The chivalrous Los Angeles police union stepped back into the whoregate controversy over the weekend, defending Meg Whitman's political honor and declaring she did not make a deal to protect public safety pensions in exchange for its endorsement.

In fact, states the Los Angeles Police Protective League, whoever becomes governor won't have a say when it comes to the generous public pensions of L.A. city cops and firefighters.

We reported, as did the Los Angeles Times and other outlets, that it appeared Whitman promised to preserve lucrative public safety pensions in exchange for the LAPPL's nod.

In fact it was that very appearance of such a deal that inspired someone on rival Jerry Brown's staff to call Whitman a political “whore,” an utterance that set off a minor firestorm Friday when the name-calling was caught on tape and released to the media.

So did Whitman, in fact, whore out her political beliefs in exchange for a valuable political endorsement?

After all, Whitman's been painting Brown as a union advocate who will protect the kind of fat pensions that could put California and the city of L.A. under financial water.

The police union says it's not so — that we, the media, and the Brown campaign, got it wrong regarding its endorsement of Whitman:

“If elected Governor, she would have no say in any changes to the pension formulas in the City of Los Angeles,” the LAPPL states on its blog. ” … The reason Meg Whitman received our endorsement is because of her positions on issues of public safety. She has stated that she is committed to fully fund public safety and she is a lifelong supporter of the death penalty.”

Over the weekend Whitman said she wouldn't weigh in on a proposed ballot measure that would cut city pensions. “I'm gonna leave that to the city of L.A.,” she said.

Regardless, LAPPL director Scott Rate told the Weeklyon Friday that the candidates' stances on pensions is a huge issue for the LAPPL.

In fact it withheld its endorsement of Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 because he had public employees' pensions in his sights.

“The pension thing is always going to be an issue while we're having the rough economic times we're having,” Rate said.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.