912 West 2009
September 13th, 2009
Pension reform
September 8th, 2009
The Bakersfield Californian has been reporting problems the County and City are facing regarding their employee pension plans. On Sunday, 9/6/09, they printed an editorial titled “Leaders failed to be good stewards” that concludes that giving out lavish benefits like 3% at 50 to public safety employees, or 3% at 60 for non-safety, showed our local leaders were fiscally irresponsible.
Of course the BakCal’s new found passion for pension reform is right and good, but it must make one wonder, why did it take so long? And why didn’t they do more, sooner, to help us avoid this mess?
Going back through the online records of BakCal’s past we do find one person who, for years, has held pension reform as a top issue. That person is Zack Scrivner.
In October 2006 the Bakersfield Californian reported on a debate between Scrivner and Sheryl Mitchell during the race for City Council in the 7th Ward.
In the article David Burger writes, “The two differed on one of Scrivner’s pet issues — the reduction of pension and benefits for future city employees. Scrivner has been at odds with the firefighters union and the Central California Association of Public Employees because of his charges that their demands would bankrupt the city and cut services. Mitchell said that with the city lacking manpower, it needed to offer talented employees incentives to join and stay in the public sector.
Mitchell has been endorsed by the firefighters union and announced Tuesday she also has been endorsed by CCAPE (Central California Association of Public Employees).”
And from another October 2006 article by David Burger, “”Sheryl has a good business background,” said Chuck Waide, CCAPE rep. “She won’t use city employees as a whipping post to make a name for herself,” alluding to Scrivner.
CCAPE and the firefighters union have criticized Scrivner for targeting pensions and benefits. Scrivner claims that exorbitant benefits and pension plans for new hires could bankrupt the city.”
The unions have been fighting this for years
And of course the local unions, Bakersfield Police Officers Association and Bakersfield Firefighters IAFF Local 246, have continued the attacks on Zack, City Manager Alan Tandy, other City Council members and anyone else supporting pension reform. Click to hear the BPOA radio ad. And there were plenty of letters to the editor. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here.
But in return for being a champion of pension reform, the BakCal portraited Scrivner as a political opportunist.
June 2009 Gretchen Wenner “Bakersfield police and fire departments have the 3-at-50 pension plan. Councilmembers Zack Scrivner and Ken Weir have set their political sights on killing it off.” (emphasis added)
June 2009 Gretchen Wenner “Blame for a negotiating impasse with police and a predicted impasse with firefighters has been put mostly on the council’s two newest members, Zack Scrivner and Ken Weir, who lambasted 3-at-50 during election campaigns.” (emphasis added)
June 2009 Lois Henry “He wants to be the guy who broke the 3-at-50 benefit, which would be a first in the state and would virtually guarantee Scrivner ascent to higher office.” (emphasis added)
In their 2006 “endorsement“ of Scrivner’s re-election bid, where they called him a “divisive, partisan figure” who was lacking in leadership, they referenced his interest in the pension issue as such, “Scrivner demonizes the mounting costs of public employee pensions, but offers no solutions to what he says is a looming crisis.”
As a disclaimer I would like to state the fact that I have worked with Zack and I was appointed to the Bakersfield Planning Commission by him. But I believe the impartial observer has to agree that Zack has played a major part in bringing this issue to the forefront. And contrary to the Californian’s claim, he has offered solutions from the very beginning. Ideas such as increasing the age to receive the maximum 90% benefit, shifting to a defined contribution plan for new employees, employees sharing pension costs and even potentially returning to the 2 at 50 pension system that the city had for years. Here is a recent article Zack wrote about pensions.
So it is interesting that due, in part, to his view on pension reform, Zack is a ”divisive, partisan figure,” but it is now the same view held by the Bakersfield Californian. And for all of his work, no recognition in the BakCal’s shaming of fiscally irresponsible local elected officials.
Also interesting is the similarity between their editorial and the fire union’s talking points:
Bakersfield Fire Department employee Alan Neumann said in July 2009, “But rather than keeping the monies aside for the day when it was not overfunded, they chose instead to spend it on ice rinks, water parks and new offices for City Manager Alan Tandy.”
The Bakersfield Californian editorial in September 2009 said, “With no pay raises to pay and with no retirement contributions to contribute, that left more for the politicians to spend on say, oh, aquatic centers, ice skating rinks and sports arenas.”
(Note: The current unfunded liability amount is $100 million, approximately 1/3 of the city’s yearly operating budget. It is a stretch to think saving pay raises and retirement contributions would come close to filling this hole. This hole is here for two reasons only: high expense providing 90% of income at 50 years of age (or 60) for the rest of the employee’s natural life and poor performance from CalPERS investments.)
Ideally, the Californian and other local media would have helped tell this story sooner, so the public could help push the unions to accept these needed reforms. Now, with a hurting economy and many individuals without jobs, let alone lavish pensions, advocating for bringing pubilc employee benefits down to earth is an easy sell. It is a message that resonates with BakCal readers. (At least the taxpayers out there who will not receive 90% of their income for life.)
Perhaps the Californian could be accused of failing to be a good steward as well, by not getting in front of this issue. Luckily we have some leaders in Bakersfield who are willing to take a stand even when it is unpopular in the pages of the local paper.
The escape plan
September 1st, 2009
Check out this story from The Hill “Cops devised escape plan for lawmaker at town hall.” The story is about Congressman McCarthy’s recent health care reform town hall and the plan to evacuate the Congressman should anything have happened.
I have always assumed that this takes place but it is interesting to hear a report of it. Obviously when having such a large public event you run the risk of something going terribly wrong and it is great that our law enforcement are prepared for worst case senarios.
Town Hall roundup
August 27th, 2009
First, hats off to Congressman McCarthy, his staff, event volunteers and the thousands of people who showed up last night. It was a great opportunity for people to listen, speak and be heard. From my perspective, as someone who has been a part of numerous public hearings and town halls where only a handful show up, it is inspiring to see so many people willing to participate in a policy-related forum. As with the Tea Parties, my hope is that this interest and willingness to participate did not evaporate when the attendees passed through the exit. There are meetings every week where decisions are made that impact the quality of life of local residents. Many of these meetings go on without much attention from the press or the public. I truly believe that if just a fraction of those who attended last night continue to engage at the local level, we as a community would all benefit.
Norman Rockwell’s Freedom of Speech from his Four Freedoms paintings
The roundup:
Nick over at Facenews.org reports “The overall temperament of the Bakersfield town hall meeting on health care reform was mostly well behaved. There were few moments calling for McCarthy’s calmest tone, as only a couple of people jumped up and spoke out of turn.”
Also be sure to check out his pre-town hall video featuring a very suspicious looking squirrel.
Great to see former BakCal reporter, now BakersfieldExpress.com reporter James Geluso at the event. Here is his report.
James writes, “At times the meeting felt more like a rally than a town hall. Angry tirades drew applause, and the angrier they were, the more applause they drew.”
Steven Mayer at BakCal has a report here, while the BakCal front page shows us the angry. (Photo 2 of 9 here is on the print front page with headline “NO THANK YOU!”.)
And I would be remiss to not acknowledge BakCal’s discovery of Planet Stanley. The planet’s existence is not widely known, but it is rumored to be sparsely populated, painfully lacking in natural resources and stubborn in its strong anti-civility stance. Fortunately, I have been in contact with their ambassador and I am assured that they are ardent supporters of civil behavior and even politeness and kind acts from time to time. What the Planet Stanleyians are less receptive to are misguided attempts to correct problems that don’t exist by hoping and praying that the unwashed hordes will find within themselves the strength not to hoot and holler.
Welcome to Planet Stanley, we hope you enjoy your stay.
The Stanleyians join the BakCal in their desire for folks to mind their manners, but the honest citizens of this humble planet just had to correct the record when the paper trotted out four examples of misconduct which were both 1) more complex than they simply stated and 2) giving the distinct impression of angry mobs roaming the countryside. (Of course the Stanleyians were very surprised to find BakCal capture one of these roaming mobs on the front page of, as they described, the daily pamphlet.)
The BakCal found it amusing to juxtapose my harangue against civility with Rep. Moran’s (D) town hall in Reston, VA. So here is some video. And another. WSJ report here. NYT report here. More videos here too. Or watch the whole thing here.
Above is Congressman Moran’s town hall on 8/25/09. Right before it spiraled into chaos I guess.
A few things gleaned from these sources: activist Randall Terry was there to disrupt and after he was removed, things calmed down; Organizing for America (the DNC “grassroots” arm) was out in full force handing out their printed signs and hand-made signs; former DNC Chair Howard Dean was on stage with Rep. Moran and this all took place 20 miles from D.C.. Rep. Moran was so suspicious of one detractor that he had his identification checked before he could ask a question. The man was a local and the Congressman later apologized.
The New York Times leads with “Did anyone think that a highly publicized health care town hall within easy driving distance of Washington would not draw a massive display of Astroturf?”
The bottomline is that if any town hall in America were to fail, this would have been it - easily accessible to special interest groups’ recruits just there to shout down the other side and hosted by strong supporters of the bill, drawing even more intensely passionate counter-arguers. Instead, it ended up 95% civil, just 5% chaos. But those are strictly Planet Stanley numbers.
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