A political broadside fired by the Fresno Police Officers Association against mayoral candidate Ashley Swearengin may have hit the group's own candidate, Henry T. Perea.

And the maneuver also angered Fresno Mayor Alan Autry, who so far has stayed neutral in the race to succeed him. An endorsement of Swearengin by Autry would inflict political damage on Perea.

On Thursday, the FPOA was joined by other public safety unions in condemning a four-year-old report Swearengin helped write that suggested capping general fund spending on police and fire services.

That report -- a guiding framework for the Regional Jobs Initiative, a public-private partnership that Swearengin heads -- listed many ways local governments could invest in job creation.

"We fear for the future if Ashley and the politics of RJI move in to City Hall," FPOA President Jacky Parks said during a news conference, with Perea at his side.

But Perea joined council colleagues on Dec. 9, 2003, in voting unanimously to accept the RJI plan and "work collaboratively towards the goals of the Fresno Regional Jobs Initiative."

The news that Perea had voted to fund RJI left Parks stammering.

Perea and Parks took just two questions about Perea's votes on RJI before a campaign spokeswoman ended the news conference.

Parks said later that the situation was a matter of interpretation. Swearengin, he said, authored the report -- so it reflects her stance on public safety. He said Perea, who voted to accept the report and fund the program, didn't support every line of it.

Parks announced the FPOA's support of Perea's campaign for mayor in July, and said Thursday that the group remains firmly in support.

"We know his record on public safety," Parks said.

Perea said his vote in December 2003 was to accept the RJI plan, not to endorse its contents. "The fact is we funded the RJI, and we accepted the report," Perea said. "We didn't approve individual measures."

Perea didn't object to the proposal to cap general fund spending on public safety in December 2003. Official minutes from the meeting show that Perea didn't comment before voting on the report.

Swearengin said Perea was taking the report out of context to attack her. She said the goal of the initiative was to find ways to enhance public safety while improving the local economy. Among the report's suggestions was a proposal for a public safety tax as one option to replace city funds.

She said her support for public safety funding has always been clear.

"I have said since the beginning of my campaign that increasing funding for public safety and improving our local economy are my top two priorities," Swearengin said.

Autry, who for nearly a year has said he would stay out of the race, on Thursday said he might have to rethink that decision.

A news release issued on Swearengin campaign letterhead quoted Autry as saying it was "absolutely false" that the RJI report called for limiting public safety spending. The mayor was a co-chair of the Regional Jobs Initiative.

The release then quoted Autry as saying: "Accusations like this, if they continue, are making the choice for Fresno's next mayor very easy."

Autry said in an interview he hadn't decided whether to officially endorse Swearengin, but he wouldn't rule it out.

"I've said that I wouldn't jump into this election unless I thought a candidate was trying to take the city backwards," Autry said. "Well, I didn't jump in. Today, I was yanked in by Jacky and Henry."

If Perea's attack on the RJI recommendation prompts Autry to formally back Swearengin for mayor, the dynamics of the race could change, said Sally Tannenbaum, an associate professor of communications at California State University, Fresno.

"It could be a critical event because it is happening so close to the election," Tannenbaum said. "Autry is obviously a person who still has influence in this town, and he has a lot of supporters."

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