Comments on: Pension initiative enters circulation

By: Michael J. Davis

Michael J. Davis — Wed, 25 May 2011 19:09:19 +0000

A defined pension plan is part of the salary package that public employees are paid. Public employees cannot receive stock options, stock bonuses or other perks of employment that are available to employees in the private sector. The issue of public pension plans is rarely mentioned when the economy is strong. The discussion centers on why someone would work for a government agency when they can do much better in private industry. Now that the economy has soured, the people who wouldn’t even entertain the idea of working for a government agency want to reduce or destroy the pension system that the public employees supported with their contributions. The issue will fade to the back burner when the economy recovers. That should begin to happen when we get strong leadership in the White House in January 2013.

By: Elwood

Elwood — Wed, 25 May 2011 18:41:39 +0000

Re: #2

Don’t let the door etc.

By: Publius

Publius — Wed, 25 May 2011 18:30:50 +0000

It shouldn’t take a constitutional amendment for our politicians to correct the pension theft, that plagues our state. The only reason a person like Niello would embark on this task is to force the politicians to act. Our elected officials have failed, which means we have failed. Rest assured that Gerry and the Dems will do nothing to correct the problem. The Public Pension Boondoggle rolls on unchecked.

By: A cannon aimed at the gravy train

A cannon aimed at the gravy train — Wed, 25 May 2011 18:07:59 +0000

[...] reformer launches a petition drive to qualify pension reform for the [...]

By: Lisa Vorderbrueggen

Lisa Vorderbrueggen — Wed, 25 May 2011 17:12:03 +0000

What? And I was really looking forward to covering that campaign, too.

By: Josh Richman

Josh Richman — Wed, 25 May 2011 16:30:14 +0000

All moot: Niello now says he'll not pursue petition signatures for this ballot measure, though he might try again with a modified measure in the future.

By: John

John — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:45:00 +0000

Does the initiative include Calif politician’s pensions which make all other pale in comparison? Go where the money is.

By: lars54

lars54 — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:05:08 +0000

I doubt such an initiative could pass. The number of unionized public employees in our state is substantial – you’ve got tons of workers up and down state who would be negatively impacted by this initiative if passed. Thus you could expect like 95% turnout with these voters, all voting thumbs down, they would be huge chunk of vote totals. The rest of voters would probably split on proposal, so this thing would go down in flames, I’m sure. I recall when Arnold tried to make it more difficult for teachers to get tenure the unions – led by teachers unions – galvinized into action. Labor – when they are threatened – really can come alive, let me tell you. In particular, the nurses union, boy are they a junk yard dog when they get mad, mess with them and they will destory you, just ask Meg Whitman, or Arnold. One thing I recall is Arnold’s popularity – which was high then – never quite recovered from his lame effort to make it more difficult for teachers. He started getting bad press from that day onward, reams of it, and he never recovered. California is a liberal, union friendly state, with liberal union friendly newspapers.

By: Common Tater

Common Tater — Wed, 25 May 2011 14:56:04 +0000

Why wait, Waynito?

By: Waynito

Waynito — Wed, 25 May 2011 14:23:51 +0000

When they have morphed this country into a cruel ghost of its former self, privatized the public schools, killed any thought of rational health care, reintroduced and glorified idiocy, homophobia, sexism, hate, racism, greed, antisemitism, state religion, and all the other antediluvian insanity that I can think of, and reduced the populace to peasants I will have moved to another country where my hard work, dedication, intelligence, and independent thought is valued.