Guess who has adopted Governor Brown's pension plan?
18.05.12
For now, credit the GOP with a responsible act that moves us closer to good public policy: making state and local employee pensions more fiscally and politically sustainable.
But let’s back up for some perspective.
Brown spent his first few months in office last year attempting to negotiate with a handful of Senate Republicans, trying to coax them to vote for placing a tax hike on the ballot. One trade-off he dangled was pension reform.
But Brown wouldn’t go far enough for Republicans. He couldn’t alienate the public employee unions he needed to help bankroll the tax campaign.
Also, Republicans never specifically offered to vote for the taxes anyway. They were afraid of anti-tax activists and right-wing radio entertainers.
Talks tanked. Fingers pointed.
Months later, after the Legislature had left town, Brown publicly outlined a 12-point pension reform plan that included many of the proposals he and Republicans had privately discussed.
Source: Santa Rosa Press Democrat