Friday, April 1, 2011
Friday Must Read: Tax the Rich!; Brown’s Wife Screams at Republican Leader
Politics / Business / Food Robert Gammon — Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 7:05 AM
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. A new poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Californians would support a ballot measure to raise taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents as a way to help balance the budget, the Chron reports. The poll, commissioned by a state teacher’s union, found that a whopping 78 percent of likely voters support an income tax increase of 1 percent on Californians who make more than $500,000 a year, easily eclipsing the two-thirds vote needed to pass. Support for such a measure, which has not been considered by Governor Jerry Brown and state lawmakers, also appears to cross party lines. The teacher’s union may sponsor such a measure in November as a “sweetener” for Brown’s other tax proposals.
2. State Senate Republican leader Bob Dutton complained yesterday that Brown’s wife, Anne Gust Brown, screamed at him during budget meetings last week before the talks broke down, the CoCo Times reports. Brown’s spokesman Gil Duran did not deny that Gust Brown screamed, but instead offered this retort: “Bob Dutton is becoming increasingly erratic and irrelevant. Next thing you know, he'll be saying Sutter (Brown's pet dog) barked at him. He seems on the sensitive side." The GOP also posted videos on YouTube, making fun of Brown for the breakdown in negotiations.
3. As the bickering continued, Brown released his plan for public-employee pension reform that he proposed during budget negotiations with Republicans. It calls for an end to so-called “pension spiking,” in which workers get big compensation boots in their last year of service in order to substantially raise their retirement benefits. It also would prohibit public agencies from paying for the normal cost of pension benefits. Organized labor immediately denounced the plan as an end-run around collective bargaining, while Republicans contended that it doesn’t go far enough.
4. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan is being criticized for asking city councilmembers for their input on budget cuts before issuing her final budget proposal, the Chron reports. This week, Quan released a list of options for bridging the city’s $46 million budget deficit, and asked for the council for input by next week in advance of a budget summit scheduled for April 11. However, the firefighter’s union and Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente chastised Quan, saying she’s not showing leadership and is passing off tough decisions to the council. Quan has said that she plans to issue a final budget proposal after receiving feedback from councilmembers. Under city law, the council ultimately decides which cuts to make. Quan also has been criticized recently for not consulting the council on her choice for city administrator.
5. And the Oakland city official who threatened to fine West Oakland urban farmer Novella Carpenter, prompting her to shut down her business, told the Chron that he was merely following city law. City Planner Chris Candell said Carpenter must obtain a city use permit, which costs several thousand dollars, in order to sell food from her urban farm for profit. "We've had (these rules) for 50 years or so, but we're stuck with them until they're changed," he said. San Francisco is currently considering a law that would exempt urban farms from such zoning rules, and Oakland plans to review its regulations later this year.
Comments (3)
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Re: Quan budget options
This is a team management style of leadership. This style of leadership is accepted and implemented in many different types of organizations.
Ms. Quan is asking the council and community to work together to solve the budget problem.
If the council and the community (including labor) rejects the invitation to build a budget with the mayor, get ready to play your same tired old roles as victims of the mayor's budget.
Ms Quan, If council members and community leaders come to you with complaints without solutions, spending requests without revenue sources, stop. You have found the city's problem, in the flesh, children masquerading as adults. Ms. Quan can find out who wants to solve Oakland's huge budget problems and who wants to cry.
Let's find out who are the real Oakland's leaders(if any) and who are the children.
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OK IEarIRichards, how about a "yes and..." compromise? Tax the rich the 1% increase, stop the pension spiking, close the commercial tax loophles AND,
1 - stop the practice of paying full retirement benefits to folks who are still working full time, because that double dipping is bleeding away funds that could keep our teacher/firefighter & police levels up.
2- Make police and elected officials pay into their own retirement instead of taxpayers paying for them! The worst example of this was when Oakland had to layoff 80 of their newest and brightest officers because their union would not allow the rank and file to pay the average of $13,9000. contributions to their own pensions. Oakland police starting salaries are higher than, NYC, LA and in fact the highest in CA. If an OPD officer "retires" at age 50, from Oakland, s/he gets 75 - 90% of their salary, EVEN IF THEY GO TO WORK IN SAN JOSE OR SAN FRANCISCO AS A POLICE OFFICER! This is just one of the most glaring examples of the pension reform that is needed. It's NOT an end run around collective bargaining. It's a matter of GREED and political bullying by the Police Union.
3 - I generally support the right of workers to union representation & collective bargaining, but our unions and some of their older rank and file need to understand that it is time for fairness and common sense. They are killing their own life blood...the newer members. Why on earth should we keep teachers or any public employee who is just marking time til retirement, when we have a whole crop of well trained and eager new workers who are, BECAUSE OF UNION PRACTICES, consistently victims of last hired first fired?
CALIFORNIA IS NOT BROKE, we have become greedy and stagnant with a sense of entitlement that is not sustainable. Corporations, Unions and the wealthy have not been paying their fair share and it's time for a major financial dust up. No politician should be paid til the budget is balanced. No corporation should be allowed loopholes to avoid paying taxes. No Union should be allowed to kill it's own future by bullying taxpayers and it's own newest members. And, as Warren Buffet said...when the rich pay less in taxes (proportionately or otherwise), than the folks who work for them, something is terribly wrong!
Brown's is blackmailing Californians into voting for his tax extensions. These budget cuts will prolong the recession. There is very little difference between Brown's budget and previous budgets, because Brown's budget is master-minded by Big Oil and Corporate America. There is no provision for closing corporate and commercial tax lopholes, no oil extraction tax and no oil corporation, windfall-profits tax. The UK has just introducd an oil company, windfall-profits tax. Californians are paying the highest price for gasoline in the nation. Brown's budget is the same, because again, it picks on the most vulnerable.
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