UPDATE: Two unions, the International Association of Firefighters Local 864, and Local 2170 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, have decided to stand by their endorsements of City Council candidate Ed Prince.
The Renton Police Officers Guild has pulled its endorsement of City Council candidate Ed Prince and a second union representing nearly 300 city employees will consider doing the same thing tonight (Monday).
“We are turning back the clock,” said Sgt. Craig Sjolin, president of the police guild, based on information it has received since it endorsed Prince earlier this year.
Up until now, Prince has received the endorsement of local labor groups representing most of the city’s rank-and-file employees. His opponent, Robin Jones, has received endorsements of district-level labor groups.
Pat Miller, president of Local 2170 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said his leadership will consider pulling its endorsement, based on information it has received since it endorsed Prince. Miller said the local also has done its own investigation.
Local 2170 has 292 members in every city department and division, with the exception of the Police Department.
Neither employee group plans to endorse Jones in Prince’s place.
Prince said he found out Monday morning that the police guild had pulled its endorsement.
“My initial blush is that I am disappointed,” he said.
The reasons mainly stem from how Prince has handled his personal finances, including receiving $14,000 in jobless benefits the state ultimately decided he didn’t deserve.
Prince received the jobless benefits after he resigned from his sales job for Greenwood Funeral Home in Renton, part of the national Service Corporation International.
Prince explained in an interview with the Renton Reporter that his job initially was salaried, then it was converted to commission-based. Faced with the possibility of being fired over the job change, he chose to resign. He said his employer indicated it was OK with them if he applied for jobless benefits.
Prince said he was told by an employee with the Employment Security Division that he could file for unemployment benefits, even if he resigned. He filed for benefits under that assumption. But Service Corporation International disputed the claim and won. Prince is now each month paying back the jobless benefits.
Sjolin said the guild based its decision on the jobless claim, a default on Prince’s condominium and his handling of a ticket for driving with his license suspended in 1998 in Whitman County.
The guild originally was approached by Rosemary Quesenberry, a Jones’ supporter, with documents detailing some of Prince’s financial issues. Sjolin said the guild did its own “due diligence” before deciding to pull its endorsement.
The guild wouldn’t have endorsed Prince had it known about these issues, Sjolin said.
The issues, Sjolin said, “didn’t resonate well” with the membership.
Sjolin revealed that Mark Martinez, who came in third in the primary election, was the guild’s first choice, but he “just needed a little more maturity,” he said.
The guild’s decision doesn’t mean that the membership wouldn’t endorse Prince in the future, Sjolin said. It’s just that the issues should have been disclosed, he said.
“We are not trying to pass judgment on anyone,” he said.
Prince said he hopes to work with the guild in the future.
“Honestly, I am a big supporter of law enforcement. And I am a big supporter of the police officers guild,” he said.
