Former San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio is urging fellow supporters of public-pension reform to contact the mayor and council to defend Proposition B of 2012.
The KOGO talk show host posted an “alert” Monday on his radio-show website.
DeMaio contends that labor unions are behind the effort that led the state Public Employment Relations Board last week to order the city of San Diego to rescind Prop. B and reinstate pensions for city employees.
“If the Pension Reform Initiative is reversed, city taxpayers will face unknown financial liabilities of at least $100 million immediately, and billions long term,” DeMaio said. “Worse, if the unions are able to hijack the citizens’ initiative process, California voters will see their right of citizens initiatives severely weakened for the first time in a century!”
DeMaio was a leading architect of Prop. B, which replaced what he called “bloated six-figure pensions” with “more affordable 401-K retirement accounts.”
“The government union bosses refuse to accept the will of the voters,” he said. “In fact, the union bosses are colluding with Sacramento politicians to invalidate the election results. In short, they falsely claim the voters do not have the right to use a ballot measure to reform pay and benefits of their members.”
In a New Year’s Eve column Union-Tribune column, Steven Greenhut wrote:
“This leads also to a narrow political question. Local Republican leaders blasted PERB’s action, but will the Republican mayor and Republicans on the council vote to appeal it?
“A vote for an appeal could unleash the fury of the unions, which isn’t a good approach to take if one wants to, say, run unopposed for mayor or is eyeing statewide political office. Still, given the constitutional ramifications here, it seems like a real judge ought to make the final call.”
