Inland Empire Progressive

Why are Progressives backing a measure that on it's face seems anti-union? If you don't live here in San Bernardino you wouldn't understand. But if you were to stay awhile, you would feel that something is fundamentally wrong. When I first moved here 10 years ago, I didn't pay attention to local politics much but as I did I started to get that feeling of wrongness. The wrongness is that the public safety union (whom up to 80% don't live here) dictated our budget. There was a palpable fear on the council dias to cross them and when anyone did public safety moved swiftly to remove him/her. When we stood up in a bi-partisan fashion in 2011, we dealt a severe blow to that wrongness. However, work to build a San Bernardino for San Bernardino residents continues. Some residents are so consumed by the fear of the "criminal element" that they vote no on this measure. Public Safety at any expense, budget be damned!! This is the wrong mentality to have because ...

When I read the CalPERs response to Dan Borestein's column, I was outraged and disheartened. Pension spiking is one of the most egregious forms of greed imaginable. Executive and management pay has extra perks that come with the entrapments of being in those positions, and those extra perks can be used as extra compensation when those folks retire. However, rank and file employees receive little or no perks in there positions. In addition, cuts always start at the bottom when it comes to balancing a budget and the newest employee or the long time part-time employee is the first to go. Now CalPERs interpreted the new rules the state legislature has just passed on pensions to include carve outs for certain perks that are received by employees. Abuse is almost certain because the most shady of executives and managers will come up with ways to exploit those loopholes in the system. Changing the name of a job title or a perk is one of the ways this could happen. For exa...