In combination systems, career and volunteers work together to provide excellent service to the citizens. That's the way it is supposed to work. unfortunately, it does not always work that way. There are organizations that fight against each other. Career personnel want to get rid of the volunteers and volunteers refusing to work with the career. In the end the interior fighting makes the organization and the citizens suffer.

There is strength in numbers these two entities working together can accomplish great things. there is no room for discord in the system and if the riff is from the top then the top needs to go. We are all here to do the job and when we do it together the system becomes great.

Why do unions gravitate towards a certain political party? Most of the time the answer is "we have always done it that way" At best that is a crap reason. All politicians suck and will promise you the moon and stars, but don't deliver yet election after election they keep supporting the same party. It is time for the heads of the local to listen to their members, who elected them to run the union in the first place. If your members want you to break the cycle and support a different candidate, then so be it. Stop blindly throwing you support to the same trash election after election.