You would think that in light of the fact that cities in Ventura County are hard-hit by the Bell scandal the public employees would give a guy a break for mentioning pension reform.
Ventura County Supervisor Peter Foy was lambasted Tuesday for his proposal to submit future public pension increases (except COLA adjustments) to the voters. Not only did the proposal fail to even get seconded, Foy was subjected to a hail of criticism.
A public employee union attorney said the bill was poorly written and that Foy was derelict in his duty if he couldn't make decisions on his own. A senior county planner echoed that sentiment, saying that Foy abdicated his responsibilities as an elected official.
Just so that I understand correctly: seeking the voters' input is an abdication of an official's responsibility? Keeping the voters in mind IS their responsibility!
Another public employee said that Foy's proposal does nothing to address the "real" problems in Ventura County, as if the supervisor hallucinated that the pension fund costs the county $2.5 billion.
Supervisor Steve Bennett was kind enough to make a PowerPoint presentation highlighting all the reasons why Foy's proposal is unworkable.
Of course, the public beatdown of Supervisor Foy is the exact reason why we have out of control pensions in the first place--people are intimidated from even bringing it up. A simple 4-1 vote would have sufficed, but instead Foy had to be punished first.
Meanwhile, the county, state, and the country are pushed even closer to fiscal disaster.
Eric Ingemunson's commentary has been featured on Hannity, CNN, NBC, Inside Edition, and KFI's The John and Ken Show.
Eric was born and raised in Ventura County and currently resides in Moorpark. He earned a master's degree in Public Policy and Administration from California Lutheran University. As a conservative, Eric supports smaller government, less taxation, more individual freedom, the rule of law, and a strict adherence to the Constitution.
I couldn't agree with you more, Eric. This public display of fake outrage by Supervisors Steve Bennett, Linda Parks, Kathy Long, and John Zaragoza is quite telling indeed.
What is says to the public is that we Supervisors could care less about providing some accountability and control over runaway public employee pensions to protect the taxpayers, but would rather continue to pander to the public employee unions that we are all beholden to and have sworn our allegiance to.
This is an absolute abomination and I certainly hope the voters remember this when these four are up for reelection. One thing is abundantly clear to me -- we have four elected Supervisors who do not feel it is in their job description to look out for the taxpayers by adhering to any form of fiscal responsibility whatsoever.
And then one supervisor tries to do something about it, by putting it to the voters, and he's maligned as being derelict in his duty. Ironic.
Is it really a shock that Sup. Foy can't get something passed with that bastion of Liberalism he is working with? Is it a little more clear now why we needed the balance that Audra Strickland would have brought to the table? We can't vote for the same people over and over and expect things to change. Too bad. We had the chance and blew it.
Guys, the league of california cities has a process in motion that already is moving back those pensions. It is working.