Posted on 06/05/2012 10:34:11 PM PDT by SmithL
San Jose voters Tuesday were handing Mayor Chuck Reed a crucial victory with his nationally watched pension reform measure leading by almost 3 to 1 in early returns.
It was a big night for pension reform, with a San Diego measure also leading by a wide margin. City employee unions who argued the measures are illegal were expected to challenge both in court.
But voter approval of San Jose's Measure B puts Reed and the city in the vanguard of efforts to shrink taxpayer bills for generous government pension plans. Passage also strengthen's Reed's hand as he and his City Council allies work to enact the measure's reforms with a vote next week to reduce pensions for new hires.
"I want to thank the voters of San Jose for their commitment to fiscal reform and to creating a more sustainable future for our children and grandchildren," Reed said in a statement shortly after the first returns posted. He added in an interview that he expected a big win after talking with residents around the city and called it a victory not only for taxpayers who have watched city services trimmed as pension expenses surged, but also for employees whose retirement plans will be more sustainable with the changes.
The San Jose and San Diego votes drew interest around the country as a gauge of voter support for reforming pensions at the ballot box. Gov. Jerry Brown's pension reform proposals have gained little headway in the Legislature.
...But Yolanda Cruz, president of the city's largest union, called the measure "an unfortunate way to spend taxpayer money fighting it in court because we will definitely take it there. Taxpayer money would be better used getting services back."
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Lets do it again ....
Excellent news. Sanity is coming to the Bay Area.
praise the Lord. this is the first winning vote i’ve ever cast in san jose. thank you supervisor olivario and mayor reed.
Color me shocked and amazed. Half of my liberal family members live in San Jose, and I would never expect a measure like this to pass in their uber lib town.
Someone must have told them that the money wasn't really coming out of other people's pockets.
Pension reform in San Jose, San Diego, and the Wisconsin vote are showing that the american voter may be finally waking up to our fiscal reality.
This is where this is headed. Tons of taxpayer money spent, and it will be overturned anyway.
I think most people didn’t/don’t know that public employee’s pensions aren’t funded/witheld from individual workers paychecks. But rather from their friends and neighbors.
“But Yolanda Cruz, president of the city’s largest union, called the measure “an unfortunate way to spend taxpayer money fighting it in court because we will definitely take it there”
Well if you are so concerned about taxpayers’ money then why are you taking it to court, b***h??
Have the people REALLY finally understood about pensions??? OMG!! Hope is not lost!! THANK GOD!
Nothing, no other action, could so expose the blatant lies of the public sector unions more than the action of taking the taxpayers to court to force them, at gunpoint, to keep paying them more and more, right after those same taxpayers made their opinions known to all by voting in the public arena of democratic action.
They have learned nothing from the staggering defeat in Wisconsin.
Expect to see lather, rinse, repeat as this is played out time and again until some people are either run out of their respective offices, bankrupted, or hanged.
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