SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Police Officers Association took the gloves off Thursday, taking its fight to the airwaves and launching a barrage of attacks in an ad, against Sheryl Sculley.
The ad began airing Thursday morning and doesn’t pull any punches, taking aim at the City Manager’s pay and the lawsuit filed against SAPOA and the San Antonio Professional Fire Fighters Association.
The ad launches straight into an attack, stating, “new from city hall. City Manager sheryl sculley is already the highest paid city manager in Texas. Soon, she’ll be making more than even the President of the United States…She filed a suit against the police officers association…”
Mike Helle, SAPOA President did not tell KENS 5 how much money was spent on that particular ad, but said they were willing to spend “whatever it takes.”
Several calls to Sculley were left unanswered, but earlier this week, Sculley stated she would not take part in personal attacks.
KENS 5 wanted to get your reaction, so we showed the video to viewers, and here’s the feedback we received.
“I think she’s been a good city manager, but the thing is her pay has is…and our police and fire fighters should get paid and have what they should have,” said Sylvia Lopez, KENS 5 Viewer.
Jimmy Douglas said, “Do I think she shoulda been trying to sue cops for their money? No. They protect us. I guarantee on one hand she be trying to sue the cops but if somebody breaks into her house or hits her car, whose the first person she’s going to call?”
The City of San Antonio released the following statement regarding the union ad about City Manager Sheryl Sculley:
“There have been no personal attacks from the City toward either union. Sheryl has stated repeatedly that she has tremendous respect and appreciation for City police officers and firefighters, which is reflected in the fact that they are among the best compensated in the state. Their salaries are second only to uniformed personnel in Austin.
It’s unfortunate the unions are disseminating false information as a diversion to negotiating an affordable collective bargaining agreement. The fact is that the City of San Antonio has a balanced budget and must rein in healthcare costs for police officers and firefighters that are excessive by any metric.
Sheryl is not the highest compensated City Manager in the state. The City Manager of Dallas, A.C. Gonzalez, earns more than Sheryl. Yet, under Sheryl’s financial management, the City of San Antonio has the best general obligation bond rating of the top ten major cities in the country, resulting in savings of tens of millions of dollars for San Antonio taxpayers.
Regarding the lawsuit, the City took steps to seek a legal judgment from the court on whether the labor union contracts can constitutionally remain in effect for another ten years. The legal action seeks nothing more than a judicial determination of this issue; asking the court only to review this one provision. The City is hopeful that during this process, negotiations with the police union will continue until a fair contract is reached.”
– Di Galvan, Communications and Public Affairs Department
http://www.kens5.com/story/news/local/2014/11/20/city-statement-union-sculley-ad/70028076/