Nurturing the Dead Wood (Letter to Independent Coast Observer)

"When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children," said Albert Shanker, founder and long-time president of the United Federation of Teachers, and the American Federation of Teachers. But he also said: "A lot of people who have been hired as teachers are basically not competent." Of course he still worked unceasingly to keep the incompetents paying union dues.

The fact that the California Democrat Party is a wholly owned union subsidiary was again demonstrated this past week. A bill to allow school districts to use performance rather than seniority as a criterion for laying off teachers didn’t get six votes and died in committee. Three Republicans voted for, two Democrats against, and five Democrats abstained.

Abstained? Is that how Democrats stand up to be counted?

California Teachers Association members left their classrooms to pack the hearing room to voice their opposition, but needn’t have bothered; Democrats on the committee received $176,200 from the two largest teachers’ unions since 2004. Republicans got zip. Shanker applauds.

Many Democrats agree that public funds should be used to recruit, retain, and reward the best teachers.  Indeed, many teachers would like to see the "deadwood" cleared. But with the teachers' union in charge of the Democrats, it's who paid dues longest:  seniority rules.

  

I was fortunate in my association with Point Arena public schools, both as a student 1949-1960 and as a school board member with Alice.  Unfortunately, my three sons were not so lucky; the Illinois, Hawaii, and California public schools they attended as the Air Force moved us around were far from adequate.  If I could relive the past, my sons would have been in private schools.

  

Democrats and the teachers’ union would only care when no dues get paid.

Michael B. Combs

Return of the Crackpot (Letter to Independent Coast Observer)

Thanks to Mr. Brauer for noting (Crackpots, ICO March 25, 2011) that I’m a real estate agent. After that, his letter was fact-free.

In my letter, I agreed with a liberal San Francisco Chronicle columnist that Oakland firefighters and police were overpaid to the point that Oakland’s budget was being destroyed. I worked and lived in Oakland and it wasn’t dangerous, although relatively more than in peaceful Mendocino County. While I appreciate their efforts, fire and police service workers are well down the list of most dangerous occupations in America. At 17 fatalities per 100,000 serving per year, they’re not even in the Top Ten.

Most dangerous are three I have been associated with off and on since we moved to Point Arena in 1949: fishing, 147 fatalities per 100,000; light aircraft pilots, 90; and my father’s profession, logging, 85. Then after steelworkers, 61, comes the military, where my eldest son and I each served over 20 years, at 55; three times more dangerous than police and firefighters, even during peacetime. Working on down the list: trash collectors, farmers and ranchers, electrical power line workers, and roofers; all more than twice as dangerous. Then agriculture, mining, drivers, construction, and heavy equipment operators; then you get to the relative safety of police and firemen.

Interestingly, volunteers (like our unpaid but very effective neighbors) have the most fatalities among firemen; usually when over 40 with heart attacks. Most police fatalities are while driving.

Concerning teacher pay, which Mr. Brauer brought up, unlike the teachers unions I believe in merit pay for good teachers, and that ineffective teachers be paid less and released if they don’t  improve to satisfactory performance.

All professions have value, but public-sector union control over Democrat politicians has skewed their measurement.

Michael B. Combs

Our Age of Miracles (Letter to Independent Coast Observer)

Since California Republicans haven’t had political power for a long time, Democrats naturally blame them for all of California’s problems. If Republicans would just allow the people to vote on extending taxes, all problems would be solved. California wouldn’t have a half-trillion dollar deficit for public employee pensions, highest taxes, business stifling regulations, low-achieving schools, and uncontrolled wasteful spending.

Actually, no matter what Republicans do, California’s problems won’t get solved. The only thing that will happen if some Republicans cave in and allow Governor Brown’s special election to extend taxes, and California voters reverse the 2009 election and pass it this time, is that the ruling Democrats won’t  feel compelled to make serious spending cuts. And the problems will just get worse.

Public employee unions own Governor Brown and the Democrats, and the unions hate spending cuts. Soon Californians will find all their taxes futilely wasted on unsustainable public employee pensions. California, with 12% of total population, won’t be able to sustain its one-third of our nation’s welfare workload. Our 48^th ranked public education system will only get worse.  Our second highest unemployment rate may soon be the highest.

The Democrat plan is simple. Scare voters with threats of spending cuts so they will extend taxes. Then don’t cut spending and pray an economic revival brings increased tax revenues. Unfortunately for California taxpayers, the revival is going to be slow, and when (or if) it arrives California will be in much worse shape. The Democrat’s plan is like a football “Hail Mary” pass; just heave it up and hope for a miracle.

Michael B. Combs

Thugs with Badges (Letter to Independent Coast Observer)

Recently a news service headlined that as a result of their defeat in Wisconsin, unions vow to target Republicans. When did the news equivalent of “dog bites man” become headline worthy?

In Wisconsin some police, firefighter, and teacher union leaders sent a letter to local businesses that contributed to Governor Scott Walker, threatening that these businesses publicly support the unions or: “In the event that you cannot support this effort to save collective bargaining, please be advised that the undersigned will publicly and formally boycott the goods and services provided by your company.”

Translation: “We’re going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

FDR, who opposed public employee unions, is rolling over in his grave.

Is ending public employee collective bargaining that critical for getting budgets under control? Yes, and a liberal columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, Chip Johnson, proved this using a database of local government salaries and compensation compiled by state Controller John Chiang's office. In Oakland, current pay and pension costs of police and firemen squeeze everything else in the budget. Even the police budget: over 80 recently hired and trained policemen were laid off, but still leaving Oakland with a $46 million budget deficit. One reason for police layoffs: the Oakland firefighters’ contract ensures no layoffs, minimum staff requirements aboard fire trucks, and no station closures. One union dog eats the other.

But the police aren’t complaining, although Oakland residents are; eight of the ten highest paid in Oakland are police, and 440 of the 500 highest paid are police and firemen.

Wisconsin taught a valuable lesson that should benefit both Democrats and Republicans. If you don’t like the way the game is going, and you grab the ball and run away, it only works if your opponents don’t have any to spare.

Michael B. Combs

Double Dealing Democrats (Letter to Independent Coast Observer)

Democrats applying double standards is nothing new, but events of the past week have made them starkly clear. Republicans trying to make a tiny 0.017% cut in the federal budget are assailed for bringing the country to its knees on one hand by Democrats, and on the other hand Democrats call Republicans cowards for not cutting more. The tiny Republican minority in California is blamed for not leading California out of its dreadful budget mess, even though all they can do is stop tax increases. When California voters were last given the opportunity to raise taxes in May 2009:

“By a margin on nearly 2 to 1, Californians rejected a package of propositions that would have extended increases on the income, sales, and car taxes; shifted money from dedicated funds; and borrowed against lottery revenues. The taxes would have shaved $6 billion off a $21 billion budget shortfall stemming from a decade-long unwillingness to match desired spending and expected revenues.”

Minority Republicans, not the overwhelming majority Democrats, truly reflect the will of Californians.

Republicans can’t cut spending – only Democrats can.

With Republicans are in the majority in Wisconsin, their courageous attempts to cut spending were met by Democrat desertion of the democratic process, aided and abetted by unethical  doctors and teachers. According to the AP, Wisconsin doctors have passed out hundreds of notes to excuse public employee work absences without examination; “they seem to be suffering from stress.” Madison family physician Lou Sanner said his notes are “as valid as any other work note I’ve written for the last 30 years.”

The very well-paid teachers protest while fraudulently taking pay from taxpayers, most of whom must work and can’t take time off to support their democratically elected governor and legislature. Union worker is an oxymoron.

Michael B. Combs

UNCONSTITUTIONAL (Letter to Independent Coast Observer)

The recent Florida court decision declaring the individual mandate in ObamaCare unconstitutional is a step in the right direction, but it is only the latest in a stream of embarrassing revelations about the poorly-conceived law.

Recently we have learned that the administration has been quietly granting waivers to hundreds of organizations to prevent these groups from dropping their employee health care plans altogether. Ironically, a disproportionate number of these waivers will go to unions. Some of the more prominent are: the Service Employees International Union, the United Federation of Teachers Welfare Fund, and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, a California-based cooperative that provides low-cost minimal coverage to farm workers. Unions represent only 6.9% of the private work force, yet 40% of the workers covered by these waivers are union members. (IBD, 1/30/2011) 

This massive waiver revelation comes on top of an earlier “discovery” that the requirement for businesses to send a 1099 to the IRS for transactions over $600 will add unprecedented burdens and erode profit margins for thousands of small businesses. Furthermore, we’re just now obtaining candid admissions from government officials that the costs of ObamaCare will far exceed the projections and that you probably won’t be able to keep your current doctor and/or health care insurance as the law moves toward full implementation.

I don’t blame the unions for obtaining the waivers. Their role is to look out for their people. However, I do blame the administration for providing a train load of misinformation to American citizens about this health care bill, both in terms of its workability and its costs. The President would take a big step towards being re-elected if he would work with the new Congress to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with a less intrusive, more effective and fully constitutional system.

Jim Littlejohn