At a Capitol meeting with the press Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger relied on the support of a Democratic icon -- former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown -- to bolster a new demand that a specific change in state worker pensions be made before he signs off on a budget.
At a minimum, the governor said, he wants legislators to roll back current pension terms to those that existed before 1999 legislation created more generous rules.
"All I'm asking is for them to reform and roll it back and we will be home free," and saving billions that would otherwise go to finance retirement for public employees, Schwarzenegger said.
He argued that because of the budget deficit, social programs are being sacrificed to meet pension obligations that should be changed for new state workers.
Then he introduced "my friend" Willie Brown, the San Francisco Democrat who led the Assembly for years. Brown backs pension changes but was not specific about what he thinks legislators should do.
"I'm sure glad you said 1999 because I had departed" the Legislature by then, Brown told the governor with a chuckle. "It's one of the few things I can't be blamed for."
However, Brown also told reporters: "I don't come to this issue, frankly, with clean hands. I did a lot of stuff when I served as a member of the Legislature."
Brown said he learned first-hand of the problems that come with ballooning pension obligations after he left the Legislature and was elected mayor of San Francisco.
He also gained first-hand experience while serving as a local government representative on the board of CalPERS, the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
Video by Hector Amezcua / hamezcua@sacbee.com.
Latest posts:
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.