Matt Mahan is tougher on government unions than Chad Bianco

Soon after San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan announced his campaign for governor of California, I reached out to ask Mahan about his views on the state’s public employee unions. These unions, after all, are key political actors in the state and wield considerable influence over who gets elected and what they can do to reform government once in office.

I reached out with the same questions I asked Republican candidates Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. Hilton was tough on the unions. Bianco’s team stalled before they stopped responding. (As an aside, I know the Bianco campaign read the column, as they fixed a typo I mentioned in the column on their campaign website soon after publication.)

Mahan, in his responses, was evenhanded. Asked his views on the influence of public sector unions in California, Mahan pointed to his dad’s membership in the postal workers unions and offered arguments about how unions have been a force for economic mobility.

“It’s their job to fight hard for their members,” he explained. “It’s the job of our elected officials to fight for the collective good of everyone — whether they are a union member or not. The influence only becomes an issue when we have politicians that don’t fight as hard for taxpayers as they do for the unions that supported them during election time.”

Asked about the balance of power of unions in state government, Mahan responded along similar lines, “The problem isn’t that public sector unions wield too much power. They do their job well. The problem is that sometimes the politicians don’t do their jobs well enough. And when that happens, we can get contracts and spending that are in excess of what our state and local governments can afford.”

Now, as general as these answers seem, he’s not wrong about any of it.

They also become even clearer when considering his track record in San Jose.

As mayor, and therefore unlike any of the Republican candidates, he actually had to say “No” to public sector unions.

Reported the San Jose Spotlight in 2023, “Throughout the months of a heated bargaining process, Mahan was steadfast in his stance that the city can’t afford to cave to the unions’ demands. He continued that sentiment during today’s council meeting by casting the sole ‘no’ vote against the union contracts, which gives 14.5% in raises over the next three years.”

His sensible approach is what’s prompted headlines like, “San José Labor Groups Don’t Like Mayor Matt Mahan. So Why Does His Reelection Seem Assured?” It turns out voters and public sector unions don’t necessarily have the same interests. Who knew?

But what’s interesting to me is that Mahan, a Democrat, is in his way tougher on public sector unions than Republican candidate Chad Bianco. Bianco, unlike fellow Republican Hilton, actually has experience as an elected official.

Bianco’s experience certainly differs from Mahan’s. As I’ve detailed for years, the only reason anyone knows who Chad Bianco is is entirely due to his willingness to be a public sector union puppet.

As I wrote all the way back in 2018 for the Riverside Press-Enterprise before Bianco was elected sheriff in a piece headlined “95% of Chad Bianco’s campaign donations come from a single public sector union,” the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association. That union is the deputy union in Riverside County and at the time it wanted to retake control of the Riverside Sheriff’s Department after then-Sheriff Stan Sniff, a Republican, bucked union demands. So, it recruited Bianco to run.

The result? A scandal-plagued sheriff’s department with high numbers of jail deaths and the lowest crime solving rate of all the sheriff’s departments in the state. This is all despite having an above-average budget.

Stepping back, Mahan not only has the political courage to articulate his views on public sector unions, but he’s also acted accordingly. Not as an anti-union ideologue, but as someone able to discern competing interests and keeping the interests of the public top of mind. In this way, Mahan has certainly separated himself from the Democratic pack.

Bianco, by contrast, not only won’t speak critically of public sector unions but owes his entire political career to them. Which is an odd description of a Republican.

It’s something to keep in mind ahead of the June primary.

Sal Rodriguez is the opinion editor of the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com