Following the shellacking his union and the AOCDS were handed in the 2nd Supervisor District, OCEA boss Nick Berardino sent out this e-mail to his membership:
From: Nick Berardino [mailto:NBerardino@oceamember.org]
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 3:42 PM
Subject: FW: Greenhut Editorial and Berardino's ResponseI have attached two documents that I would like all of you to read. The first attachment "Ready To Rumble" was an editorial by the Register basically written like a piece from the school "nerd society"..... "ha ha we won now you guys are really going to get it" !
The second attachment is my response.... that I want to share with all of you. We lost the campaign (no sugar coating it; no excuses) but we have won many campaigns and we will continue to win more in the future. The most important thing is we made a deliberate decision to stand up for ourselves and not to cower in the corner and allow somebody who has been attacking us just to walk in and attack us some more. Equally important is the fact that we will continue to fight if necessary and we will be even more vigorous (economically and otherwise) in the future.
Somebody must stand up for the ordinary working men and women and their children....and that somebody is and will continue to be us.------In Solidarity-------Nick Berardino
I love the "we're so oppressed" tone that always permeates Berardino's missives, as if county employees are braving a gauntlet of axe-handle brandishing Pinkerton toughs and Tommy gun-wielding policemen every time they attend a union meeting.
In any case, read Berardino's response, which includes this non-germane gem: "employees of the County of Orange are not eligible for social security[sic]." That's right, Nick: unlike the rest of us taxpayers, they're lucky enough not to be compelled to participate in a government Ponzie scheme!