"I am proud NOT to have the Endorsement of the Fire and Police Unions"

As mentioned by David Bahnsen here, our wonderful City of Newport Beach, once upon a time, thought it would be nice to let the people vote on whether our City Employee's pensions should rise.

Well...that motion never even made it to light, as all of our Seven UNION BACKED City Councilmembers hid their tails between their legs and didn't even risk discussing it in public.

Bit of Background - the Police and Fire Unions were extremely involved with 2006 City Elections, and after the last election, where all of their candidates won, the Police saw their wages increased dramatically and the Fire/Lifeguards saw their pensions increased dramatically.

A small bit of payback I suppose, at the expense of our future (my 19 month olds included) taxpayers.

So...because County Supervisor John Moorlach knows that it's difficult for Union backed candidates to not support their Union supporters, he helped put a Measure on the November ballot which would take it out of the Elected's hands and into the voters, whether or not Government employees can get their Pensions increased.

Hmmm...taking the duties of the Electeds out of their hands and into the voters?

What do we elect them for in the first place...?

But as our Newport Beach City Councilmembers have shown, political payback is a b**ch and our Newport Beach pension liabilities should be fun come retirement age.

...and my hope that we can get our Current (and future) Newport Beach City Council members to grow a pair and take our City's future back from the Unions...

I have an idea - why don't we vote for the people who proudly declare,

"I am proud NOT to have the Endorsement of the Fire and Police Unions."

Newport Beach is the only city in Orange County where you'll hear the "Republican" candidates proudly tout the Union support....

Anyway...it's a long convoluted way for me to introduce this e-newsletter from County Supervisor John Moorlach...

The Long Beach Press-Telegram has an editorial this morning that extols Measure J, the measure our Board recently voted to put on the November ballot, by explaining a very current situation in the City of Fullerton. It is noted in italics. I hear that the City of Santa Ana’s City Council will also be voting on a similar pension-spiking agenda item this week.

This editorial highlights one of the key reasons these generous pension enhancements are doled out in the public sector: “everybody involved benefits.” One only needs to look at the ages of the city’s top management advising their councils to see that they will benefit, and soon. (I know, I know, you’re shocked, absolutely shocked.)

What is infuriating to me is that some cities can’t even afford to fix the potholes in their streets. How can they afford to take on additional pension liabilities? In the near future, when a city council votes to put a “pothole tax” on their ballot, don’t you buy it; it will really be a “pension enhancement/wealth transfer tax.”

Pensions and ethics

Press-Telegram editorial

Have taxpayers resigned themselves to pension-spiking at their expense? They shouldn't. It's still going on.

The latest example is the Orange County city of Fullerton, where, behind closed doors, politicians are negotiating a 25 percent retroactive increase in pensions for city employees. Twenty-five percent! Retroactively!

"Negotiating" is a ridiculous term for what's going on, which is raw self-dealing. Everybody involved benefits, from the elected politicians who expect help at election time to city "negotiators" who of course will get the 25 percent increase, too.

The only reason anybody knows about it is that one city councilman, Republican Shawn Nelson, told the Orange County Register. Shawn is the only council member opposing this scheme at Fullerton City Hall.

Doing the "negotiations" in secret is perfectly legal, since state law provides for confidentiality in discussions of contracts and other legal matters. In Fullerton, as elsewhere, this turns out to be a great convenience. The council agenda notes only that city officials are involved in conferences with labor negotiators. Not a word about huge pension increases to members of city employee unions at taxpayer expense.

Councilman Nelson says it is unethical not to tell the public what those conferences are about, and he is obviously right. To its credit, the Register is doing its best to make sure the word gets out, and taxpayers have their say. Now, not later.

Most counties and cities, including Long Beach, already have put oversize and often underfunded pensions in place. One city, Vallejo, is in bankruptcy because of it.

There is one positive glimmer. Also in Orange County, which has a $2.7 billion deficit in its pension program, the Board of Supervisors has approved a ballot measure that would require voter approval of any further pension increases. It's late, as one supervisor groused, but better than nothing.

Also, thanks to Supervisor John Moorlach, the board has filed a lawsuit aimed at cutting sheriff's deputies' retroactive pension raises because they are a gift of public funds.

That they are. Just ask any taxpayer who doesn't have a government pension.

UPDATE 8/19/2008- I've been corrected - turns out Councilman Keith Curry had brought up the motion to the rest of the Newport Beach City Council and did not receive a Second...