POBs = Wall Street Snake Oil

Dear Elected Officials,We keep hearing about cities considering a Wall Street proposal to issue debt to fund supplemental pension contributions to city pension funds. They should not do so.When cities make pension promises, they and the employees to whom the promises are made are supposed to contribute enough money to pension funds so that, with … Continue reading POBs = Wall Street Snake Oil →

Punching Their Weight

Recently I spoke to an organization that operates in fear of a Sacramento special interest. My response won't surprise you: "Stop whining. Punch your weight. If your opponent runs their political affairs like a business, so must you." Examples of well-run political operations in Sacramento include California Association of Realtors, dialysis company DaVita, Consumer Attorneys of California, SEIU (service employees), … Continue reading Punching Their Weight →

Supplemental Pension Payments

In 1999, California's Legislature and Governor enacted SB 400, a retroactive pension increase pushed by government employee unions. At that time, the state pension fund (CalPERS) based pension contributions from employees and employers upon an expected annual return of 8.25 percent. (The higher the expected return, the lower the required upfront contributions.) Advocates for the … Continue reading Supplemental Pension Payments →

Today Is Day 1

I left the private sector 18 years ago and every day miss this feature: Failure matters. Just imagine the consequences for private enterprises from Amazon to Zoom had they not delivered during the pandemic. They'd be out of business. But not the State of California. It provided lousy services during — and before and after — the … Continue reading Today Is Day 1 →

A Tale of Two Lawsuits

In 2012, nine California public school students filed a lawsuit (Vergara v. California) alleging that state statutes on teacher tenure, layoffs and dismissal denied equal protection to students assigned to ineffective teachers. The students won in Superior Court but public employee unions appealed and won. Public employee unions played to win for their members. Also … Continue reading A Tale of Two Lawsuits →

Collective Bargaining For CA Public Employees

In 1968, Governor Ronald Reagan signed the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act endowing police and other local personnel with the power to bargain collectively with the governments that employ them, setting cities and counties on a path to fiscal disaster and turning local and county public employees into political powerhouses. The next decade, Governor Jerry Brown signed the … Continue reading Collective Bargaining For CA Public Employees →

Whitewash In San Jose

Few California officials have tried harder than San Jose Mayors Chuck Reed and Sam Liccardo to rein in pension costs. Sadly, a recent report by a San Jose task force undermines those efforts and promises more problems for city residents. In the first decade of the 2000s, San Jose increased maximum pension benefits for Police and Fire … Continue reading Whitewash In San Jose →

POBs = Wall Street Deceptions

Dear Legislators, Wall Street specializes in fancy names for old fashioned financial schemes. Eg, as the Archegos scandal demonstrated, “Total Return Swaps” are nothing more than a way to exceed margin limits. In the government world, the most misleading phrase is “Pension Obligation Bond,” which has nothing to do with pension obligations. Here's how they … Continue reading POBs = Wall Street Deceptions →

Open For Business!

Sacramento is back in full swing and that means our office in the historic Senator Hotel across the street from the Capitol is open and getting ready to host lots of events with lawmakers and GFC'ers. Our war to take back Sacramento from special interests is a permanent one in which we must engage in … Continue reading Open For Business! →

Lawmakers, Don’t Capitulate to Unit 6 Again

Dear State Legislators, Don't do it. Don't sign off on the new contract Governor Newsom has negotiated with Unit 6. It's another giveaway to a powerful special interest — Corrections employees — that already collects gobs of money that could be used elsewhere. 55,000 employees already collecting more than $5 billion per year in salary … Continue reading Lawmakers, Don’t Capitulate to Unit 6 Again →