartisan slate of state Assembly candidates. The candidates all vowed a commitment to tougher child pornography laws, long-term and lifetime parole, more help for child crime victims and other important issues. All four women (two Democrats and two Republicans) were victors.
Changing Laws
Legislatively, CCPOA's support is helping PROTECT sponsor crucial legislation in 2007. This agenda includes a "maximum security parole" bill that will be a national model for sex offender surveillance and containment, an "online predator tracking" bill to expose the full magnitude of child pornography trafficking and enticement in California, and other initiatives to strengthen criminal penalties and support victims.
Taking Aim at Crime Policy
While PROTECT opened up fronts at the grassroots level, in the campaign arena and at the legislature, we also sent Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger a message in 2006. After Schwarzenegger's blue ribbon task force on high-risk sex offender parolees ignored public input and published a weak and misleading report, PROTECT authored a detailed response of its own, putting the state on notice that gimmicks and half-measures will no longer be allowed to pass for serious policy proposals (click here for Report).
Political Muscle, Political Heart
In the cynical world of politics, many will assume that CCPOA's support for PROTECT is purely self-interested. After all, when PROTECT fights for tougher sentences and longer parole terms for sex offenders, that means more jobs and better support for prison guards and parole officers.
But there's much more to the partnership than common interests. "This is a labor union, first of all, not some bar association or ideological group" says PROTECT executive director Grier Weeks. "There's a very strong human element to how they do business. When it comes to the issues we care about, they show more genuine outrage in thirty seconds flat than most politicians and philanthropists ever display. They don't ask what's in it for them; they ask who they need to grab by the ankles and turn upside down.
"For vulnerable and hurt children to have powerful friends like that in the corridors of power means everything."
Learn more about CCPOA
CCPOA Website
CCPOA Television (Issue and Campaign Ads)
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