Simi Valley Sophist

The Simi Valley Sophist ruminates on all manner of topics from the micro to the macro. SVS travels whatever path strikes his fancy. Encyclopedia Britannica: Sophist "Any of certain Greek lecturers, writers, and teachers in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, most of whom travelled about the Greek-speaking world giving instruction in a wide range of subjects in return ..."

Name:
Location: California, United States

Retired: 30years law enforcement-last 20 years Criminal Intelligence Detective.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

You Don’t Speak for Me Governor Schwarznegger

I’m conservative, registered Republican and I am voting AGAINST Governor Schwarzenegger’s Proposition 75, which is officially titled “Public Employee Union Dues. Restrictions on Political Contributions. Employee Consent Requirement. Initiative Statute. The California Republican Party’s “Ballot Proposition Voter Guide” calls this initiative “Paycheck Protection.” What a crock! That’s about as nice as I can describe this dishonest attempt to reduce my wages and benefits.

How is that? I’m a government employee, and I enjoy a moderate salary and benefit level thanks to the collective bargaining abilities of my professional association (union to other government employee classifications.)

The Governor and the Republican Party have a two prong plan to strip from me and future government employees the benefits that were accepted and ratified by our employers. First the Governor must weaken the employee unions, and they intend to do so by making it difficult for the unions to collect monies. Union members pay dues for the collective bargaining services of the unions, and the members currently are not required to contribute to monies collected and designated by the union for political purposes. Most union members are happy to contribute to the political funds because that is how the unions are able to keep legislators from stripping away benefits. Once the unions are weakened, the Governor and the Republican Party will arm twist the legislature into reducing employee benefits. Any representation to the contrary is dishonest.

Governor Schwarzenegger and the Republican Party, if you think that it is only Democrats who are public employees, you are sadly mistaken. You are doing yourselves a lot of damage by turning on the people who put you in office. Governor, I hope that you only expect to be a one term governor, because that’s my intent for you.

By the way, if you are this dishonest about Proposition 75, why should I believe you on your other propositions?

Update: My apologies to the Governor for mispelling his name in the headline of this blog.