February
7, 2005
COLUMN: A War
on Working People
By Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his
State of the State speech to announce plans
for overhauling public pensions, it was
more than just a call for reform.
He was firing another salvo in a national
campaign to gut the power of public pension
funds, which have been leading the charge
for corporate accountability.
It's been public pension funds, using the
combined clout of their Wall Street investments,
who've gone after the Enrons, WorldComs
and other corporate shysters who severely
damaged our economy and many small investors
earlier in this decade.
The corporate reform movement, as it is
known, has been fighting to curb excessive
salaries, billiondollar executive pensions,
strengthen accounting standards and expose
inflated stock schemes. They've also gone
after brokers who've accepted kickbacks
for selling a company's stock due to commissions,
not because it was best for the client.
That provoked a backlash among conservative
ideologues and corporate connivers who are
eager to smash anything resembling increased
transparency.
One of the former is Grover Norquist, who
heads a Washington-based pit of reactionaries
called Americans for Tax Reform. When Norquist
is not ranting on behalf of school vouchers
and privatizing Social Security, he fights
everything to do with government. As he's
said, he wants to starve government "to
the size where I can drag it into the bathroom
and drown it in the bathtub."
As for pension funds demanding corporate
accountability, Norquist said: "We
want to take that power and destroy it."
The day following Schwarzenegger's speech,
Norquist announced that his organization
would help promote and finance the campaign
for Schwarzenegger's pension scheme once
it's on a ballot.
Next on the bandwagon was Sacramento's
Pacific Legal Foundation, a crabby clutch
of laissez-faire advocates, and the Howard
Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which took
umbrage that pension funds are "straying
into corporate governance."
None of those groups have shown concern
over the fact that the California Public
Employees' Retirement System and the California
State Teachers' Retirement System estimate
they lost more than $1 billion to the corporate
criminals at just Enron and WorldCom. I
wish they'd strayed into corporate governance
sooner.
Many people who worked for companies bankrupted
by corporate criminals had their pensions
invested in 401(k) investment plans of the
type the governor would use to replace the
defined benefit pensions of PERS and STRS.
The governor should talk to some of those
people - because they had heavy losses.
There were people in their 70s who had to
go back to work at donut shops and day-care
centers. Others nearing retirement age lost
their jobs and pensions, and then had to
find other work where they will toil as
long as their health will let them.
In California, reaction to the governor's
plan from teachers, nurses, police officers,
firefighters and others who get public pensions
was universally negative. Most lack the
time and expertise to manage investments.
They want the pros at PERS and STRS to do
it - because they do it well.
Rather than responding to the pension crisis
with working families on his mind, he made
a broad attack on public employees with
borrowed rhetoric from Norquist, saying
he wants to "starve the monster"
of government.
Never mind that California ranks 49th out
of 50 states for the ratio of state employees
per 10,000 population. Many of the state's
vital operations, such as licensing doctors
and inspecting nursing homes, are stretched
to the point where their effectiveness is
hit and miss.
What is this monster Schwarzenegger wants
to starve? The monster includes our schools,
our universities, our mental hospitals,
and our veterans' homes.
People working for that monster are charged
with keep our food and water free of contamination.
They educate our children. The protect us
from the most dangerous in our society.
They take care of the elderly. They rescue
victims from car accidents and burning homes.
And they fight for our country in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Calling the public sector a
monster demeans those who work in behalf
of the people of this state.
We're in for a major fight to keep defined-benefit
pensions and maintain government services.
It's a fight that will be carried forward
by those who are allies of working people.
They need the support of all working people.
Just because the governor hasn't targeted
certain employees now doesn't mean that
he won't come after them later.
We're in this together.
A columnist for the Sacramento News &
Review got it right recently: "Just
as soon as (Schwarzenegger's) done with
the nurses, the teachers and the marauding
state workers, rumor has it he's going after
school crossing guards, florists and an
insidious ring of Mary Kay dealers."
o0o
Stephen Green
Press Secretary for Lt. Gov. Cruz M. Bustamante
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-445-9053
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