I think the only thing this political cycle that troubles me more than Republican candidates who tout the endorsements from editorial board of major newspapers (said editorial boards packed with liberals trying to mess in the Republican primary when virtually none of these editorial writers are Republicans) — are Republican candidates who are rolling out the endorsements of — public employee unions!

Seriously.  I know that everyone likes it when I name names — but for the purposes of this blog post, I will refrain.  But today alone I have received emails from two Republican candidates, campaigning as conservatives, bragging that they the choice of public employee unions.

In one case is the endorsement of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association and in the other case it is the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. 

In case anyone hasn’t noticed, our state and local governments have been hit by a pension tsunami of epic proportions and the state’s public employee unions have been at the forefront of lobbying for unsustainable salaries and benefits — with no seeming regard of whether these obligations can ever be met — at least not without massive cuts to services and massive tax increases.

We are at a point now where especially Republican primary voters (Democrats are "owned" by the unions, which is a whole other problem) need to be asking the tough questions of candidates in primaries about what they think should be done about the pension crisis.  Are they prepared to insist that new state employees get 401k-style retirement benefits to mirror the private sector?  Isn’t it time to put the responsible for management of retirement funds on the individual employee, rather than collectively on the taxpayer?  And what is being done to take a strong stand with unions towards the goal of seeing reductions in retirement benefits for existing employees, so that we can end up in a place where government can actually afford to fund the benefits or retirees? 

When I see the "union label" being put onto a candidate in a primary, I am immediately suspect of whether those candidates, if elected, with stand up the union bosses that backed their candidacy.  What did they have to say to those unions to garner their support?

In closing, the two unions I highlighted above happen to be unions of law enforcement officers.  I am a Reserve Deputy Sheriff myself and have nothing but the utmost respect for those who risk their lives to protect our way of life.  But I also respect all of the professionals who work in various public sector roles.  The reality is that the salary and benefits going to public safety employees represent some of the most egregious examples of out-of-control and unsustainable benefits (who ever heard of employees, in a place where the average life expectancy is 79-81 years of age, retiring at the age of 50 with 100% of their salary guaranteed for life?). 

When the economy goes south, it is private sector employees that are losing their jobs or taking pay cuts just to be able to keep working.  And many are lucky to have an employer giving them any contribution towards their retirement.

Look, I have friends who are union officials (I am related to a public employee union official) — and they are not bad people.  And not all of them have benefits that are egregious.  But when you look at the entire picture, and the amount of liabilities that we are facing, something has to change.

I guarantee you, whether it is the political action committee of a public safety union, or a professional public employees union — the issues they are looking at are how to maintain their salaries and benefits.

I challenge those Republicans who are being supported by public employee unions to put out a clear public statement about what they are prepared to do, or not do, to deal with the pension tsunami (hint to GOPers: you can’t solve the problem without including cops and firefighters in the mix).

This last point is significant because I talk to currently elected Republicans who take money from these union PACs, who say, "Hey I am conservative, and if these guys want to support me for who I am, well that’s fine by me."

To them I say, great — show me your public statement that you think the salary and benefit schemes for the very unions endorsing you need to be ratcheted down.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.