Attorney General and Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown brushed aside concerns over public employee pay and benefits as a major cause of California’s troubles at a UC Santa Barbara political event.
As described in Calbuzz on Tuesday, Brown answered a question about government employee furloughs by charging that Republicans use the public employees as "scapegoats" for the state’s fiscal problems when the real problem is caused by Wall Street people who Brown conveniently tied to Republicans.
Brown’s defense of the public employee pensions and benefits is a telling message on an important issue concerning the state deficit. Brown, who signed into law collective bargaining when he was governor three decades ago giving the public unions more power, appears ready to defend the groups that are now supporting his candidacy.
This is no surprise, of course, but will probably put to rest the whispering that Brown, if elected, will be able to reform the public employee benefit system. Some have argued that the only way that the public employee pension and benefits system can be reformed is if a Democrat leads the way – sort of the California version of a Nixon-goes-to-China moment.
The Schwarzenegger administration has warned that the growing liability of public pensions will squeeze out funding for the poor and other government services. And, right on cue, a CalPERS committee voted to increase the state’s annual contribution to the pension fund by $600 million.
As the governor said in a statement after the CalPERS Committee vote: "Every additional dollar we spend on state employee pensions is a dollar we take from education, health and public safety."
Perhaps, it was thought that Jerry Brown could lead the Democrats in the legislature to settle the battle between spending tax dollars on public employee benefits or services for the needy.
But by arguing that the public employees are "scapegoats" in the budget debate, Brown is signaling his intention to side with the state workers and against reform.