The Obvious Message of Jerry Brown’s Pension
A kerfuffle surrounding a clandestine Jerry Brown pension is generating a lot of Drudge action on this lazy August Friday. Servers at the Watchdog blog of the Orange Country Register that broke the story are bogging down. Keep clicking on it. The report is amusing. In fact, it’s a bit more than that….
It seems California’s one-time and now aspiring governor Jerry Brown has been drawing down a healthy pension from the state — perhaps double-dipping — causing a mild embarrassment to Jerry that could grow into something more than mild. At the moment he is locked in a tight race with Meg Whitman.
What’s troubling in all this is not that Brown makes a good pension — or even than there may be some discrepancy about how much he makes versus how much he deserves. It is that the whole thing is SECRET! (rare use of caps and exclam very deliberate).
Let’s think this through for half a second. At a time when pension funds are bankrupting or potentially bankrupting states all across the country, when aging populations are forcing the reconsideration of all sorts of social security programs on practically every country on Earth (countries that have them, anyway), and when the state of California — the sixth, or is it seventh, biggest economy in the world — is about to, once again, pay its employees with vouchers because it’s got zippity-do-dah in the bank, some officials of that state are receiving pensions whose size and identity we do not know and are not allowed to see.
Yes, there are secret state pensions in California. (Sounds like Novosibirsk, doesn’t it?) And we the citizens of that state are paying for them!
There is only word for this: criminal.
This mysterious fund whose beneficiaries you are not allowed to know about (even though you are paying for them) is called the Legislators’ Retirement System. It was supposed to have been reformed, but evidently it wasn’t. Who’s responsible for that little oversight, I’d like to know.
If Jerry Brown were a public official worth re-electing, not only would he completely disclose everything about his pension at this point, he would also call for a new law that makes all — and I mean all — publicly-financed pensions totally transparent.
We’re paying for them. We have a right to know who is getting them and how much they are getting. It’s so laughably obvious, it’s astounding there isn’t such an ironclad law already.
It will be interesting to see if Jerry does this. Although a cool guy on the surface, with all the best Zen moves of an aging-Boomer, in the crunch he has almost always shown himself to be a coward and to behave and act in the tradition of the hack liberal pol, pandering to interest groups and preserving the status quo ante.
Only in this case the status quo ante is a disaster. I am reminded of the lyrics of Woody Guthrie’s classic “Do Re Mi”:
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won’t find it so hot
If you ain’t got the do re mi.
Well, right now most of us don’t got the do re mi, not just those poor migrants Woody was writing about. The whole state is on the brink of collapse — from the redwood forests to the Whiskey a Go Go. Pension transparency is just the tip of the iceberg of what needs to be reformed. But pension transparency is a good place to start, because if we are to avoid permanent bankruptcy, a number of these pensions are going to have to be cut substantially. There’s no other way I can think of.
Roger, mention ‘pension’ to a hard-core Lefty, and ya might just lose a right eye to a left hook whilst they sing “Pension Queen”.
The “public trough” thugs are worse than the damned Welfare reprobates.
You know what happens when SOCIALISM takes hold of a country?
NOBODY wants to WORK any longer.
That’s what!
Jerry Brown’s pension is over 1.6 Million dollars a year for the first five years, then it is adjusted for the deficit and has scheduled increases of 754,000.00 a year each year for life. His pension includes a new car of his choice every three months, his 22 million dollar mansion paid for, with a full staff, paid for, and a mandatory vacation even in retirement at any destination he wishes with travel expenses of 25 thousand dollars a day for the entire time he is away from his home. He gets a private jet, a private yacht, all fully crewed and on call 24 hours a day, and all of this is tax free for life.
THAT is Jerry Brown’s pension until that grubbing weasel shows us what it actually is. Until that time….I, being the comptroller of Government pension disbursments, do solemnly swear that lib turd senior is getting what I wrote above. Jerry Brown is welcome to refute it with his factual on paper proof I am mistaken at any time he chooses.
Sounds like a good enough reason to keep the pension secret. Reform is not the proper term in my estimation. It should be removed as pulling it up by the roots. Trouble is that this form of corruption would not be a one instance deal so how many are passengers on this job robbing gravy train?
I have worked Merchant Marine and helped move some semi-submersible drilling platforms with about a acre of deck, some seventy steps to a side. When the job was finished I was paid off and discharged. There was no lifetime income for a short range job. We elect our officials from two to six years not for life. When that tour of duty is finished they should be back on their own. I believe retirement is the responsibility of the individual, not the employer. Some are better managers than others and can produce a better retirement because of their management. Neither nature nor history gives us a retirement plan other than that the children honor their parents. If parents do a good job educating and training their children and keep corruption out of our government this is possible.
I also will take up the call , I swear that is what Jerry’s pension is. Only public disclosed written proof can prove me a liar.
Jerry Brown’s campaign for the governorship is probably over. This election may be Meg Whitman’s to lose.
I hope you are right but this gadfly has more lives than any other political operative I’ve ever seen before.
And if he is – so what? You still have a legislature full of left leaning loons.
Loons and more. As a 30yr Cal resident, some of the dumbest people I have ever met are members of the California legislature.. And now they are ruining life for everyone, including their own children. What unconscionable creeps. And the thought that Jerry Brown wants to come back after all this – disgusting. The man hath no shame.
This the year 2010—and it is the wrong time to be involved in a pension scandal. Voters are enraged at the wild government spending, and the lavish benefits and pensions provided to the governmental elites. We will see if I am right in the next released Rasmussen and Gallup polls. My guess is that Meg Whitman will jump out to a five point lead. Please feel free to make fun of me if I am proven to be wrong.
Dave, I wouldn’t say it’s over, but the double-dip pension issue is really gonna hurt Jerry.
Wiillie Brown’s column in last Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle was delicious. He said Jerry “looks like Alan Cranston’s brother”, which is not a compliment as Cranston looked like Death Warmed Over, aka a Skull-On-A-Stick.
And Willie pointed out that Whitman’s offer to debate Jerry Brown two more times (Jerry accepted) to make up for a horrid mistake by her staff in using an old photo of Jerry Brown in their attack ads, i.e. when Jerry was young and healthy. Because Jerry and his campaign were THRILLED to have Whitman help overcome his worst image problem – that he looks like he’ll croak at any minute.
So Whitman set herself up for Jerry to run rings around in debate (because he’s still as sharp mentally as he ever was) in the hope that enough voters will watch it and see Jerry’s Alan Cranston imitation(makeup excluded – that will be critical). It is true that you should first watch televised debates with sound off to see how they really look to voters.
That was hilarious. Willie Brown is the best thing in the SF Chronicle since Herb Caen died.
Today is Friday the 13th—and Meg Whitman’s campaign blunder regarding Jerry Brown’s photo is a minor deal. This is a great time to get those sorts of mistakes behind her. Brown’s pension scandal is her ticket to the governor’s mansion.
Have you taken a good look at Meg lately? She’s no prize package by a long shot with her four chins. Neither one of them have it going on in the looks department. Meg, in fact, looks like an old spent milking cow. I think that the looks thing a wash. If anything Brown looks pretty good for his age. He seems to be trim and in shape. What is he like 70? He’s a decade older than my grandfather!
Please, Praetorian, we have already informed you, do not write posts that make it easy to see you are so young. A sixty-year old grandfather? How old are you? 17? No wonder your comments are so jejune. This is a sophisticated blog. We will reassign you. Meanwhile, get rid of this name Praetorian. They were guards for the Roman Emperors. Much too fascistic in sound. Please pick a new one for your next assignment. Something like “Humble Citizen” would be good.
no he’s the guy that bases his political choices and comments on getting his student loan interest lowered..nothing else it seems
It’s as good as “gee he has on black shoes, i’ll support/vote for him”…
I am a little surprised, too, as my nephew’s grandmothers are/would be well over 70 and the boy just passed 10.
Praetorian: It is beyond juvenile and unacceptable to make comments like this about anyone:”…Meg, in fact, looks like an old spent milking cow…” When you were a child—you still are, in my book—people used to criticize Warren Christopher (you’ve probably never heard of him. He was then-President Clinton’s first Secretary of State) by calling him a “prune face.” All this meant was that the name-caller didn’t bother to educate him- or herself about what Secretary Christopher’s many mistakes in foreign policy were. When you attack a person’s appearance, you are showing yourself to be intellectually lazy and, as a human being, an intolerant individual. And I suppose you love Nancy Pelosi because she looks “young”? Try looking at what a person stands for, what a person’s life’s accomplishments might do for the public good, and stop sniping in this ugly manner about a person’s looks. If your grandfather really is 60, then you’re rather young. In a mere 40 years, which will fly by faster than you now realize, you’ll have more than one chin, too. It’s gravit. It pulls everything down, as you’ll learn sooner than you think. And do you want to be judged by how many chins you have? I didn’t think so. It was the great Martin Luther King Jr. (you can Google him if you don’t know who he was) who said he had a dream that one day people would be judged by the “content of their character.” You could start doing that, yourself, Praetorian. You could start now.
Attacking a person’s appearance? I was responding to someone who did just that. But that’s OK I suppose. And Meg can afford to get those chins fixed. Look at Liddy Dole after all. You could bounce a dime off that face.
Who really gives a rip what anyone looks like?
Is this a meritocracy, or a fashion show?
–Don’t answer that.
Here’s the image of Brown that Whitman’s campaign should be using:
http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown/jerry.jpg
(Note: that’s not my website.)
And your analysis is based on what? Meg has spent over 100 million dollars to date and is still a couple points down from Jerry, depending on which poll you look at. All that money and she still can’t get people to like her. Jerry, by contrast, hasn’t spent really a dime. Democratic registration is a whole bunch higher than GOP registration, and they will go out and vote, you can count on it.
That said, I like Meg. She is a strong pro-abortion rights Republican, a rarity these days and isn’t ashamed to admit it. She should do well with pro-choice Republican women (there’s a lot more than you think). However, this is a huge disadvantage for her among the party base who she needs to even contemplate winning. They will not vote for her because it would make Jesus mad. This is the problem Republicans have time and time again in California. If they run a candidate in the general that is too conservative they lose. If they run a candidate that is too moderate they lose. As far as disaffected Democrats are concerned, when faced with the real Democrat (Brown) or the Democrat in Republican drag (Whitman) they will vote for the real Democrat every time. The election is Brown’s to lose and has been for a long time.
OK. Let’s see if I have your “analysis” right. You’re saying that conservative Republicans can’t get elected statewide because they’re too conservative, but a moderate Republican can’t get elected because she’s too moderate? Sorry, Praetorian, this makes no sense. If moderate Republicans can’t get elected, what was Arnold doing in Sacramento? Scouting locations for an action flick about the California State Assemble Ways and Means Committee?
Belladonna is a good name for you because apparently you’ve been taking too much. My analysis makes perfect sense if you actually think about it. But that;s a lot to ask of someone like you. The California electorate is center left. It is a fairly liberal state. A conservative can’t win statewide because moderates and liberals won’t vote for them on a range of issues. How many Republicans hold a statewide office? One I think. If the Republicans party runs a moderate like Meg who is, for instance, pro-abortion rights, she loses the very conservative base of the GOP. Moreover, democratic registration outpaces Republican registration by a long shot. All the unions have to do is get out the vote. You don’t have to believe it. But you will see it soon.
You’re really out of line. It’s time to say goodnight to the grownups.
You make no logical sense. You merely repeat your ignorant rants, reading from the same prepared text you were given. You’re tiresome. Time for you to say goodnight to the grownups.
Whoah, Praetorian. I wouldn’t be so quick to criticize other people’s thinking, if I were you. Let’s start here, shall we? California is on the brink of bankruptcy. Jerry Brown has been feeding at the public trough for virtually his entire post-Yale Law School life. As anyone who’s glanced at the Federal budget deficit would tell you, being a law school graduate isn’t particularly helpful when it comes to balancing a budget. And the Republicans have chosen as their candidate Meg Whitman. When she joined eBay, the company had $4.7 million in revenues and 30 employees; when she retired in March of 2008, ten years later, the company had nearly $8 billion in revenues and 15,000 employees worldwide. It would seem to me that such financial savvy would be a little more helpful to Californians than a double-dipping pensioneer who, in all due respect, knows nothing about public finance or deficits. By ignoring the common sense and the desire of Californians to be citizens, once again, of the Golden State, and focusing on tired cliches about “Republican bases” and dragging, of all possible deities, Jesus Christ, into your so-called “analysis” you’re really making no logical sense. Pajamas Media has aptly called the 2010 elections “THE BATTLE FOR AMERICA.” I don’t think anyone is going into the voting booths this year thinking about Jesus Christ (except, perhaps, you). Californians, like all voting Americans, will be voting for the candidates whose eyes are on the deficits, and with the skills and the strengths to balance our federal and our state budgets. Try not to group people into your neat little categories. It’s never helpful, but this year it is especially pointless.
Praetorian, do you ever read polls? They’re helpful when trying, as you are, to treat an election as if it were a horse race, which it isn’t. But just for your sorry information, why not turn to Gallup, whose polling found this (http://cnsnews.com/news/article/71089):
———————————————————-
Even the Poor Are Abandoning Obama, According to Gallup Poll Data
Friday, August 13, 2010
By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief
(CNSNews.com) – In every week of his presidency until now, Barack Obama has enjoyed a majority approval rating in the Gallup Poll from people earning less than $2,000 per month. But that changed in the Gallup survey conducted from Aug. 2-8, when only 49 percent of Americans in that income bracket said they approve of the job Obama is doing.
This marks the first time since Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009, when Americans in all four of the income brackets reported in Gallup’s weekly survey of presidential approval gave Obama less than 50 percent approval.
————————————————
If you read that and think that any Democrat in any state is going to sail into office this November, you’re smoking something very strong. Jerry Brown is practically a clone of a president whose numbers are sinking by the hour. Meg Whitman’s views on abortion will not decide the Californian governor’s race. Her proven track record in the private sector—the global provate sector—will. People everywhere are yearning for something called competence.
And there’s another group you entirely ignore: Independents. Those who voted for Obama in 2008 are now 70% against the Democratic Party. Your “analysis” isn’t analysis. It’s a collection of meaningless, ungrammatically-expressed opinions. Try facts next time.
Praetorian seems to think his or her post is trenchant political analysis.
It isn’t. It’s immature. And ignorant. This is not a good combination, Praetorian. “In Republican drag” is not political analysis. It is name-calling. Roger L. Simon’s brilliant blogs normally attract some of the country’s most insightful thinkers to comment. You’re not up to the job, and you conveniently ignore the topic under discussion: why Jerry Brown won’t (a) reveal the amount he is given by the State of California as a pension; (b) say whether he is receiving more than one; (c) advocate complete transparency in the taxpayer-funded Legislators’ Retirement System. You ignore the blog and have the temerity (look it up) to let loose your vituperative vitriol based on no thinking whatsoever. You really should educate yourself before trying this again in public. You’re an embarrassment to yourself, whoever you are. No wonder you hide behind the shield of the Roman Empire. You’re in over your helmeted head.
Listen up, Praetorian. Harrison O’Toole, Belladonna Rogers and Alice Meagher are correct: you ignore the topic under discussion and engage in pointless categorization of human beings whose deepest beliefs are beyond what you, or anyone, can possibly know. You attack a 54-year-old woman for not looking younger. If that’s the way you vote, I feel sorry for you. Maybe Cameron Diaz will be on the ballot for you next time.
For now, the choice is between a candidate with a proven record of making financial decisions with a proven record of success versus a Democratic political hack who’s never been in the for-profit private sector. You still into Hope and Change? That puts you in the minority, unlike the rest of the electorate. Most adults have gotten over the ill-fated excitement of November, 2008 and have wised up.
Looking for competence rather than counting chins is an excellent way to view an election. Try it some day.
Jerry Brown will win and I’ll be back here to rub your nose in it? How’s that? Like I said I like Meg. She is a great pro-abortion rights supporter.
Oh, right, Now you have a crystal ball? Who’s gonna win the World Series, wise guy? Time your nursie tucked you in for the night, or put you back in your cage. You’re really getting rattled. It doesn’t become you. You still haven’t addressed the subject of Jerry Brown’s double secret pension. Nighty-night.
How did those firm predictions on the Senate election in Mass and the east coast governorships work out for you? Rather a reverse bell-weather when it comes to politics, aren’t you? Take your political prediction, bet the other way, and win every time.
I know this is going to come as a surprise to you – it often does to young and full of themselves college sophomores, but you don’t really matter in major elections except to man the phones in campaign offices. Neither democrats, nor republicans, and especially not the youth brigades, decide national or statewide races. It’s the self-responsible and self-sufficient independents, that unaffiliated majority of likely voters, that do. It wasn’t you and the rest of the clown car crew that put Obama over the top for example, no matter what you think or have been told. It was the media that delivered the independent vote through obfuscation and outright fraud and that won’t happen again in this or the next election cycle whether they’re national or state races. Candidates are going to be judged on substance and performance against the issues that matter to the independent voter and no matter how enthusiastic you and your friends are knocking on doors, neither substance nor performance is on your side.
Whatever those school loans are going to cost you is money thrown away, because you are woefully ignorant. You’d be better off saving your time and money and just hang out more on KOS. Some whistling in the dark talking points to tell you what to think for nothing.
So what is Jerry’s pension? How is Cali’s fiscal state? Are public pensions a big part of the problem? How is electing Jerry going to fix it?
You know Meg is much more than you are saying. She is a successful business person.
She knows how to handle herself and make money…which would make sense for California since it is teetering on bankruptcy.
She is not another politician who has been involved in the system far too long. If she loses, so does California. The money she’s spending is hers, that she actually earned..
her biggest problem could be the left/liberal legislature.
We had Jerry Brown as governor before. This did not work out well. I think Meg Whitman is going to be the next governor. She’s going to get nowhere because of the legislature and California will still go over the financial cliff.
Praetorian is getting quite a few lessons about how not to comment on politics. The fact that Praetorian was permitted to post two such fatuous, air-headed comments is a tribute to Pajamas Media’s tolerance.
The take-away lessons, Mr. Roman Guard, are (1) try to know something before you comment; (2) try to address the actual topic raised in the blog; (3) don’t drag Jesus Christ into what you deem to be a rational comment. No one else will think it is. (4) Learn to listen to what candidates say and look at their records of achievement (4) Do not ever compare women to cows until you have breast-fed two children and earned eight billion dollars. I don’t think that will happen soon. Just a guess. (5) Wait another 20 years before your next online comment. You need—what is it called? oh, yes— maturity.
Whoever put you up to these low-ball, attack-dog tactics didn’t get his money’s worth. You blew it, kid.
If we can have Wikileaks putting information all over the world..classified information…why do we not have a California/Wikileaks?
Somebody, somewhere, knows this information..we need to find that person… This type of information should be public domain. To hell with Jerry and people like him..no wonder we are a nation of corruption..it’s too easy to get away with..
GO MEG!!! However, that being said..if she’s not careful, she will lose.
Given Jerry’s outrage at the Bell salary scandal and his goal to reveal how much everyone makes, this revelation about he himself looks especially bad.
It sure does.
BTW, Steven, congrats on Chizumatic, a terrific site. I really enjoy it even if I’m not a paleo-anime fan (like it though).
For readers, the Chizumatic site is linked on Steven Den Beste’s name.
I don’t know about Whitman, but Jerry’s “Oakland years” still need to be examined and publicly scrutinized beyond the sycophantic pro-Jerry Brown Frisco Bay area newspaper coverage I see all the time. In my opinion, this time period is far more relevant (due to recency and 8-10 year time span) than his tenure in the 1970′s that so many people don’t remember and/or so casually laugh off.
The union thing has already been quite telling.
The only problem with examining the Oakland years is how bad the mayors preceding and succeeding him were. Concentrate on his secret pension.
This is a really big story: the secrecy, the elitism, sidestepping the intent a proposition passed by the voters, that Brown has more years vested than served – it’s juicy. Will this be the catalyst for a ground swell of reform? Part of me hopes not. Maybe bankruptcy is the answer. It will force real negotation of contracts, agreements, and ways of doing business. The state is in metastasis, beyond incremental reform.
Let’s root for bankruptcy, not help prevent it. Here’s an idea – jack up your personal exemptions, denying the state (and USG) free use of your cash. Make them wait until April 15, adding illiquidity to the mix. I’ve been humming ” California Uber Alles” all afternoon. How long before the suede denim secret policw knock on our front doors should we start trying to hold onto our own hard earned cash?
I called the State Auditor Hotline at 800-952-5665 and registered a complaint. The hotline “enables state employees and the public to report improper acts committed by state agencies, departments, or employees”. If nothing else, this story sure SOUNDS like a problem.
http://ag.ca.gov/government.php
I find it terribly ironic that the headline of that web page is “Open Government.”
As a CA state employee, my salary is available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection. Secret pensions? The only reason for them to be secret is that the state has something to hide.
Maybe the Attorney General of the State of California can look into this.
Oh, wait, the office is still bogged down investigating how Sarah Palin came to be allowed to speak at a state college, isn’t he? Well, I suppose one must have priorities.
Wow. How can politicians think to expect secrecy about public spending? Of course the details will be shocking. I predict the reporting will be mute on party affiliation just as it has been in the Bell case.
A democrat will always be a democrat, and every democrat believes that the nobility have rights we serfs don’t. The last time I read about anything like this was with regard to what pols in the post Civil War south were being paid. Oddly enough, it turns out that democrat elected folks were paid more than Republican ones. Ain’t it odd how the party of rule by nobility and the right of the nobility to own slaves keeps acting like the dog it is and going back to its’ vomit?
Regards
Did you note the snide snark delivered by Sterling Clifford, Brown campaign spokesman, at the end of the OCR report: He concluded his brief email with this reminder: “And of course if you are worried about paying out Jerry’s pension, the best thing to do is elect him Governor so he doesn’t collect it.”
We might as well be a bunch of aged, used up strumpets for all the respect our ruling class gives us anymore.
I’m sorry, but when Sterling Clifford says,
I’m almost positive he is being dishonest. “Secret” pensions, if I remember correctly, are paid regardless of changes in employment, election or appointment status. Public pensions like mine, aren’t. Prove me wrong if you can.
1. Brown is his father’s son.
2. He’ll win because they’ll steal the election.
And Roger: Californicators are not the ones paying for it, the whole country, especially solvent States, are paying because CA is bailed out by the Chicago mob in D.C.
While you folks in CA are struggling through and discovering why your taxes are so high and folks covet government jobs, please try and say a few words to the forlorn citizens of Illinois. I reside in northeastern Illinois, which includes Chicago and its County of Cook. I suspect that the number of government employees, retirees and their dependents, acting individually and through their unions, are so numerous, powerful and well-funded, that they control the elections, needing only a bit of voter apathy. Democracy is dead here. It is a government unionocracy. We seem ready to send our second governor in a row to jail, the poorer neighborhoods of Chicago are shooting galleries, the unemployment rate is over 10%, kids graduating high school can’t read, etc. The local papers, for years, have reported on the mind boggling excesses of government employee pensions and other retirement benefits. but, unlike CA, the souls of folks in IL have blinked out and outrage is unknown. We’re like serfs reconciled to our fate. Please, please think of something to say or do which may spark some sense of self-survival in IL.
I just drove through Oregon and spoke to a resident who told me of an experience with an unmarried mother of four, age 23, who recieves $1,400 a month per child in public payments. It’s way past time to publish all welfare payments (no names — but individual and total amounts). This is crazy.
As a reminder we have Jerry Brown to thank for the government workers unions being allowed to form in California which has contributed mightily to the bankrupting of our state. This alone should ensure his defeat but the voters in the liberal enclaves will still blindly vote for him. These useful idiots won’t wake up until their is no gasoline, no food, and other basics which allow them to exist in a fantasy world.
One of the myths about California is that is completely comprised of wacko liberal/environmentalists but most of the State (area wise) is conservative.
Hey Rog, FYI, states can’t declare bankruptcy (municipalities can) but, it’s complicated. See Girard Miller’s columns for a discussion of this. Algy
That’s right, but I suspect California’s failure to meet its obligation would result in either:
–contract renegotiations similar to those that would take place in bankruptcy proceedings, or
–a change in law to allow such bankruptcies.
States can be put into receivership.
My husband is a retiree from CalPers. Twenty-four years a CDF firegighter. Fell on a mountain fire,, crushed vertebrae, years of pain and 7 surgeries to date. He draws a small pension (under $1700) Most of his fellow CDF draw such pensions also. He did more for the citizens of California, risked his life daily, and never complains. Jerry Brown is the worst kind of politician feeding from the public trough!
Not to be personal here,but how many years ago did your husband retire? There are currently 176 CalFire retirees receiving over $100,000 a year in pension benefits & the almost 6000 current employees have salaries of over that now, plus overtime. Which means each and every one will retire with pensions well over $100,000 a year…see page 8 of the Gov.’s proposed budget
http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/GovernorsBudget/3000/3540.pdf
Why, Roger…do you not appreciate career politicians earning their income the old fashioned,vSlick Blarney way?
They “churned” it.
As a lifetime member of Delta Tau Chi, (Democratic Taxpayer Confiscation) he is placed on double secret pension by Howard Dean Wormer.
We are forbidden from looking at it, while Jerry amasses entitlements, privileges, income and annuities to a tune that Blew By You….and me…mere plebeian suckers trying to work for a living and footing a bill we don’t even get to see, much less write off.
Oh, well. The best way to get elected, then get rich as a leftist, bilking the taxpayers in this state is if You’re No Good and Don’t Know Much.
If we look back at how long it took to build this country and now since the end of WWII only 65 years to place us right back at a need to reevaluate laws made before modern technology
and establish ” transparency ” if we are to succeed as powerful leader. Otherwise we are no different than countries we are fighting with corrupt governments. The old proverbial saying,
” look who is calling the kettle black “.
We can continue the path of deterioration or start cleaning up our country and let others do
what they must for themselves. This country had developed a Democracy that others had seen as hope and freedom, we had civil wars we have had racial problems which were finally
turning around and now with political greed, drugs, modern technology has forced us to realize how political inept our government has become.
Checks and balances should be visible but only if honest people are running the equipment
and maybe we need to use the old ” Lie Detechtor ” to find out who we are giving the jobs
too?
It says very little for our state of Calfornian that only a failed Governor is running against a
successful business women and with the problems facing all of us is political parties what we
should be looking at or who can turn our state back into solvency. It should be a no choice
decision. for everyone,,we need success not failure,people need to open there eyes and mind
if they hope to keep Democracy as a way of life.