Steven Greenhut: Affidavit Shows Cop Union Targeting Foes

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Costa Mesa

Steven Greenhut's column last week was about two private investigators who allegedly set up a Costa Mesa councilman for a fake DUI. The PIs worked for a police-union law firm that represented the local union, which was dismayed by the councilman's policies (e.g., pension reform, outsourcing) and hired the firm to provide surveillance of them. Is this ugly story a case of two rogue investigators or does it say more about the nature of unions? Greenhut believe the latter, although union defenders he's heard from insist it's the former. New information — an affidavit filed by the Orange County district attorney in Superior Court last week — bolsters Greenhut's argument, and details the degree to which the Costa Mesa Police Officers Association was involved in political "games."