Taking the union pledge

It appears former Fresno County Schools Superintendent Pete Mehas got himself stuck in a box after pulling his endorsement of two Fresno School Board candidates for signing a union pledge. It turns out that Mehas' successor, Larry Powell, also signed the pledge. Mehas had endorsed Powell, who easily won the superintendent's post in June.

This was Mehas' reaction to finding out that Powell had signed the Sevice Employees International Union pledge: "If I would have known at the time, I'd have to reconsider my position," he said in a Bee story Saturday. Mehas also said the union didn't support Powell. "It is obvious they are not going to endorse someone who did not respond positively to the questions they asked," he said.

Mehas' statements raise question about his consistency on this issue. The Two Fresno candidates that he once supported, and then backed away from because of the SEIU pledge, are incumbents Tony Vang and Valerie Davis.

Here's The Bee story on the pledge.