Posted on 04/07/2005 1:00:20 PM PDT by SmithL
SACRAMENTO - In a major reversal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today withdrew his support of a pension reform initiative that ignited stiff opposition from police officers and firefighters concerned about losing death benefits.
At a morning press conference, the Republican governor said he would focus on crafting legislation palatable to public safety employees and their unions. Also, Schwarzenegger said he will rewrite the measure, aiming for the June 2006 ballot if he cannot forge a legislative compromise.
``There should be no doubt they will be protected,'' the governor said of police and firefighters. Dropping his current proposal ``will spark a whole new fresh start in the Legislature.''
The dramatic change in direction comes after Schwarzenegger spent days meeting with public safety groups that have assailed the plan with emotional ads featuring tearful widows of cops and others killed in the line of duty.
Unions pointed to Attorney General Bill Lockyer's assessment that the measure, which would move all non-federal government employees to a 401(k)-style pension system in July 2007, would eliminate death and disability benefits. The governor and his aides have said Lockyer's analysis is wrong.
Overhauling the public pension system is one of four pieces of Schwarzenegger's ``reform'' agenda this year. The others are to factor merit in how teachers are paid, redraw legislative districts, and restrict state spending with across-the-board cuts and other measures.
Schwarzenegger has threatened to call a special election this year and take the measures directly to voters, if the Legislature doesn't approve them.
As criticism of the governor's measures mounted, Schwarzenegger's popularity has fallen. A new survey released today said Californians are now evenly split on the governor's performance.
The poll, conducted by San Jose State University's Survey and Policy Research Institute, said the governor's approval rating among voters has dropped to 49 percent. Among all adults questioned about Schwarzenegger, 43 percent approve of his job and 43 percent disapprove, the survey said.
I don't mind this IF it is merely a postponement of what, in any event, would have to be a gradually-phased-in reform. Much higher priority is a state constitutional amendment that bars gerrymandering.
Arnie would have no problem balancing California's books in about 5 years if he would just run out, and keep out, the ILLEGAL ALIENS THAT ARE COSTING US $10 BILLION PER YEAR...
No cajones
...
We know the asnwer to that.
Public Safety employees are off the hook for now but the rest of the unionized public workers are still on the hook.
Watch how fast the police and fire folks turn on the teachers, the Caltrans workers and the rest of the CA public employees.
This could get fun...
Seems like the ink is barely dry on the latest hard-assed cost cutting press release, then we get the "Arnie Backs Off" announcement.
Unless he suddenly grows a pair, I don't think he's going to make it in the next election. Just as well.
Yeah, it's fun to pit other people against each other who just want to avoid poverty in old age. It's fun to bankrupt people in their sixties who have put in a lifetime of hard work and devotion.
Thanks to gerrymandering, Republicans control congress and most state legislatures.
Pension reform is necessary. Most of us in the real world have to put in for our OWN retirement.
This so-called "reform" will end up cancelling pensions for elderly workers on the verge of retirement. That's simply abuse.
I doubt that, as a preliminary matter. Republicans have gerrymandered in some states, such as Indiana and Texas, but Democrats have done so in their own stronghold states at least as much. And gerrymandering is immaterial to the control of the Senate.
But even if you were correct, I would still want gerrymandering stopped. It's not fair, no matter who benefits.
It starts at the state legislature folks. My experience with "non-partisan" redistricting (see: New Jersey) is that it eventually becomes dominated by poltical hacks of one party or another anyway.
No offense to Californians, but how come you guys always feel the need to make a friggin "ballot initiative" out of every issue instead of voting for those who represent your interests, which is what a REPUBLIC is all about. Just curious...
Sounds like you agree with me, although, as I note below, you're mistaken in a key respect about what's going on in California.
Similar to what's occurred in Florida, or (probably) worse so, California's liberal Democrat legislature has "leveraged" a very narrow statewide vote advantage into nearly a 65-35% advantage in seats in the state legislature.
To correct such abuses, a number of jurisdictions, inluding Oregon and Iowa, have line-drawing commissions staffed by retired judges. The lines are to be drawn without reference to party registration and the like and, instead, primarily with reference to traditional "communities of interest" and natural boundaries like rivers and hill ranges. In several elections, it seems to work well; elections are more competitive overall.
But here's where you're off-base. The only way in which California can change the way in which district boundaries are drawn, is by state constitutional amendment. And there are only two ways to do that here. One starts with a 2/3 vote in both chambers of the state Legislature. Obviously THAT will never happen, because the Democrats have rigged the game: THEY're the ones benefitting from the gerrymandering and hence never will vote to end it. The second way is via statewide initiative vote, which comes about through the all-too-familiar signature-gathering, etc. Yes, Californians do that initiative crap too often ... but in this case, it's the only way.
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