Gov. Jerry Brown provides details today of his long-awaited proposals to change public employees' pensions, including caps on benefits, raising the retirement age and requiring new employees to have a combination of 401(k)-style investments and defined benefits in their own pension plans.
From the LA Times' Anthony York and Michael Mishak: "While components of the governor’s proposal would require voter approval, Brown is expected to first present his plan to the Legislature, sources said. A legislative committee is studying the issue and devising recommendations on pension-related legislation for next year."
"The governor’s plan could test the governor’s relationship with his labor allies. Steve Smith, a spokesman for the California Labor Federation, noted that public employee unions have already agreed to concessions in recent years, including forcing members to pay a greater share of their own pensions and reducing payouts for new workers."
"Still, he concedes the public may be looking for more."
“The Republican attack on pensions has been largely hyperbole, but it’s also been effective,” he said. “They’ve scapegoated public employees for a lot of the state’s problems, unfairly. But when you have Republicans all around the state on the same message for years, that’s going to have an effect.”
George Joseph, the head of Mercury Insurance and the sweetheart of the insurance industry, has pumped $1 million into the state Republican Party, and some of the money is helping the GOP-backed attempt to toss out the new state Senate districts that were drawn by an independent, voter-approved commission.
From the Bee's Jim Sanders: "Obviously, our focus right now is the Senate map referendum, but we also have a number of other programs, including what is probably the most aggressive and comprehensive voter registration program in our history," Standriff said."
"Jeff Green, Mercury General spokesman, released a written statement Wednesday that said Joseph contributed the money "with no restrictions" on the Republican Party's use of it."
"The redistricting referendum was part of the discussion, which included many topics, but it's up to the party to decide how the money should be spent," Green said."
"Joseph's contribution to the state GOP on Oct. 13 represents more than half of the $1.86 million in recent donations to the party's coffers, from which $936,000 has been sent since late September to bolster the referendum effort, records show."
The rich are getting richer -- no surprise there, but here are some numbers to let you know how rich. The LA Times' Jim Puzzanghera tells the tale.
"The rich got richer over the last three decades — and the very rich got very much richer — according to a new government study."
"The top 1% of households saw their after-tax incomes grow by 275% from 1979 to 2007, said the study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That was more than quadruple the growth of the rest of the top 20% of the population during that period."
"Meanwhile, income for the 60% of households that make up the middle of the income scale increased by slightly less than 40%, the study found. The poor — the 20% of the population with the lowest incomes — saw just an 18% increase."
"As a result of that uneven income growth, the distribution of after-tax household income in the United States was substantially more unequal in 2007 than in 1979," said the report, released Wednesday."
The San Francisco mayoral race is getting fiscal jolt from independent expenditure committees, who are pouring money into the campaigns as Election Day nears.
From the Chronicle's Heather Knight and John Cote: "They're behind that creative new viral video in which Giants pitcher Brian Wilson and musician will.i.am manage to make San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, a longtime bureaucrat with glasses and a mustache, appear cutting-edge."
"They're also behind alleged voter fraud in which workers supporting Lee staffed a makeshift voting area in Chinatown and appeared to use a stencil to allow vote-by-mail voters to choose only the interim mayor. The district attorney is investigating the matter."
"Both were the products of independent expenditure committees, which have drawn increased attention this week in the San Francisco's mayor's race for their ability to both help and hurt candidates."
It may be hard to fight city hall, but it's harder to fight Caltrans. Just ask the Orange County couple who stand to lose the home they've lived in for nearly six decades to eminent domain.
From Brian Joseph in the OC Register: "If it were up to the state, Rebecca Blake figures her parents would be living in a dump by now."
"For seven months, Blake has been fighting Caltrans on behalf of her elderly parents, who are in danger of losing their Norwalk home of 57 years to eminent domain."
"Blake says Caltrans keeps showing her parents replacement homes that are in bad neighborhoods or are covered in graffiti or have no heating systems. None of the homes Caltrans wants to put her parents in are equipped to accommodate her disabled father, Blake said."
“It’s just not right,” said Blake, 56, of Whittier.
