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| Corrections Officer's Contract Raises Eyebrows |
| By George F. Will , Washington Post Writer, greenbaypressgazette.com |
| Published: 05/19/2011 |
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SACRAMENTO — Pausing in his struggle to solve, or to get others to solve, today's iteration of California's recurring fiscal crisis, Jerry Brown, the recurring governor, recently approved a new contract for the prison guards union. Henceforth, guards can cash out at retirement an unlimited number of unused vacation days. Most California employees can monetize only 80 accrued days. Many guards will receive lump sums exceeding $100,000. The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates that guards possess time worth $600 million. The union contributed almost $2 million to Brown's 2010 campaign. In 1980, according to former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, 10 percent of the state's general fund went to higher education and 3 percent to prisons; in 2010, almost 11 percent went to prisons and 7.5 percent to higher education. The national average incarceration cost is $29,000 per inmate per year. California's cost is $45,000, about $3,000 more than a year's tuition at Dartmouth. Brown says the union is cooperating with his plan to reduce state costs by transferring prisoners to county jails. But funding this would require extension of a vehicle licensing fee and other taxes due to expire next month. Which brings us to the importance of Sen. Bob Dutton. Leader of the 15 Republicans in the 40-seat state Senate, Dutton is the un-Brown. Where Brown is lean, exotic and epigrammatic, Dutton is ample, Main Street and laconic. And he is an impediment to Brown's plans to get voters to increase their tax burdens by referendum, or Republicans to enable the Legislature to increase them. As a candidate, Brown said he would seek voters' approval for any taxes to close the yawning budget deficit. He wanted a referendum this June on a five-year extension of "temporary" taxes and fees imposed in 2009 and due to expire soon. In an off-year referendum, turnout would be low — and dominated by pro-taxation public employee unions. Because two-thirds of both houses of the Legislature must vote to put a measure on the ballot, Brown needed two Republican votes in each. As Republicans are doing in Washington about raising the debt ceiling, some Republicans offered support for a referendum conditional on Brown agreeing to various reforms, particularly regarding public employees' pensions: This year, more than 12,000 state and municipal retirees will receive pensions of at least $100,000. Brown and the Republicans could not agree, so there is no referendum. click here to Read More. |
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